The 'Akron Family' Family

First time i saw these guys was at the very trashy Smog, located at Bard College. I was there with a good friend of mine, and neither of us had heard of any of the bands playing that night. The two opening bands were both just plain old bad but then Akron Family came on and to put it simply; our minds were blown. It's rare to see band members that have such great chemistry with each other, you can tell these guys are having the time of their lives plahying together. They had a great stage presence and knew how to get the crowd going, having everyone singing along to songs they just taught us there on the spot, even had us contribute with percussion; we were banging on just about anything in the spray paint covered room. Another impressive feature about these guys was that they would constantly trade off instruments or grab different ones from the back in between songs, it's not every day you see a band talented enough to be able to switch roles in between songs like that. These guys were originally from Williamsburg, Brooklyn when they released their first Self Titled
album on Young God Records, it's hard to define their sound; it's freaky, its folky, there's jammy improvisations, there are weird electronic noises, sounds, and clicks, they've done a fine job at defining their own 'Akron sound'. Part of their quick underground success is due to being the back up band for their label owner, ex Swans member, Michael Gira's band Angels of LIght. After many tours, albums and losing a band member who decided to become a buddhist monk, the band is now stationed in Portland, Oregon and is progressively building a larger and larger fan base. The live show i have posted here is for the die hard fans, if you haven't experienced this band yet, I highly recomend checking out their albums first to understand what's going on in the live recording because even though it's not an awful quality recording, it's not great either. Regardless, enjoy these crazy guys!

Copy/Paste link to access music:

http://www.mediafire.com/?3xr5aiwahk61h

Dark Star Heaven

 I'm very fortunate to have the close to home "Mountain Jam" fall on the week of my birthday every year. Very awesomely my birthday this year was on the same night as Dark Star Orchestra's set, and ended up being the best Dark Star show I have ever personally experienced. As most of you know; Dark Star almost always play a past Grateful Dead show, song by song, and waits til the end of the show to reveal to the crowd what show they reproduced. This night however was special and unusual in that they decided to play their own set, and whether or not that's the reason, this ended up being my favorite Dark Star experience to date. They opened with a nice light 'China Cat Sunflower' which of course segued into the epic 'Know You Rider', Warren Haynes and Danny Louis joined in for 'New Speedway Boogie' and 'Goin Down the Road'. Their Goin down the Road was absolutely amazing, so amazing that after the show I was jamming with a few guys under a tent in the pouring rain and when someone started to play the riff we all decided not to even go there because of our lack of ability to do it justice. The drum and space set was incredible as well, Space tends to be hit or miss for me but this one is definitely worth listening through, I wish I had a video of the light show for it because it complemented the sounds perfectly. The set ended with a 'Shakedown' segueing into a JGB 'Tangled Up in Blue', and then they 'Bid us Goodnight' for the encore. Although the recording isn't the same as being there, I'm sure you'll be able to sense the audible ecstasy we all did that night.

Setlist: China Cat > Know You Rider, Women are Smarter, Cats under the Stars, Me and My Uncle > Big River, New Speedway Boogie* > Goin Down the Road Feelin Bad*, Feel like a Stranger, Alligator > Drums > Space > The Eleven > Shakedown > Tangled Up in Blue.
Encore: And We Bid You Goodnight
*with Warren Haynes and Danny Louis

Enjoy:

http://www.mediafire.com/?7keydxzsvund5