It may seem strange to follow yesterday's bleat of anger with anything else, but my outrage has left the realm of the verbal today. Call your fucking elected representatives and remind them that their first duty is to protect this noble experiment of democracy from its enemies. In a world where George W has executive power that George III did not have, I believe that we can safely say that his brand of creeping tyranny is an enemy of democracy.
That said, I want to talk about a song I like.
I downloaded Akron/Family, the s/t album of a freak folk band with some good press, a month or two ago from emusic, and thought the album ok but not even close to the greatness of Animal Collective or Devendra Banhart. Anyway, I was listening to my ipod in bed last night and one of their songs just blew me away. I thought it was the Red House Painters at first, but then it got seriously weird and transcendentally beautiful in a way that Mark Kozelek doesn't have in him. The song, "Italy," which is 8 minutes long, is built on a slow, sweet melody, and starts over minimal electric guitar accompaniment. Then the band comes in all alt-country with a slide guitar, quiet drums, and slightly faster tempo. The band stops and there's a brief moment where it sounds like someone is fiddling with a microphone. Back to the slower-tempo melody with electric guitar, this time with creaky sounds in the background, as if it was recorded in a shack about to be blown down by a storm. Full band back, with a Band-esque choral response to his melody, then full stop. A capella line. Then the melody (one lyric repeated: "When is time going to change?"/full choral response: "I'm ready!") with cymbals crashing, distorted guitar, almost half-speed tempo, all kinds of bizarre noises in the background, including the chimey percussion one would normally associate with Pharoah Sanders, building into moogy analog keyboard noise, a trumpet, waves of distortion, and it all sounds just incredibly profound, as if a creek just turned into a raging flood.
Download it here, if you dare.
2 comments:
If that one song is working for you, maybe the whole album just takes time to grow on a person. I'll have to check them out next time I have some cash...
(By the way, I read through your 100 albums. I'm in full agreement about "Revolver" being the only Beatles selection. Nice list!)
Thanks! I followed your link back to your blog, and I dig what you're doing there. Consider yourself added to the rolls.
The Akron/Family album is definitely a slow burner, but I think they're a bit unfocused, which isn't necessarily a bad trait in a band, but also unable to integrate their passions, which can make for whiplash listening.
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