Waxahatchee Takes LA, pt I

AN EVENING AT ELOY AND ALI'S:

WAXAHATCHEE

KATE BERLANT

GIRLPOOL

GIL OZERI and JOHN GEMBERLING
 MEGAN KOESTER

KYLE GILBRIDE

27 APRIL, 2015

Nestled on a hillside in Glassell Park, Los Angeles, the humble abode of Eloy Lugo and Ali Koehler served once again as host to an electrifying evening of acoustic music and comedy. Putting their own particular stamp on the house show scene, the evening encapsulated their family approach to crafting shows, featuring a stellar lineup, including comedians Kate Berlant, Megan Koester, and a great improv set from Gil Ozeri and John Gemberling. Representing the music side were Kyle Gilbride and current tour mates Girlpool and Waxahatchee.

On the music side, the ball got rolling with an acoustic appearance from Kyle Gilbride, member of Swearin' and Indie producer of note. Cutting down to the core of his songs raised the emotional stakes, and a moving take on "Curdled" raised a high bar for the evening to come. When misfortune struck and he went blank on the lyrics for "Empty Head", it couldn't have happened in a better place, as Waxahatchee's Katie Crutchfield was perfectly placed for prompts. He pulled it off, and if anything, it underlined the familial nature of the evening.

New Philadelphia residents Girlpool returned to their home base, previewing songs from their forthcoming LP, Before The World Was Big, and their guitar and bass sound, heavy on the harmonies, is just right for the setting. The title track and "Chinatown" stood out, as well as an eagerly received version of "Plants and Worms" from last year's self-titled EP. Sadly, after this LP comes out, moments like this will become all to rare, and are to be cherished. Girlpool aficionado Willow Smith made the scene, adding an extra panache to the proceedings.

Setting the stage for a sold out appearance at the Roxy, Katie Crutchfield dialed up Waxahatchee magic in solo form, working through an acoustic set before a locked in audience, and the major focus point became reminding oneself to breathe. Not content with her barely a month old Ivy Tripp, Crutchfield premiered a brand new song, along with acoustic renditions of Ivy tracks, "La Loose" and "Summer Of Love", as well as American Weekend standards "Bathtub", "Grass Stain", and finishing with her staple "Noccalula".

 WAXAHATCHEE

 

 

 

GIRLPOOL

 

 

 

 KATE BERLANT

 

 KYLE GILBRIDE

 

 

This Is Our Music: Waxahatchee/Swearin'/Upset live

WAXAHATCHEE

SWEARIN'

UPSET

EAGLE ROCK CENTER FOR THE ARTS

05 DECEMBER, 2013

Waxahatchee

Swearin'

Upset

In a welcome change of pace, December, usually a run-off month for shows at best, has spawned some monsters. In what could very well be the best value-per-dollar bill of the year, the Center For The Arts Eagle Rock welcomed an FYF presentation of Waxahatchee, Swearin', and LA's Upset on Thursday night. More than most bills, it was a uniform presentation, unfolding neatly over the night as a movement in three acts: Confrontation, Abandon, and Catharsis.

Upset has been on our radar lately, with October and November slots at the Echoplex, and it was up to them to kick things off, betraying a certain nervousness in stage manner, but certainly not in execution. Perhaps it was the gravity of the lineup, but they had nothing to fear, as the audience could certainly be considered a home crowd. Once they started playing, everything fell into place, and went accordingly. This evening's twist was a reversion to the Mark I lineup that recorded the LP, with Katie Goodman (Vivian Girls, La Sera, Kickball Katie) carving out time from her hella busy schedule to rejoin the fold. They maintained their core set from the debut album, and aside from running order, the cool change up was a blistering 7 Seconds cover. Taking it head on, Upset emerged victorious.

Swearin' filled the middle slot, and proceeded to lay waste to the proceedings. Fronted by Allison Crutchfield, (sister of Waxahatchee's Katie Crutchfield), and Kyle Gilbride (Producer of Upset's She's Gone), they parlayed ragged but right harmonies, (reminiscent of X's John Doe and Exene Cervanka), and an electrifying band into a short but brutal set, drawing in equal measures from their two studio albums. The unstoppable "Kenosha", from their debut, was an early highlight, and the set took flight with "Echo Locate" from November's Surfing Strange. and built to a fiery climax with "Young", "Crashing", and "Dust In The Gold Sack".

NYC by way of Alabama-Waxahatchee is Katie Crutchfield, the solo project that spawned last years American Weekend, now fleshed into a full band. Crutchfield undersold the set as "...ready for a bunch of sad songs?", then proceeded to turn what on lp are lullabies of grief into projectiles of pain and anger. Working tightly with the band, it was expected that the acoustic songs from American Weekend would be transformed, but even the tunes from this year's winning Cerulean Salt were goosed up hard in intensity. It was difficult to imagine anyone topping the full frontal assault of Swearin', but with a neat sidestep and a healthy clutch of songs from one of the year's best albums, Waxahatchee cut deep.

Scenes of the night that will stay with me for a long time were seeing Alison Crutchfield front and center in the audience for Upset, watching Ali Koehler air-drumming and singing during Waxahatchee, and seeing Kyle Gilbride singing along nowhere near a mic during Swearin'. Unlike the vibes of many multi-band shows, this was family, a well-matched night of musical and emotional connections.