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Hi.

Welcome to This Awful/Awesome Life! My name is Frances Joyce. I am the publisher and editor of this magazine. We'll be exploring different topics each month to inform, entertain and inspire you. Meet new authors, sharpen your brain and pick up a few tips on life, love, entertaining and business. Enjoy and please share!

My online magazine, thisawfulawesomelife.com
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Gotta love grunge when your name is Lanegan.

What's on Your January 2021 Playlist? by Christian Joyce

Frances Joyce
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Saint Cloud is the fifth studio album by Katie Crutchfield who performs as Waxahatchee. The Detroit-based band Bonny Doon is featured on this album. It was released March 27, 2020 on the Merge label. For this album, Crutchfield has moved away from indie-rock and embraced the folk and Americana music that inspired her to become a singer songwriter. It is a return to her country roots and her first album since embracing sobriety. Crutchfield cites several country music icons as her inspirations - Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, and Lucinda Williams. The album has received critical acclaim and high praise for her songwriting abilities which have been compared with Bob Dylan at his peak.

Crutchfield grew up in Birmingham, Alabama listening to country music. As teenagers, Crutchfield and her twin sister, Allison formed the feminist punk band P.S. Eliot. They performed together until 2011 when they dis-banded and Katie started performing as Waxahatchee (the name of a creek in Alabama). Now in her early thirties and sober for the past 18 months, Crutchfield admits drinking has been an issue since her late teens. Her decision to get sober was influenced by a need for change and her sober friends who provided a support system that allowed her to come to terms with her drinking and get sober without going to rehab. She is in a relationship with fellow musician, Kevin Morby and they live in Kansas City. 

My favorite songs on the album are “Ruby Falls” and “Fire.”

Other Albums by Waxahatchee:

American Weekend (2012)

Cerulean Salt (2013)

Ivy Tripp (2015)

Out in the Storm (2017)

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How it Feels to be Something On is the third studio album by American alternative rock band Sunny Day Real Estate, and the first following their 1997 reunion. It was released September 8, 1998 for Sub Pop. This album is often overlooked because of the critical and commercial success of their first album, Diary in 1994. After their second album, the band broke up. Nate Mendel and William Goldsmith joined Foo Fighters. Jeremy Enigk pursued a solo career.

In 1997, at the urging of Sub Pop, they reunited (sans Mendel who chose to remain with the Foo Fighters) to finish songs they were working on before the break-up and to release the band’s unused contribution to The Crow: City of Angels soundtrack. The unfinished material was not enough for an album, so the band decided to record some new songs. As the work progressed, they began to enjoy working together and realized whatever had caused them to break up was behind them. In this relaxed environment, Enigk felt free to share songs he’d written with a more religious tone and Hoerner was able to address some of his environmental concerns in “100 Million.” How it Feels to be Something On is the product of that reunion.

My favorite songs on this album are “100 Million” and “Guitar and Video Games.”

Members of the band include:

Jeremy Enigk – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards

Dan Hoerner – lead guitar, backing vocals

Jeff Palmer – bass

Joe Skyward – bass

William Goldsmith – drums, percussion

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Hoerner and Mendel were housemates at the University of Washington who shared an interest in music. They decided to form a band and recruited Goldsmith as their drummer. According to Mendel, they eventually settled on the name, Sunny Day Real Estate because of a thought that popped in his head about rampant consumerism – eventually, everything will be for sale even a sunny day. Enigk, a high school friend of Goldsmith’s, joined the band and emerged as their lead singer. After weathering a break-up and reuniting for this third album, the band left the Sub Pop label because of creative differences and signed with Time Bomb Recordings. On the eve of their first European tour, Time Bomb pulled their funding and weeks later ceased operations. The members of Sunny Day Real Estate decided to permanently disband.

Other Albums by Sunny Day Real Estate:

Diary (1994)

Sunny Day Real Estate (aka - LP2 or The Pink Album) (1995)

The Rising Tide (2000)

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER:Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comme...

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Flower of Devotion is the third album by the band Dehd. It was released in July 2020 for Fire Talk. Dehd is a three-piece indie rock band from Chicago formed in 2015.  The band consists of members Emily Kempf (vocals, bass guitar), Jason Balla (vocals, guitar), and Eric McGrady (vocals, drums). Kempf and Balla were a couple, but they ended their five-year relationship just prior to recording their second album which they confess led to some painful moments in the studio. Their third album reflects no bitterness and only a trace of sadness for a love that faded as the friendship endured.

I especially like the interplay of their voices on this album. It’s reminiscent of old friends who finish each other’s sentences. Though this album is their most polished to date, it surrenders none of the stripped-down simplicity of guitar, bass, drums, and the occasional synth, while giving an air of confidence to their ambitious lyrics and vocal harmonies.

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For the first time, a song written and sung by drummer Eric McGrady has been included on a Dehd album. On “Apart,” McGrady’s deep and brooding vocals lament growing older and feeling exhausted while Kempf and Balla back him up with brighter vocals and an airy riff.

It’s an exciting reminder that in addition to having two explosive lead singers Dehd is a talented threesome.

My favorite songs on this album are “Loner” and “Month.”

Other Albums by Dehd:

Dehd (2016)

Water (2019)

Fire of Love (2017) – EP

Photo Credits for band image and album cover:

https://dehdforever.bandcamp.com/album/flower-of-devotion

http://KEXP.ORG presents Dehd performing live in their studio. Recorded exclusively for KEXP.Filmed by Tom BallaAssisted by Dan ArmentroutEdited by Jim Beckm...

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Slowdive is the fourth studio album by the band Slowdive. It was released on May 5, 2017, on the Dead Oceans record label. It is their first album in 22 years. Slowdive isn’t trying to reinvent itself or rest on its laurels as one of the most dynamic shoegaze bands of the 1990s. Instead, its self-titled album feels like the logical progression of a talented band with no inkling that it hasn’t been in the studio in almost a quarter of a century.

This is a band that has chosen to reunite, not because their members have nowhere else to go, but because this is where they want to be. Neil Halstead’s underrated songwriting shines brilliantly along with Rachel Goswell’s piercing vocals and their perfect harmonies. It’s a great reminder of why we love shoegaze and what it should sound like today.

Slowdive is an English rock band formed in Reading, Berkshire in 1989. Halstead and Goswell have been friends since they were six-years-old. As children, they played guitar and sang together. In their teens, they joined a Sunday youth group and formed an indie-pop band called the Pumpkin Fairies.

When it disbanded, they formed Slowdive along with drummer Adrian Sell and Sell’s friend, Bassist Nick Chaplin. When the band advertised for a female guitarist, Christian Savill was the only person who answered the ad. He wanted to be part of the band so badly he offered to wear a dress. The bands’ name was inspired by a dream Chaplin had and a single by Siouxsie and the Banshees.

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The members of Slowdive include:

Neil Halstead – vocals, guitars, keys, and editing/production

Rachel Goswell – vocals

Christian Savill – guitars

Nick Chaplin – bass guitar

Simon Scott – drums, guitar, and electronics

My favorite songs on this album are “Sugar for the Pill” and “Everyone Knows.”

Other Albums by Slowdive:

Just for a Day (1991)

Souvlaki (1993)

Pygmalion (1995)

http://KEXP.ORG presents Slowdive performing live in the KEXP studio. Recorded October 25, 2017.Songs:SlomoStar RovingCrazy For YouSugar For The PillHost: Ch...

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