Akron/Family
Sub Verses
Dead Oceans
Street: 04.30
Akron/Family = late-era Swans + Steely Dan + Animal Collective + Terakaft
Sub Verses is Akron/Family’s densest, busiest and most undeniably rockist album to date. For these reasons, piled on top of their familiar vocal harmonization and expansive experimentation into the marriage of the limitless boundaries of electronic programming and the gnarled, woody heart of American rock n’ roll, Sub Verses makes the case for Akron/Family being one of the most vital groups working in rock music today. Sub Verses weaves the wandering “Desert Blues” of electrified North African bands like Terakaft and Tinariwen into their already thick sonic palate of electronic beats, guitars both gallant and scuzzed out (check out the solo on “When I Was Young,” the perfect convergence of the two), and thick, red magic-marker line connecting Stax rhythm and blues, deconstructed doo wop and the tight vocal harmonies of The Band. Sub Verses has a powerful, spiritual undercurrent that makes me believe in rock n’ roll again. –Ryan Hall