There seems to be a legion of American underground bands blending bucolic electronics with folk weirdness these days so it seems appropriate that two of these should be sharing a bill. First up is Michael Houck a.k.a. Pitchfork-approved off-kilter troubadour, Phosphorescent.
Houck's recently-released second album, Pride is currently the subject of much chatter in the blogosphere and it isn't hard to see why. Making full use of his effects pedal, Houck cuts a solitary figure onstage but makes up for it with liberal usage of live looping techniques, used to great effect on a unifying closing cover of 'Suspicious Minds'. It's on the more intimate, Will Oldham-esque songs that he really excels though, like the beguiling 'Cocaine Lights'. Definitely one to watch.
Akron/Family are a different proposition altogether though. Coming with an in-built pedigree and a fearsome live reputation, they start promisingly with a couple of lithe, groove-laden, yet hushed numbers, before disappearing up their collective rectum with copious amounts of freeform wibbling and noodling.
It all culminates in an astonishing, rowdy run through of 'Ed Is A Portal' but, for me, they hadn't done enough to deserve the rapturous applause and pogoing that accompanies it. Akron/Family need to spend more time tweaking the finer points of their live show and learn how to manage the peaks and troughs of their set (tonight is wildly uneven) if they're ever to be considered a truly special band. Phosphorescent, on the other hand, is almost there.
http://www.highvoltage.org.uk/displaydemoreview.asp?num=3345&band=1401
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In principle, a good happen, support the views of the author
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