How do you say akron family

So, to address the hippie thing, when the Dead came out, when they were starting and playing these happenings, it wasn't even about aesthetic success. It was about opening minds and everybody taking acid and having this crazy trip. I just read it recently, that thing, and I wasn't a fan. But there was one quote that was Mountain Girl [a Merry Prankster married to Jerry Garcia] saying that they were just impressed anyone was willing to get up and play at the acid test, to have the balls to get up in that environment and play something.

It's really hard to address because there are so many layers. I feel like we can say one thing and people will think it's ironic. I don't even know how we can address it in this format for Pitchfork in a way that speaks genuinely to the issue without whoever's reading it taking it in whatever ratio of irony to sincerity.

It's not that I feel like what we're trying to say or do is so bold. It's just that It just doesn't fit squarely into either side. Since we began and we played Tonic, it's like, "Shit, we're not as out as this group that does this one drone thing," but if we play at this one place, we're not just doing this Interpol thing.

Are we ostracizing people? Are we accepting more people? Are we just watered down? For some people, that's what Phish sounds like: They're not bluegrass, they're not reggae, they're not a rock band. I think we've dealt with that since we've started. SO: But, to me, that's the beauty. Dana is listening to R.

Kelly and maybe that comes into our music some way, aesthetically or compositionally. I don't think any of us ever consider many things too far out to consider adding to the mix. I think that's just kind of the way we've all approached it. That's the way I've always approached music, and, in any situation I've ever been, I don't feel like it's been the easiest for me.

When I was at school playing jazz, I wanted to approach it this way. It's not because I feel I'm a misunderstood composer or anything. I have a tendency to want to have a more holistic approach to music and to life, and it's something I see myself personally doing for a long time and getting better. All this will make more sense in 10 years when it turns into this other thing, so it doesn't make any sense to limit what we do to anything because of boundaries of style. SO: Or more like fashion, even.

As I've grown up and gotten out of New York City, for me-- I love New York-- but it's helped to come to a place that I'm from and get to be a little bit closer to the Earth. No one here's ever even heard of Pitchfork. I've realized that Pitchfork is really pretty cool, and it's amazing because I've had friends who have gone on to great success because of it. And we've had some, too.

Some people look at us as "the darlings of Pitchfork. It's all a big mindgame, this media thing, but I think we're learning to trust in our own sense of what we want to do and achieve. The hoped-for longevity of it is that it will all come out in the mix. Was that always the goal--to avoid easy definition-- or is this sound achieving some sort of definition for you? MS: We never talked about wanting to make X kind of music.

That's actually never been a conversation we've ever had. DJ: The realistic way we went about it was to go at the rehearsal space at a. That's pretty how much we defined a lot of what would come out of us in the early stages. SO: And I think we were recording a lot at home too and sending those demos to labels and then going and playing rock shows.

I feel like we always just kind of jumped in. It happened to us in retrospect. I think the first time we had to address it was when Michael Gira came out and was like, "All right, I want to put out a record. How do we write a bio? Who are we? What do we look like?

SO: Yeah, you have to at a certain point because they're going to write up a bio, and there's going to be press, and you're going to go on tour. That was when we first tried to put it within a parameter that we fit. SO: To me, it was like a collection of what we had done. It wasn't full in a way, and I still feel like we're still working on living up to our potential.

Not to say we're beyond wondering what we are. People ask all the time. MS: The real thing is that irony can become real delicious, and cynicism and irony can become really comforting and they can become a way to protect people. The thing that I admire the most in seeing musicians playing-- the thing that I look for and the thing that I relate to-- is stuff that puts that at stake: that comfort and that security.

It can be because it's really beautiful, personal. There's a certain feeling that I'm looking for, and for me it's more of a broad sort of thing instead of just this aesthetic parameter. If you're going to communicate anything to people, there's a level of, "No, this is sincere," even if it's goofy or whatever. This guy was screaming at us at the show we played in Las Vegas, and he was over on my side: "Fuck you. Get the fuck out of here.

When we play for a room of people, I always want them to turn up the lights enough so that I can see the people. When we do certain things and I see people smile, that to me, that's amazing. That was what makes this the best job in the world. That's what makes this spectacular and really amazing. I want to say that to someone, and I really feel completely blessed to be able to have that be something that I get to do.

That's amazing, but if I say that, at the back of my mind, I'm a little nervous that that's going to be taken as me being just ironic. I definitely want to do something that's beyond just making cool music. I want to make people smile. I want to do my part in that way to make people happy. I feel like that's a way I can really contribute to the world, and I want to do that.

And if it doesn't feel like I'm able to do that, then I'd rather just get a regular job and do this on the side just to have fun and make songs. When did that happen for you? MS: Being in this band was a huge part of it. When I played punk rock, I was young and upset. I wanted to move people but I wanted to move people to look at what was wrong, which I think is a natural thing for people that are 15 years old. They're looking at things that are wrong a lot of the time, so it's a reflection of that.

But really playing in this band, once we started performing and started touring and started having things happening, I started to see that, "Oh, well, now I'll be in a position I've always thought about that to a certain extent, but when we started touring, you see audiences and start to feel, "This is a place I can do good in the world. It's actually something that I believe is a tangible way I can benefit, rather than canvassing or doing some kind of political act. That's a way to really contribute.

That's a real gift to me. It comes back to that family or community aspect, too. Skip to content Search query All Results. Pitchfork is the most trusted voice in music. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Open share drawer. Miles Seaton: I got the command to calm down? MS: Oh, ok. Yeah, to come down. MS: Neither of us knew how to do it, but we did it.

Dana Janssen: Or DJ: We had some people from MySpace? DJ: Sir Licks-a-Lot? MS: That's a good idea. SO: Really, that comes back to community, too. You think about jazz and DJ: Even folk.

SO: Yeah, totally. Those are things that are not scenes. It's a community. At best, because it tries to combine all those three things, it's not as distinct as any one of the past three recordings. Even if Ryan had stayed, I feel like we had hit this place where we were in need of reinvention-- of space, of time.

DJ: It's more than an option. It's something we're doing. MS: With that also comes the effortlessness of playing so fucking well. DJ: The hippie thing? Like inviting a hippie to a show as opposed to being a hippie? SO: No, I think he's talking about jam band stuff and But it's just as easy to extrapolate singularly catchy tracks as it is to digest the album in its totality. Opener "Before and Again" condenses the band's selling points into a multifarious folk farrago, replete with bucolic acoustic plucks, string swells, chirruping synths, and ambient sounds.

Occasionally they bust out with some noize, like the mushrooming electric gee-tar solo on "Suchness", but any departure from the band's typical whisper feels like a wail. Half of the album's sonic density comes from white noise, but unlike, say, The Glow, pt. II , it's used for layering, never as a stopgap between songs. Is this what Animal Collective would sound like if Avey and Panda turned down the synth faders and slapped on a fresh coat of Americana?

With a rubbery groove and motormouth chanting, opening track "Everyone Is Guilty" is the album's schizophrenic monster jam Stereogum, USA. They were the best show of the night. One continuous freakout that touched the highlights of their new record, easily their best Pop Matters, USA. The family is devastated that this is still even a question. Skip to content. Watch Live. First Alert Weather. First Alert Science School. Gas Prices. Bridging the Great Health Divide. Health Updates.

Spot The Signs Opioid Crisis.