back again

Akron/Family, "Raising the Sparks" - So that'd be the best psych-folk album I've heard this year, then, and I am not a man to idly tell Animal Collective to go fuck themselves in the wake of an album as fun as Feels. But life is too short, and the recently released split from Akron/Family and Angels of Light is just too good to give it anything other than the nod here; it's an album filled to the brim with massive sudden eruptions of vitality (check out how this song explodes into clapping and wailing worthy of yr finest revival tent) without giving in to the temptation of aimless experimenting. In fact, I'd go so far as to call it the most song-oriented release from this scene since Funeral (if you want to lump it in with that crowd); the album certainly has its share of breakneck-paced suites, but in general this isn't an album about staying a step ahead of its audience - for god's sakes, there's a Bob Dylan cover on it and everything. It's worth pointing out that this is pretty much a split in name only; not only does Akron/Family get the first seven songs on the EP all to themselves, but they also play backup on four of the five Angels of Light tracks which wrap the whole thing up (and in grand style, I might add). Oh: word around the campfire is that Akron/Family rules it hard live, and I believe it - lord knows this album isn't the sound of a bunch of fat bearded guys playing harps. (Click here to buy the Akron/Family & Angels of Light split EP from Young God Records)

Sons & Daughters, "Dance Me In" (JD Twitch and the Truffle Club's Optimo remix) - Speaking as someone who saw Sons & Daughters opening for Franz Ferdinand last year with decidedly unsexy results, let me be the first to say that I sure never saw anything this world-rockingly danceable coming out of their camp, but then again that's why you actually play the game on the field. It helps, of course, when you enlist JD Twitch of the majestic and unstoppable Optimo night (which fucking needs to come to Los Angeles NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW) to remix it; having never heard the original, I don't even know exactly what the man did, but it's not like there's a lot of producers out there marrying subterranean pop to a Liquid Liquid-descended polyrhythm - or at least nowhere this well. In any event, it's a fantastic remix which actually has me mulling over giving the proper album a shot, and while you wait for the download to finish, maybe you should say a quick little prayer to keep Twitch from turning songs by other bands I irrationally hate into incredibly fun dance numbers. I mean, nobody wants to see me flip out over, I dunno, an Optimo dub of OMD's "How Bizarre". (The Optimo remix of "Dance Me In" officially gets released in January, but Pure Groove Records has a couple of ultra-limited promos for sale, so hop on that if you want it [scroll down the page].)