Live Reviews

Caught in a jam

Akron/Family, Middle East Upstairs, February 13, 2007

By JOE BERNARDI | February 14, 2007

Akron/Family

I have a hard time buying the fact that Akron/Family don’t know exactly what they’re doing. Their live set involves approximately 30% actual songs, 40% of what I guess would be called “jamming,” and 30% of what I’d file under “jamming” if there were twice as much going on.

Their live arrangements and renditions of their recorded songs are spectacular, and during their highlights I found myself forgetting about the fifteen minutes of noodling that had gotten us there. Such peaks were short-lived, though, and soon the audience was plunged into another section of mediocre improvisation. The bulk of their two-hour set consisted of alternating between these jams and arrangements.

The most severe case, though, took place roughly 75% of the way through their set at the Middle East last night. After finishing up a new song, Akron/Family proceeded to “jam” for around twenty minutes, going nowhere melodically and at some points keeping their sound so quiet that the creaking bathroom door of the Middle East Upstairs severely upset whatever atmosphere the band was trying to create. The show was sold out, but foot traffic to the bar, the bathroom, and even the exit started to increase, rapidly. People began to play with their phones and silently size each other’s reactions up.

Soon enough, though, the band transitioned into “Sorrow Boy,” one of the more memorable songs from their self-titled record. As soon as the crowd finished their text messages and side conversations, the sense of the band winning them back was palpable. Their rendition of “Raise the Sparks,” probably their most energetic song to begin with, was one of the more engaging, exciting performances I’ve seen in a long time. They closed their set with awkward, tacked-on beatboxing and I left the room wondering what I’d just witnessed and how in hell I’d possibly develop a coherent opinion on it.

The jamming is self-indulgent, obviously, and I don’t necessarily have a problem with that. I have an odd soft spot for bands that have occasional fun at the audience’s expense. But Akron/Family doesn’t seem confrontational enough for that. Either they simply don’t notice the audience consistently losing interest in the same parts of their nightly two hour-set, or they’re playing an ingeniously elaborate performance-art joke.

Either way, when Akron/Family is on, they’re on, and the part of your brain that makes you forget how much things hurt is causing my memories of the jams to fade. I’ll probably look back fondly upon the show, but if Akron/Family could only rein in their jams and make it more about tension and release instead of playing with the knobs on their distortion pedals and loop stations for ten minutes at a time, I wouldn’t have to consciously forget such a large percentage of their set.