Akrasia
Aphrodite Kallipygos
GRAINSHARK MUSIC / LONE KNIGHTS
Akrasia, a self-proclaimed jam band that "likes to take showers," is a four-piece built around the acoustic strum and lonesome, raspy vocals of Bill Danylo. In the years since its 2001 formation in a Pitt dorm room, Akrasia has released several EPs and live CDs, and has penned -- by its count -- some 90 songs, 11 of which make up the new full-length studio album, Aphrodite Kallipygos.
On the new record, there's still a fragrant whiff of the dorm-room camaraderie that started the band, especially on lighter songs like "Norway Maple." Here, Danylo laments the loss of an old friend who has "disappeared, 'cause some girl's got his sack" with a simultaneous nod to Peter, Paul and Mary and The Barenaked Ladies (who this song unfortunately resembles): "If I had a hammer, Lord, I'd build the biggest clubhouse / as big as any man has ever seen / if I had a million dollars, I'd pay someone else to build my clubhouse."
But the thing Akrasia does best -- and they do it remarkably well -- is these sort of big, rambling, lonely rockers: "Rubiyat" and "One Big Bean," for example. Danylo wails like Cobain doing Meat Puppets covers, while Mike Buric's screamy guitar leads bring the heavy high over the clip-clop rhythms of Benji Balix (bass) and Nick-Nick Haberman (drums). In other words, some of Aphrodite Kallipygos sounds surprisingly like Crazy Horse circa Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, if Crazy Horse was a jam band. Wait ... it kinda was, wasn't it?
Akrasia CD release, with GrainSquall & The Dr. Blaze Refugees. 8:30 p.m. Sat., May 26. Sphinx Café, 401 Atwood St., Oakland. $3. 18+. 412-621-1153 or www.sphinx-cafe.com
