Akron/Family – Meek Warrior

Akron/Family is one of those bands that lived in my backyard for some time, but I never quite got around to paying attention to them. Which sort of sucks, because it would have been nice to see them in small Brooklyn venues rather than medium-small Manhattan venues. I slept, and slept deeply.

Meek Warrior is something of a stroll away from the fey twilight noodlings of their self-titled debut. In the best way possible, of course – it sounds like American mountain music built tight and weird. I cannot recommend it enough. The split they released with Angels of Light moved away from introspection and worked harder at exploding.

Meek Warrior glues the two streams together, sort of, starting with a tightly wound piece called “Blessing Force” that’s broken into three distinct segments. “Explody!” sez I. But the rough edges are smoothed as things progress, and by the time you get to the title track it’s completely natural to wonder if they’ve joined a cult. But no, it’s just a slowing down. There’s one bump along the way, the nearly radio-friendly “The Ride (Dolphin Song)” but that’s only the last minute or so. But it’s also about dolphins, and as everyone knows, chicks love dolphins.

I know people don’t like the term “freak folk” but “campfire music circle jamboree party woo hoo” is probably worse. Right up there with the “on acid” maneuver; i.e. the madlib where a band is described as “The Kinks meet Ladytron on Acid” – a close cousin to “If BAND X and BAND Y had a baby, it would sound like BAND BEING REVIEWED” and my personal favorite, the “If DJ Shadow and Peaches had a baby on acid while [quirky music personality, probably Mike Patton, did something incongruous and only slightly related to making babies on acid] it would sound something like [band, artist, album, single, download, DJ or even a Master of Ceremonies]. And it’s always “something like” because being precise is impossible when you don’t have anything to say.

So: You’ve got an a capella song, captivating wankery with guitars and kazoos, Hamid Drake and a song about dolphins. They’d probably be the coolest older brothers ever. And they’re on Michael Gira’s label. If you have good taste, you’re all over this like [a very common trait of a group of people or things, i.e.
“white on rice”] on [acid].

Sample: The Rider (Dolphin Song)
www.younggodrecords.com | www.akronfamily.com