The Switchboard Sessions, Volume Two

Spring was stretching into summer the first time I was able to fully absorb Tin Horn Prayer's Get Busy Dying. I was driving to work past Northern Illinois' hazy, humid cornfields and leaning barns, above which the summer sun had risen hours before. I remember how well the album's gritty, gutsy folk matched the fresh and dilapidated landscape, and I smirked knowing that I would be on the phone doing a Switchboard Session with them within the week.

Singer and guitarist Andy Thomas and I had emailed back and forth a bunch of times to determine a time and a place to record. I had scribbled down several questions about their conception and somewhat contradictory sound. I got to know the songs on Get Busy Dying—the lyrical themes that connected them, the instruments that contributed each's mood, which of the band's three singers sang on which, and so on. It was my twenty-seventh interview for the site, so these preparations were a familiar part of my process and prepared me fairly well.

I wasn't prepared for Thomas' performance, though.

He recorded it while he was waiting for his bandmates Mike Hererra and Scooter James to arrive at his girlfriend's dance studio in Denver, which was the only landline they could secure. Thomas intended it to be on Get Busy Dying but, for whatever reason, it didn't happen and, for some reason, was happy recording it through a phone.

The resonator guitar he strummed sounds gummy over the phone (lacking real resonance, ironically) but makes up for it with thick, chunky sounding chords. As he strummed these in a subdued, syncopated rhythm, Thomas screamed—not the raspy howl that somehow sounds smooth and raw when stretched across an acoustic's strings, but a sincere, core-cramping scream. When he sang, "But I stumble, lord knows I try," his scream implied pain and pure apology, all as his resonator guitar limped eagerly behind him. It freaked me out.

Later, after the interview, Thomas' bandmates each recorded incredible songs (Hererra's was as darkly uplifting as James' was triumphant), but few songs—regardless of whether they were performed in a professional studio or on a Tascam tape recorder—haunt me like Thomas' Switchboard Session does.

If I sound self-indulgent here, I apologize; it's not my intent, nor is it to champion one recording over any other. If anything, the above story is my attempt to make sense of something that still doesn't seem like a logical idea to me. After all, what person would want to record songs over a landline phone, let alone listen to the tracks? Every session I conduct, though, convinces me that this project reveals something special—at least to me. Having initiated thirty-five Switchboard Sessions, I'm still baffled at how recording songs over the phone can capture real, raw emotion so effectively and expel those elements that make music meaningful.

I'm also still in awe at how "right" some musicians sound over a dusty, muffled landline. For some reason, the telephone captures Evan Weiss' dynamic, quiet charm with the same degree of success that it captures Tom Gabel's spitting fury. Likewise, the raw, rustic way in which it captures Greenland is Melting's brand of bluegrass is complimentary, as is the way that it captures the Copyrights' buzzy, sort-of-experimental simplicity. And I'll still argue that the process of recording stripped down songs over the phone is an equalizer, where dizzying post-punk firebomb can become delicate and perfectly placed beside smokey folk song.

Hopefully, all of this comes across on The Switchboard Sessions, Volume Two, which you can download as a compilation below.

Like last year, I'm still not sure if anyone would want to download this, let alone burn it onto a CD and slide it into a printed sleeve, but I've included a PDF with instructions in case anyone is feeling crafty (and let me know if you do; it'll make my day). Also, because of limitations on my SoundCloud account, I'll be removing some tracks from their features; please contact me if you're interested in any tracks that are no longer accessible.

Thanks to anyone who reads, listens, and supports the Switchboard Sessions. I'm not sure why you do. This little project is fulfilling and fun for me, and it has exposed me to music that I'm not sure I'd know about otherwise. Like any blog (or, really, any creative internet undertaking), it's difficult to tell whether (and why) anyone cares. Knowing that at least a couple people do means more to me than you will believe.

Finally, thanks to all the bands and musicians who have recorded with me this year. Each of the bands I feature on this site—new finds or old favorites—are those that, I feel, is making the most meaningful and incredible music. Buy something from them, see them play live, and support them in every way you can.

It's impossible to express what it feels like to talk to the musicians I admire most, let alone listen to them as they play a private performance for me. Every time, it gives me goosebumps; sometimes, it freaks me out.

---

Download The Switchboard Sessions, Volume Two

1. “Stumble” by Tin Horn Prayer
2. “The Nausea” by Against Me!
3. “Canseco” by Banquets
4. “I Wasn't There” by the Fucking Cops
5. “Seamless Copper” by Dan Webb and the Spiders
6. “Stormy Weather” by the Copyrights
7. “Dark Side of the Super Moon” by Devon Kay and the Solutions
8. “3/4 Eleanor / Passing Days” by Elway
9. “Wicker Chair” by Greenland is Melting
10. “Not Superstitious” by Franz Nicolay
11. “The Frames the Used to Greet Me” by Into It. Over It.
12. “My Drug Buddy” by Great Cynics
13. “Service with a Smile” by How Dare You
14. “Leon” by Larcenist
15. “No Big Deal” by Ninja Gun
16. “Canadian Club” by Restorations
17. “Religion on the Radio” by Polar Bear Club

Read more articles.

Best of 2011

Any regular readers of the Switchboard Sessions know that, even though I keep myself out of the features I write, they aren't objective, nor are they attempting to be. Inherent in each post is a sense that I adore these musicians and their music. Sure, I try to write features that are journalistic in tone and style, but I am also trying to promote these artists because I feel they deserve it; otherwise, I wouldn't have asked them to participate.

I suppose it's that realization, along with the acceptance that this whole website is self-indulgent, that allows me to post a "Best of 2011" list here. I've never done this before (though Punknews.org posted my "Best of 2010" list last year, which was pretty cool), based on the generally assumption that no one cares about my music taste and, if they did, they could sense it based on which musicians I feature here and what I write about them. This year, though--in true blogger fashion--I thought I'd post mine. Hopefully, you discover someone new from it; 2011 was a particularly awesome year for music, at least for me.

-Dane Erbach

Long Ones...

10. Bomb the Music Industry!

Vacation

Quote Unquote Records and Really Records
What's remarkable about Vacation is how well Jeff Rosenstock and his collective of multi-instrumentalists capture the raw, restless humanity of their previous punk-ska exploits in something more fundamentally accessible and straightforward, despite the fuzz, endless layers, and occasional recklessnes.

9. Great Cynics
Don't Need Much
Kind of Like Records
The breezy, bright demeanor of Don't Need Much, its singalong choruses and heavy strumming, seems to express the exuberance of being a twenty-something; a careful listen, though, reveals that Giles Bidder's lyrics are about boredom, bumming around, biding time, friendships lost, and found love—the realities of young adulthood.

Click here to check out the Switchboard Session with Great Cynics

Press play below to hear "Cider for Breakfast" from Don't Need Much

8. Spraynard

Funtitled
Asian Man Records
Pat Graham's guitar seems to scuttle (and, sometimes, recline uncomfortably) across Pat Ware's already antsy bass lines on Funtitled, and their voices seem to shove each other back and forth throughout the record. Somehow, though, the end result is collaborative, constructive, positive, and, above all, playful.

7. Joyce Manor
Joyce Manor
6131 Records
There are times on Joyce Manor's first full-length where the song seems stressed enough to splinter into pieces; the guitars squeal wildly over seemingly stumbling drums, and Barry Johnson's peaking vocals rise from it like smoke signaling its imminent collapse. It stays together, though, carries with it the catchiest melodies, and leaves the listener breathless.

Press play below to hear "Leather Jacket" from Joyce Manor

6. Direct Hit!
Domesplitter
Kind of Like Records
Direct Hit!'s Domesplitter accurately captures the disorderly camaraderie of a punk house party. Most of Nick Wood's words, pie-eyed and occasionally apocalyptic, are screamed—by him, by his bandmates, by a literal gang of partygoers—against a gale of distorted guitars and machine gun drumming, creating reckless abandon at its most melodic.

Press play below to hear "They Came For Me" from Domesplitter

5. Mansions
Dig Up the Dead
Burning House Records
The word “haunted” perhaps describes Dig Up the Dead too well. Indeed, Christopher Brower's voice, which feels both frail and forceful, exists in a soundscape alive with buzzing bass lines, spectral strokes of acoustic guitar, the ghostlike wail of feedback, and drumbeats like footsteps in empty rooms. More so, these melodies stalk their listeners.

Press play below to hear "Close That Door" from Dig Up the Dead

4. Fucked Up
David Comes to Life
Matador Records
Rarely does something so abrasive, so needlessly noisy, seem so catchy, let alone so profound. David Comes to Life contains some semblance of a storyline, as barked by Damien Abraham, encased in a swirl of jangly guitars and hard hit drums, and these layers of melodies, ideas, ambiance make this record memorable and thought-provoking, if not epic.

3. The Copyrights
North Sentinel Island
Red Scare Industries
The four-chord pop-punk found on North Sentinel Island seems so simple on the surface—some songs have only four lines of lyrics; others only ten words' worth—but it's the powerful way those four chords are ordered; the quick, sporadic detours from this order; and a theme that ties so many of the songs together that creates sophistication within simplicity.

Click here to check out the Switchboard Session with the Copyrights

Press play below to hear "Trustees of Modern Chemistry" from North Sentinel Island

2. Restorations
Self-Titled
Tiny Engines
Restorations is an anomaly in a scene so desperate to organize. It's what happens when twangy guitars glint against a groaning organ, though; when a bass guitar decides to burst from the behind dense drums; and when a singer like Jon Loudon's husky howl storms in the forefront. Put simply, though, it's rock 'n' roll, it's cavernous and dusty, and it's loud.

Click here to check out the Switchboard Session with Restorations

Press play below to hear "Val d' Or" from Self-Titled

1. Polar Bear Club
Clash Battle Guilt Pride
Bridge Nine Records
What Polar Bear Club seems to do so expertly on Clash Battle Guilt Pride is cram emotion into each crispy riff, each rich chord, each crack of snare and bristled bass line; when these instruments, each struck with sincere intensity, are matched to Jimmy Stadt's agile growl, the songs ascend past mere music; it becomes an expressive experience for both artist and audience.

Click here to check out the Switchboard Session with Polar Bear Club

Press play below to hear "Killin' It" from Clash Battle Guilt Pride

Short Ones...

5. forgetters
forgetters
Too Small To Fail
Comprised of four strident, frizzy songs, forgetter's first release doesn't feel punk-rock; it feels familiar (maybe due to Blake Schwarzenbach's bluesy croon) and dark, comprised of complex chords and startling dynamics, despite the straight-forward drumbeats. It's for the better that this is a ferocious rock record, since these weathered musicians get to explore new territory. (Note: Though these four songs were released late last year, they were new to me in 2011).

4. Broadcaster
Joyride
Self-Released

Occasionally, catchy music loses something—its bounce or brilliance—when it's presented through a raw, unpolished recording, but Joyride doesn't seem to suffer from this problem. The drum cracks and pops compliment the grubby, but rich guitars, and Jesse Litwa's modest melodies, which linger long after this ten minute record ends.

Press play below to hear "All Your Friends" from Joyride

3. Daytrader
Last Days of Rome
Run For Cover Records
The songs on Last Days of Rome stop at every point in between stirring, heavy-stepping ballads to blistering fireballs, and Daytrader achieves with sincere musicianship: drums that jump back and forth between double-time; dark, distorted guitars that know when to rise and recede; and singer Tym B's dynamic vocals, which climb from subdued to vicious in a single verse.

Press play below to hear "Kill My Compass" from Last Days of Rome

2. Devon Kay and the Solutions

Never Punt
Johann's Face Records
It's difficult to describe Devon Kay's voice. It's wild, veers from word to word, and sometimes stumbles into an angry rant, but he always hits his notes, and his melodies emerge as coherent and catchy. The punk-rock he plays on Never Punt is a perfect frame for this recklessness, creating something simultaneously untamed—not sloppy—and perfectly pop.

Click here to check out the Switchboard Session with Devon Kay and the Solutions

Press play below to hear "W.W.B.C.D" from Never Punt

1. Diamond
Don't Lose Your Cool
Self-Released
An EP as polished and impeccably recorded as Don't Lose Your Cool can seem suspicious, but its growling guitars, simple-but-dramatic drumming, and tireless tambourine provide power and substance; Sam Trapkin's voice is soulful without the melodrama, melodic without the whine, absolutely memorable, and makes Diamond's power pop rival-less.

Press play below to hear "The Feeling" from Don't Lose Your Cool

Read more articles.

Devon Kay and the Solutions

Midway through Devon Kay's account of recording Never Punt, his band's most recent release, his friend and bassist Matt “Campy” Campasano makes a confession: “I listen to our own record almost daily.”

“You loser!” Kay cackles in response.

“Call me a loser, but I love all of our songs,” Campasano says, his voice vivid with sincerity. “I'm incredibly proud of it.”

Kay is kidding, of course, and could not empathize more with his counterpart's confession. “I guess, in short, it's like this: We write music for us,” he says as Campasano yups behind him. “We write what we'd like to hear on the radio. All the songs are really good to us, and I know that sounds weird.”

So what does it mean that Kay and Campasano love and listen to the music they make? Is it narcissistic? Is it selfish? Is it a sign that they're doing something wrong or right? And is it something about which they should be ashamed, or does it make the six songs on Never Punt that much more meaningful?

It's, perhaps, unsurprising that Devon Kay and the Solutions started with just Kay, who felt unfulfilled with the music he was playing at the time. “I was kind of trying to get away from this emo band I was playing in,” he tells, “and it started with these acoustic folk songs that had a little bit of pop punk in them.”

When he was offered a show as Devon Kay, he accepted, but was uninterested in performing a solo set. “I was like, 'Well, I'm going to need a band. I'm not doing this solo.' So I asked Campy, who I played with in a ska band back in high school and we've been hanging out living together forever.” After he asked a few other friends to hop on board, Kay had his Solutions—a full five (or six) piece folk-punk ensemble that included a viola and, occasionally, keyboards. With this lineup, Kay recorded and released Songs to Sing With, a collection of rock songs that ranged from country-colored acoustic tracks to big, barroom bouncers infused with fiddle and girl/guy harmonies.

“After that record, everything fell apart,” Kay continues, causing Campasano to chuckle uncontrollably at the understood understatement.

This breakdown might have been for the better, however, since Kay's songwriting style evolved into something more explosive, more visceral, less folk, and more punk. “I challenge myself to try and write in different styles,” he explains, “but then it always kind of comes back to the style that I write in, which is—I don't even know—but it has pop-punk laced over it.”

At the recommendation of Marc Ruvolo, who owns the record store Buckets O' Blood across the street from where they live in Chicago, Kay and Campasano brought six new songs to Eric Rasmussen to record at Observatory Studios. These songs stray not only stylistically from the first release; Kay admits that, lyrically, their moods are drastically different as well—indignant, desperate, playfully resentful, and painfully candid.

“The first one was very lovey,” he recalls. “I was all love-struck and wanted to write a love record. On [Never Punt], I've come down from that high. I'm broke. I'm pissed. I'm frustrated with nine-to-five retail. I don't have a college degree and I don't want one anymore. Everything came from frustration.”

This frustration is straight-forward on “W.W.B.C.D” (which stands for “What Would Bruce Campbell Do”), Never Punt's second song. “'What Would Bruce Campbell Do' is about relationships,” Kay explains, “getting cheated on, but having to work through it.” During its chorus, Kay's intense, vivid voice seems to flail as he sings, “She starting screaming 'cause I kept on asking questions / she said, 'I'm not okay, I'm not okay.' / I started yelling at the point of comprehension / screaming, 'I'm not okay, I'm not okay / with you falling in love again.'” Later, during a bridge where Campasano's bass jangles with tension and stress, Kay's vocals seem to spiral suddenly out of control, capturing the emotional mess expressed in its lyrics.

Even on Never Punt's sole innocent song, there's a sense of insidiousness. On “Go California”, Kay's guitar chords are gunked in distortion (though not enough to obscure their colors and character), and the drumbeat drives at a bouncy, bumpy tempo. But, when he sings, “You've been comin' around, making my life just a little more bearable. / I moved the gun from my mouth and now my life is a little less terrible. / 'Cause this life is fast and I don't want to live past you,” something seems off.

“'Go California' is the only gushy love song on there,” Kay explains, “but, even then, it's almost so sugary that it's not sincere, and that was kind of the idea. It's like, 'Everything's totally great all the time!' when, inside, I'm not totally sure I should be smiling.”

The EP's most playful track, “Always Tip Your Therapist”, is also among its most interesting and, in a way, captures the dissonance that makes Kay's songwriting special. It starts with a trotting, tramping piano part and Kay's bold vocals, but becomes denser and delicate during a pre-chorus when an airy ambience begins to slowly cloud in the background. “I got locked in my basement when my family lived in the suburbs,” Kay says, “and they had a piano down there. I didn't have a guitar, so all I did was sit around and play piano, and that's what I came up with.” Suddenly, the song detonates; cymbals shoot off like fireworks, guitars rise and rumble, the bass booms, a snare drum crackles like a lit wick, and the song plows powerfully towards a climactic conclusion.

Despite the song's playfulness and power, it too expresses Kay's frustration about becoming an adult. “'Always Tip Your Therapist' is half about oddly falling in love with your therapist because they're paid to listen to you and they make you feel like, even though you're an awful human being, you're right,” he says. “But the second half is all about the whole theme of the record, which is struggling with what growing up is. Is it getting a real job, or is it becoming okay with yourself? That's what I try to touch on with all of [the songs].”

As a whole, Never Punt is musically wild and occasionally reckless, but its mood is always reflective and real; it succeeds at expressing its anger and aggression by serving it on a platter of pop punk (with sides of snide sarcasm and irreverence). It is, in fact, so successful that Ruvolo (who referred them to Rasmussen and Observatory Studios, remember) decided to release it. “It turns out that he runs a record label called Johann's Face Records,” Kay explains, “He was always fucking really nice to us and, when we came back and played what we recorded, he went, 'Awp, I have to put this out.' So he ended up wasting money on us by putting out Never Punt.”

Part of its success, of course, also lies in the fact that Devon Kay and the Solutions—now a three-piece with Ryan Solava pounding the drums—writes, records, and performs music that they love to listen to, regardless of whatever unspoken rules they are supposed to follow.

Though one would assume that most musicians do the same, Kay would argue that it's not necessarily the norm—that, in fact, its frowned upon. “I remember there was a Aziz Ansari skit where he hung out with Kanye West,” he says. “He comes in and Kanye West is sitting in his chair and listening to his own CD with these giant headphones like that Magnavox commercial where all this stuff is blowing backwards. And [Ansari] went on a tirade about it. And I was like, that's actually kind of fucking cool, to sit there and listen to it and be completely happy with it!”

“Make what you want to hear,” he continues. “If you're unhappy with it, do it better. No one's telling you that you can't.” And, because Kay and Campasano can, they will.

---

Kay recorded these songs, with Campasano providing backup vocals, on a late autumn evening from the house of their friend Sal, who plays bass in Huff. "Unofficial fourth member" and friend Alex Freeman was there during the interview and performance, and provided backup vocals as well.

"W.W.B.C.D." and "Dark Side of the Super Moon" appears on Devon Kay and the Solutions' 201 EP titled Never Punt. "Sell Out" is a Reel Big Fish cover; the song originally appeared on the 1996 album Turn the Radio Off.

The band recently contributed "W.W.B.C.D." for the Behind Punk Mixtape #7 with a ton of other excellent bands. Please consider purchasing this digital mixtape, as all proceeds will be donated to the direct care and support of animals in Russia.

For more music, visit the band's Bandcamp page.

To download these tracks, click on the song titles and download them from the player at SoundCloud.com.

Read more articles.