#allison crutchfield

[fairweathermyth]

WAXAHATCHEE/Katie Crutchfield + lyrics referencing her twin sister

Sister Saint + Noccalula + Brother Bryan + Witches + Sparks Fly

bonus: SWEARIN'/Allison Crutchfield + lyric referencing Katie + Big Change

[thewaysoundtravels]

(via Through My Sister's Eyes: Allison And Katie Crutchfield On Each Other's Music | NPR)

"NPR did something that Allison and Katie say no one's ever tried before: We interviewed each sister, separately, about the other's music. Though the two women weren't in the studio together, their memories and observations interacted as if in conversation with one another: coinciding, diverging, realigning, echoing. Maybe it's no accident that their work — together and separately — seems to do the same".

[mywifeleftme]

128: Swearin' // Swearin'

Swearin' Swearin' 2012, Salinas (Bandcamp)

I never saw Swearin’ at a house show (though the bar I did see them at held maybe 30 people), but in the same way the smell of Sambuca makes my saliva queasily thicken, the second the needle drops on their s/t I get notes of Pabst, cigarette-couch/carpet, hot scalp, the wine of an overworked fan, giggling, keys jingling on carabiners, floor-lamp lighting, amp sizzle. (Pinning this idea for a band name here: Dirty Madeleine.)

Inane tag cloud ideas: loft apartment indie; park drinking punk; bike messenger affirmations; co-opcore; foragestyle; couch surf rock.

Me, as a YouTube commenter in nine years: I made out for the second time with the first girl I ever moved in with at a Swearin’ show! We don’t talk anymore, but I hope she is well.

Anyway, Swearin’ was always my fav of the Crutchfield twins’ many projects, emerging from the breakup of Birmingham, Alabama’s fondly remembered P.S. Eliot when Allison decided to pursue her own voice as a songwriter and move to NYC. She ended up dating and forming a band with Kyle Gilbride of Big Soda, and that band was Swearin’, so now you’re caught up.

The Crutchfield Twins’ Many Projects

Pre-2007: The Ackleys (Allison + Katie) 2007-2011: P.S. Eliot (Allison + Katie) 2011-present: Waxahatchee (Katie) 2012-2015, 2017-present?: Swearin’ (Allison) 2014-2017?: Allison Crutchfield solo 2022: Plains (Katie)

Robert Christgau said of P.S. Eliot, “Always there is the sound of becoming that the young treasure for one reason and the ex-young value for quite another,” and I think he’s on to what makes both Katie and Allison’s ‘00s and early ‘10s music so appealing—though the diaristic lyrics are angsty, sometimes irritable, or glum, there’s a comforting sense that they’re cool young people who are going to be Alright in the end. Even though the people in these songs may not have the details figured out, they know what the life they want feels like—and that translates into the aesthetics of the music. For Swearin’, it’s a form of comfortably broken-in indie rock with its influences (Breeders, the Merge Records catalogue, ‘90s pop punk, Julianna Hatfield etc.) so thoroughly subsumed that it sounds whole. Gilbride’s a big vocal presence here as well, his adenoidal whine a welcome contrast to Allison’s unfussed ‘90s alternative vibe. He takes lead on one of the self-titled’s real winners, the irresistible problem-party-guest narrative “Crashin’,” complete with a riff and solo that’d get a goofy thumbs up from the boys in Superchunk.

An album that is top-to-bottom charming like this one only needs a single stone classic to stay in the rotation for the long haul, and Swearin’ has one in “Just.” It’s an all-time romantic song in my personal canon, headlong as a crazy kiss in an alley, popping ‘60s girl group poses in the verses, with a chorus as elemental as they come. Crutchfield’s lyrics don’t miss either, mingling hesitation (“Closed off from love / I didn’t need the pain”) and dizzy desire (“I knew you had me the night we met / my empty room dripping wet / make believe we’re in my bed”).

Other Choice Words:

“Tennessee River, a drunken relapse / And her new girlfriend, she’s got a new girlfriend now.” (“Movie Star”) “Kings of the Airwaves / deprive and depraved / Fruit from the market / Demo tape cassette” (“Hundreds & Thousands”) “An artist’s mind / is stimulated by the aesthetic / I don’t know about art / but I think your music’s shit.” (“Fat Chance”)

Swearin’ cut a second very good record before calling it quits when Gilbride and Crutchfield broke things off, but they had a fine comeback with 2018’s Fall into the Sun, and I surely wouldn’t mind more from them. Consider this a call for like, Steve Malkmus to dial them up next time Pavement needs an opening act. Let’s do this.

128/365

[fionaapplerocks]

A wee list of musicians who are on record with their love for Fiona Apple / influence by her music:

Adia Victoria Aimee Mann Amanda Palmer Anoushka Lucas Annie Clark (St Vincent) Ariana Grande BANKS Billy Howerdel (A Perfect Circle) Caroline Polachek Christine and the Queens Corin Tucker (Sleater-Kinney) Dave Grohl Ben Weinman (Dillinger Escape Plan) Donald Glover (Childish Gambino) Emilee Petersmark (The Crane Wives) Florence Welch (Florence and the Machine) Gabriel Kahane (composer)

Halsey Hayley Kiyoko Hayley Williams (Paramore) Ingrid Laubrock (jazz saxophone) Jack Antonoff Janelle Monae Jason Isbell Jay-Z Jenny Lewis John Legend Julia Michaels Kanye West Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee) Katy Perry Kenny Mason Lady Gaga Lars Ulrich (Metallica) Lauren Mayberry (Chvrches) Lil Nas X Lin-Manuel Miranda Lindsey Jordan (Snail Mail) Lorde Madison Cunningham Magdalena Bay MARINA Maya Hawke Melanie Martinez Michelle Zauner (Japanese Breakfast) Natalie Maines (The Chicks) Olivia Rodrigo Mike Hadeas (Perfume Genius) Phoebe Bridgers Rina Sawayama Robin Pecknold (Fleet Foxes) Samia Sara Bareilles ('Little Voice' book) Shirley Manson (Garbage ) Sky Ferreira Solange Knowles Sondre Lerche Sophie Allison (Soccer Mommy) St. Vincent Tegan and Sarah Vanessa Carlton Yuna Zoe Kravitz

[dustedmagazine]

Ratboys — The Window (Topshelf)

Ratboys are a boisterous, emotions-on-sleeves indie rock band out of Chicago on the verge of something big. The band, which started as a duo but now includes four regular members, has five full-lengths to its credit, including this one. Although you could trace an arc from mid-teens basic rock to early 2020s Crutchfield-adjacent twangy mayhem, these albums have a consistent core. The Ratboys sound centers around the yelping, gulping, volatile singing of one Julia Steiner and a ferocious guitar racket courtesy of the other founder Dave Sagan.

This album begins in a buzz of feedback and the album’s hardest-charging beat and riffery. It’s called “Making Noise for the Ones You Love,” and indeed, it busts out the doors and grabs the ears, whether Ratboys loves you or not. Marcus Nuccio wallops the skins off his kits behind this one, kayo-ing the beat with reckless abandon, while big spirals of rock guitar arc off the primitive assault. But it’s Steiner’s keening, confiding, sharp-edged vocals that catch you up. She can wail like a banshee or sing conversationally, with a little rasp on her finish and a chirruping high range that cuts through the mix. She sounds a little like the Beths’ Elizabeth Stokes and a whole lot like Allison Crutchfield, especially her work in Swearin’ which has a similar volume and aggression.

Not all of these cuts turn up to 11. The title, for instance, is relatively quiet, a mesh of nearly folky picking and Steiner in a sweeter, more country mode. The song, she says, is about her grandparents in the pandemic, her grandmother in a nursing home, her grandfather unable to visit, only allowed to view his life partner through a window. It’s a beautiful, heartbreaking song, full of rapturous, anthemic guitars and soaring choruses, and Steiner gets a full helping of emotion without sentimentality.

“It’s Alive,” is maybe the best song here, with its cool toned, contemplative verses and its lit-on-fire surging chorus. There are big bloopy slide notes and tamped back palm mutes in a song that swirls and eddies around a rock-solid rhythmic core. And again, those vocals, crazy excess and sweet solace wrapped up together with a wild bird’s cry in there somewhere. You can’t take your ear off someone this fascinating and unpredictable. She swoops and swoons and growls like Kristin Hersh but more country, and it’s worth a listen just to hear what she’ll do next.

Jennifer Kelly

[uglygirlstatus]

🎧🎧

[theeverlastingshade]

Tigers Blood- Waxahatchee

It's a rare thing for an artist to follow up a critical/commercial pinnacle with a record just as assured and well-realized. It's even rarer if the follow-up in question doubles down on the sound of the breakthrough without coming off like a collection of lackluster diminishing returns. Earlier this year Katie Crutchfield (aka Waxahatchee) accomplished just that with the release of her highly anticipated 6th LP, Tigers Blood, which is the follow-up to her seminal 2020 LP, Saint Cloud. Joined once again by veteran indie producer Brad Cook for another collection of songs steeped in the country-rock stylings that defined SC, TB is the less emotionally urgent but no less accomplished follow-up that swaps the stark sobriety tribulations for a thematic lens that hones in on that storm's aftermath. TB isn't nearly as revelatory as SC, but it's another very strong record that proves that there's still plenty of inspiration for Katie to mine from the latter's playbook.

While many of the songs on TB are cut so faithfully from the SC playbook that they could have fit neatly on that record, there are a few welcome new wrinkles that differentiate TB. The overall sound of TB is more muscular than SC, and it occasionally draws from the sound of Katie's earlier, lo-fi indie rock records with passages of driving, distorted guitars and visceral drumming felt most acutely on single/highlight "Bored". There's also the lingering presence of modern indie rock phenom MJ Lenderman, who plays guitar on most of these songs, and contributes vocals to a few. Katie's duet with Lenderman on single "Right Back To It" is one of her sharpest love songs to date, and Lenderman's resigned tone lends the music a gnarly twist that doesn't really exist anywhere else in her music but nevertheless feels right at home. TB feels like the least notable sonic evolution of any of her records to date, which is understandable given the success of and her satisfaction with SC, and it makes the few tweaks that emerge here and there that much more satisfying.

While I generally prefer the fuzzier lo-fi sound of Katie's earlier records to the tidier compositional approach of her last two LPs, both SC and TB sound like the fullest realizations of her sound and ultimately the records she's been building towards since her halcyon days playing with her sister Allison in the beloved but short lived Saddle Creek core outfit, P.S. Elliot. Cook amplifies the warmth of Katie's voice at every turn, and whether she's absolutely soaring like on "Bored" or tenderly drawing out every syllable like on opener “3 Sisters”, her voice sounds more dynamic and expressive than ever before. Even the wordless coos on "Ice Cold" convey worlds of feeling, and it's hard not to be swept up in the pure, timbral pleasures of Katie’s vocal delivery. The twangier edge of the instrumentation that's very much in conversation with country rock and heartland rock but not necessarily a wholehearted embrace of either form wears a little thin for me on a few songs like "Lone Star Lake" that veer close to serviceable stock arrangements that fail to elevate her writing, but these instances are far and few between. 

Throughout TB Katie’s songwriting seem to survey what settling into a life of sobriety looks like for her, warts and all. The singles “Right Back to It” and “Bored” unfold as two different sides of the same thematic coin as the former finds Katie achieving something like contentment in the predictability of resolution in a relationship with someone you can depend on “But you just settle in/Like a song with no end/If I can keep up/We’ll get right back to it” while the latter has her reflecting on the dissolution of a friendship “’Cause my spine’s a rotted two-by-four/Barely hanging on/My benevolence is barreling hanging on/I get bored”. The record’s other single/centerpiece, “365”, is a particularly striking glimpse of heightened co-dependency filling the void of some other substance delivered with candor and sublime precision “I catch your poison arrow/I catch your same disease/Bow like a weeping willow/Buckling at the knees/Begging you please”. The songs on TB are among the most direct and devastating that Katie has ever written, each rendered with the experience of a life fraught with no shortage of internal demons and the wisdom that comes from facing them head on. The sound of TB is the sound of perseverance, and it’s a sound that Katie wields to remarkable effect.

Essentials: "Bored", "Right Back to It" ft. MJ Lenderman, "Crowbar"

[jeremypmeyers-blog]

So long, 45.

Note: this is a draft that I wrote in 2018 but didn’t post until 2023. I am now 50, and 2022 was a pretty great year, all things considered! 2018 was a rough year for me. But there was a lot of beauty in it, and I felt like I managed to keep moving forward despite a lot of setbacks. Here are the things that I found to enjoy along the way, or that helped to propel me along.

Culture

Music: Reissue of the Voyager Golden Record, Ozma Records. In a year in which our culture seems to be in retreat, turning inward and nursing resentments, it’s helpful to contemplate a time when we decided to embark on a project to understand our universe better and to capture a representation of all of our humanity to share with it. Voyager 1 is now 13 billion miles away from us, and it has carried this “message in a bottle” outside our solar system. I hope that by the the time it is found, we have regained some of the curiosity and optimism that Voyager’s launch represented. The box set is beautiful to look at, and the Related: The Farthest (a documentary on the Voyager mission and the curation of the Golden Record) and this article about the engineers who have been guiding Voyager’s journey for 40 years.

Music: Phoebe Bridgers, Stranger In the Alps.  As it turns out, I listened to a LOT of younger female singers and female-fronted bands this year (Bridgers, Vagabon, Diet Cig, Jay Som, Alyeska, Big Thief, Japanese Breakfast, Allison Crutchfield), at the same time that my streaming history suggests that I sought a lot of solace in familiar dad rock. Even before it became apparent that one of the trends of 2017 was a resurgent feminism, I found that these women just had more compelling things to say than most of their indie rock male counterparts this year. Among those strong female voices, Phoebe Bridgers’s debut album really stood out for me. Her songs are confessional without being maudlin or self-serving, and the album combines folk arrangement with gorgeous production and delivers melodies that I am compelled to sing along with. I linked to the video for “Motion Sickness” because it’s one of the more uptempo numbers on the album, but the track that drew me in was “Funeral.”

Music: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers 40th Anniversary Tour. Tom Petty released Full Moon Fever when I was a senior in high school. The summer after I graduated, several of my friends and I drove the 80 miles to go see Tom and the Heartbreakers play at the Summit in Houston, TX. They blew the roof off the joint and provided the soundtrack for most of my college years and a lot of the years after. I drifted away from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers after Into the Great Wide Open disappointed me, but my favorite songs of his never left heavy rotation for me. After Bowie and Prince died in 2016 without my having seen them perform, I vowed not to let any of my other favorites come around on tour again without seeing them play live. The Heartbreakers’ show at the Frank Erwin Center this May was one of the highlights of my year, and when Tom Petty died in October, I was sad but felt fortunate that I’d gotten to see him go out at the top of his game.

Music: Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, The Nashville Sound. 

Book: Stories of Your Life and Others, Ted Chiang. I didn’t read as much as I should have this year, but this collection of short stories that I discovered after seeing the movie Arrival blew me away.

Other: Diana crosses No Man’s Land in Wonder Woman. The Millennium Falcon joins the fray in The Last Jedi. Loot train! Mike Ehrmantraut silently takes apart a gas cap on Better Call Saul. Steve and Dustin’s unlikely friendship in Stranger Things 2. The Big Sick. “The Watch” podcast. “Pod Save America.” 

Fitness

Training with Beckie Lough at Austin Simply Fit. I’ve been working out with Beckie as my personal trainer since late 2015, and I’ve finally gotten through some initial problems with form and old nagging injuries (see below). Beckie has trained me, encouraged me, and gotten me to appreciate weight training as an end unto itself instead of just cross-training to prevent injuries on my runs.

OrangeTheory Fitness. Orange Theory is an hour-long interval training workout class. You wear a heart-rate monitor and are encouraged to adjust your effort to keep your heart rate in various target zones (the orange zone is the target which gives the workout chain its name). It alternates between treadmill and weight room activities. I go 2-3 days a week at 5am 

Next Level Physical Therapy. I’ve had less-than-great posture for years, and it has taken its toll. While I’ve always gotten regular exercise, strength training wasn’t part of my routine until recently. When I finally started trying to get stronger, I found that I was really limited by weakness in my shoulder, with tightness, knots, and crunchiness that restricted my movement and precluded making gains. I’ve tried a few different physical therapists going back to 2014, but this is the first one I’ve found that really made a difference.

Waterloo Sparkling Water. I try to drink a gallon of water per day, and I find that my enthusiasm for the habit peters out later in the day. Topo Chico is great, but those iconic glass bottles get expensive. Austin local chain

RX Bars. Even as an omnivore/carnivore, I find it a little bit hard to ingest all the protein that the books tell me that I need.

Things

Bombas socks. I’ve been using the same gym socks for nearly 20 years. Not the same brand, mind you-- the same pairs of socks. I kept seeing the ads for Bombas show up on my FB feed, and I decided to try them out. They really are comfortable, thick, snuggly, great for wearing with your feet up on the couch on a cold day without feeling like they’re too thick or too hot on a run. The honeycomb structure that provides support on the mid arch really does make a significant difference, and getting rid of the seam across the toe is great, too. I’ve gotten rid of all of my old socks and replaced them with these and my feet have never been happier. You can feel good about your purchase, too: they donate a pair to homeless shelters for every pair you buy.

Lego brick separator. This thing costs just $2.49, though it’s also included in some of the larger Lego sets. and it is one of the most useful pieces of plastic I’ve ever encountered. It helps separate Lego tiles that are stuck together and hard to get leverage on. My son and I each have one now and it makes short work of de-constructing Lego sets to get ready for the next build. I shudder to think how often I used sharp blades in precarious ways to achieve the same result less effectively in my youth.

Experiences

Wearing a tie to work.

Bonus stuff: Phoebe Bridgers covering Tom Petty’s “It’ll All Work Out”

[inmygroove]

Bowen Yang, Katie Crutchfield, and Allison Crutchfield at the Forest Hills Stadium Waxahatchee concert, July 31, 2021

[waterturnsback]

if we sleep together, will it make it any better?

[mergerecords]

Verified @bandcamp Friday is here. All proceeds from today's digital sales are going to our artists, many of which are directing their revenue to various causes. Additionally, we have some new releases available today, also supporting some great causes. See all the details below.

New (or new to Bandcamp) releases:

The Clientele – “Closer” (100% of proceeds for the next year to Black Lives Matter) Fruit Bats – Found a Round Stone: Live in Portland (100% of proceeds to Black Futures Lab) Bob Mould – “American Crisis” (100% of proceeds to OutFront Minnesota and Black Visions Collective through June 7) Superchunk – Clambakes Vols. 1–6, 8 & 9 live show archival series (100% of Volume 10's proceeds are still supporting NC Community Bail Fund of Durham and Durham FEAST) TORRES - "Too Big For The Glory Hole" (100% of proceeds toady to Loveland Therapy Fund)

Additionally, more of our fantastic roster of artists are graciously donating their revenue tomorrow to the following organizations:

A Giant Dog: 100% of proceeds to 400+1 Bail Fund Austin and LGBTQ Freedom Fund Apex Manor: 100% of proceeds to NAACP Legal Defense Fund Richard Buckner: 100% of proceeds to Black Lives Matter Caribou: 100% of proceeds to Progressives Everywhere Bail Fund Distribution and NAACP Legal Defense Fund Mikal Cronin: 100% of proceeds to Loveland Therapy Fund Allison Crutchfield: 100% of proceeds to Los Angeles Action Bail Fund Flock of Dimes: 100% of proceeds to BYP100 Durham Gauche: 100% of proceeds to Black Trans Femme in the Arts Collective Hiss Golden Messenger: 100% of proceeds from Forward, Children continue to support students in the Durham Public Schools system) Joyero: 100% of proceeds to BYP100 Durham The Love Language: 100% of proceeds to Showing Up for Racial Justice the Mountain Goats: 100% of proceeds to Richmond Community Bail Fund, NC Community Bail Fund of Durham, and Good Call NYC Sacred Paws: 100% of proceeds to Black Lives Matter UK Swearin’: 100% of proceeds to Philly Community Bail Fund Telekinesis: 100% of proceeds to NAACP Legal Defense Fund Titus Andronicus: 100% of proceeds to National Lawyers Guild and NAACP Legal Defense Fund William Tyler: 100% of proceeds to Gideon’s Army Nashville Wye Oak: 100% of proceeds to BYP100 Durham

[billyfour]

[thebowerypresents]

Mike Krol Returns to His Old Neighborhood to Play Rough Trade NYC

Mike Krol – Rough Trade NYC – March 5, 2019

I have a strange theory about some of the bands I’m constantly seeking out. When it comes to big, loud rock, I tend to gravitate toward acts that seem like they would be the favorite band of a teenager in a cartoon show. Bands like Guided by Voices, Cheap Trick, the Who (probably the influence behind the Beets on the show Doug), and more recently the force of nature that is the band A Giant Dog, all encompass the quality that transports the listener to a place a little bit removed from reality. That is the feeling you get while listening to the off-kilter and blissed out lo-fi garage rock of Mike Krol.

Over the past decade, Krol has released four records of homespun power pop that explode out of your speakers and ricochet around your brain. His newest album, Power Chords, is his second on Merge Records and is his most concise and focused release to date. Song after song and hook after hook, the LP never lets up and is definitely the frontrunner for the most fun record you will hear in 2019. The singer-songwriter brought his band to Brooklyn last night for a sold-out show at Rough Trade NYC.

While Krol’s high-pitched, distorted vocals and crunchy guitars are his musical touchstones, he’s always made sure that his albums’ aesthetics and how his band dresses are crucial parts of his presentation. On the tour for his last record, Turkey, they performed clad in police uniforms. For this tour, his band—including Krol’s girlfriend, Swearin’ frontwoman Allison Crutchfield, on bass—dressed in matching faded pink dress shirts and wore makeup to make it look like they’d just been in an intense brawl in Rough Trade NYC’s used section.

Krol, with a fresh black eye, instantly commanded the crowd as he wrapped the microphone wire around his neck and warbled drawled-out vocals, occasionally flipping on a delay effect to send them echoing out of control. He was made to be a frontman, and his onstage presence simultaneously felt both dangerous and graceful. The crowd was all for it as well, singing along feverishly to tracks like Power Chords single “What’s the Rhythm” and the infectious apocalyptic love song “Fifteen Minutes.” The group churned out one song after another in an economy that would make the Ramones proud, with Krol only talking once, to introduce the band and to tell the audience about his amazement of being able to play to a packed crowd in his old neighborhood.

After the main set finished, Krol told a story of how there was one band that made him want to leave home in Milwaukee to go to art school in NYC. He then brought out Crutchfield’s twin sister, Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield, to do a spirited and faithful cover of the Strokes “Hard To Explain.” Upon concluding the song, Krol wasted no time to blow by the applause and finish strong with two more numbers. That seems to be his ethos, always onto the next one. Who needs time to breathe? —Pat King | @MrPatKing

[incalculablepower]

my generation is not stoic or serene i'm gonna make a lot of money and i'm gonna quit this crazy scene!

[fortherecordpodcast]

For the Record #93: Swearin's "Fall into the Sun"

Swearin' is originally from Philadelphia and broke up three years ago when members Allison Crutchfield and Kyle Gilbride ended their romantic relationship. But, now, five years after their last album, they're back with an insightful record that tells the story of moving on after a breakup from two different perspectives. We discuss "Fall into the Sun" in-depth on episode #93 of "For the Record."

Episode link: http://fortherecordpodcast.com/podcasts/media/2018-10-21_ftr-episode-93-swearin-fall-into-the-sun.mp3

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Stream the episode via your browser here:

Or tune in to BFF.fm to hear us every other Thursday at 9:30am!