The music that shaped a semi-wasted life
John N submits a piece of the Car Seat Headrest puzzle from yesterday, the EP "Starving While Living"..... honest to God I have the greatest team of blogging helpers, a veritable all-star team.... ALL OF YOU please keep up the marvelous work!
After yesterday's posting of their early stuff, John N submits the most recent "proper" album from 
and there, she comes off like the leader of a DIY folk-inflected indie rock/punk scene, a spokesperson for a realm usually against spokespeople.
Crutchfield grew up in Alabama, naming her project after Waxahatchee Creek, where her parents have a house on a lake and where she's made a lot of her music. She's in PhiladelphiaNOW, an East Coast city that's cheaper than New York and that allows for more time to make music and just live. It follows, then, that there's a thriving scene there, too, with groups like Radiator Hospital (featuring one-time Waxahatchee member Sam Cook-Parrott) and members of her twin sister (and ex-P.S. Eliot bandmate) Allison's band Swearin', among others.her fronting a band featuring multi-instrumentalists Kyle Gilbride and Keith Spencer (both from Swearin') and still coming off very much like she did on 2012's lo-fi solo effort, American Weekend. She's managed to bring in contributors and a greater range of instrumentation without losing that approachable intimacy. 2013's Cerulean Salt technically had morePEOPLE playing on it, but Ivy Tripp just FEELSbigger, in part because Crutchfield is growing steadily more confident. The songs are more cohesive and accomplished—polished isn't the right word, butNOW and then, there is a kind of shine. Ceruleancame off like an extension of American Weekend: it surfaced just as many people were discovering the earlier record, and someLISTENERS were confused by the timeline and which came first. Ivy Tripp, her first album for Merge, feels more like a next step, something that exists on its own, and a move toward something else entirely., lacking regard for the complacent life path of our parents and grandparents." She added: "I have thought of it like this: Cerulean Salt is a solid and Ivy Tripp is a gas." ThisMAKES sense. Cerulean was an album about growing up and losing your innocence and Ivy seems to be about knowing yourself as a grown up, being in the middle of that, and figuring out what comes next. The past is definable and relatively solid; the future is more amorphous and trickier to capture or pin down. You get that sense, ofSEARCHING, of grasping at something you don't entirely understand, in the album's lyrics and overall narrative.
. On "Grey Hair" she sings: "You might, wait and see me become/ A candle, precarious psychically among/ The ill at ease, the summer breeze/ But sugar soda pop songs play on the radio." And, as she noted about the record, "I think a running theme [of Ivy Tripp] is steadying yourself on shaky ground and reminding yourself that you have control in situations that seem overwhelming." She doesn't deny the ambition either: "IGET short of breath because I can’t slow down," she sings ("Grey Hair")." in "La Loose"), unread books, and things that may or may not have already ended. "I’ll try to preserve the routine/ And I don’t want to discuss what it means," Crutchfield sings on "La Loose". People "pretend to be strangers/ Lamenting a means to an end" ("Air") and "imitate some kind of love" ("Stale By Noon") instead of just being in love. Music's an "imperfect escape" ("Half Moon"). pervades, and on a song simply titled "<" she offers an update on the Blank Generation: "You’re less than me and I am nothing," goes the chorus. Earlier, in "The Dirt", she sings "I’m a basement brimming with nothing great." In "Summer of Love", a photo of people, and not the actual people, are the subject: "The colors allure me but I can’t make out/ A face in the picture of palm trees/ The summer of love is a photo of us." "Sugar" comes up a lot—a sweet thing without a lot of substance, but that tastes good. There's a penchant for finding beauty in small gestures and situations like sleeping or refusing to leave the beach. As well as bigger ones: "You’ll deliver a fable I couldLIVE/ And I’ll throw it off the nearest cliff," she sings in "The Dirt".don't always hit as hard as some of her prior work. That said, the way the words are delivered is essential, and with a voice like Crutchfield's—both rough and clear with a slight Southern twang—a lot gets said simply in how these things are enunciated.
in the New Zealand lo-fi pop band Tall Dwarfs; Ivy Tripp has the feel of classic indie rock. You'll be reminded of other groupsHERE and there: "The Dirt" sounds a lot like the Vaselines, at least compositionally, and much of it would fit in very well at the original International Pop Underground Convention, on Simple Machines, or with '90s Merge acts like Butterglory or Bricks (the fact that she did sign to MergeMAKES perfect sense—Crutchfield and her cohorts carry the same torch as Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance). She's mentioned Joni Mitchell time again, as well as Cat Stevens, though on Ivy, you may think more about Cat Power'sWhat Would the Community Think. of the cross-pollination and familiarity, there's a casual feel to Ivy Tripp, something about it that's unhurried and relaxed. Which doesn't mean it isn't ambitious or accomplished. This is one way it's most reminiscent of the best '90s indie rock: it never feels forced or like she's making some kind of push. It's unhurried and natural and real. You also get a feeling listening to these songs that Crutchfield is justGETTING STARTED, and it's exciting to hear a young voice rising so assuredly above the fray, one you can imagine inspiring kids years from now, and inspiring them to pick up guitars and sing and take control of their direction, too.
Some respectable west coast punk from John N, I was not familiar with this one before......this band rose from the remains of Sin 34......this album, "Mind Bowling", gives a pretty good picture of the band at their best, mid-80's LA punk, not as well known as some, but not a bad effort at all.......decent album to listen to for fans of that scene!
This is a new release from a young Brooklyn trio, it really grabbed my ear......John N submitted this one and I am most grateful, possible it could be year-end list material.....these guys spew out the noise on "Love Is Hard", kind of a Dead Boys type of vibe maybe, nothing wrong with that....give this a shot, sounds great, and as always, with new releases, if there is an issue, say so, and it will be removed stat.
(scott) another submission from link-fuhrer John N, this one I do recall hearing a while back, and it's prety cool, also hard to run down. From 1970, "Feelin' Free" from Pacific Drift, a long-forgotten, but completely enjoyable piece of West Coast psych/prog.......really do recommend this one for ya!
Ok, this is from John N, was not familiar, listened to it and it is really good, AND comes with a fairly interesting story.
I'm making the assumption that this is fairly rare in that I have never known of its existence, it's 
(Scott) Another John N submission, "Guitar Freakout" By The Animated Egg has been a fave of mine and some of my bros for a while......kind of hard to explain what this is all about so I'm going to do a cut/paste thing which explains it much better than I ever could. Guitar freaks rejoice, if you are unaware of Jerry Cole, certainly time to change THAT!
Remember my Crow post from last month (1969's "Crow Music", which is a damn fine album, check it here lazy ass: growboredbigscott62.blogspot.com/2016/05/crow.html ....anyway, THAT album is rare enough, the two followups I've never seen/heard, until the LinkLord John N dropped them in my mailbox..... again, this is another case of "haven't heard em yet", likely tonight as I'm working a boring-ass night shift, but here are their two follow up efforts, if they are anywhere near the quality of the debut, I'm stoked.
Been looking around for this one for a while, of course John N had a link to it.....a very underappreciated rock/soul effort from big-voiced Nona Hendryx, late of LaBelle....this album was a critical favorite in 1977 but sank like a stone as no one could figure out how to market it......but it's a good one and still stands up well today. Hard to find, if you're interested.
John N, master of link-dom, submits another late 60's great/unknown effort, this one a bad-ass Blue 
(Ssott)- pretty sure I have this one shelves but I don't think I have posed, John N sends to me with plenty of info regarding, so seems like a great time to post it.....take it away John N, and thanks for this submission!