Our compilation album is now available to stream or download for free. Thanks for listening!

More about each song:

1. Daniel Jenstad – “In Transit”
2. Maria de las Nieves – “Canto Di Caino”
3. Paul Spring – “Plum Street”
4. Alpenglow – “Mountain Man”
5. Matt and Donna – “Canard Digérateur”
6. Andy Price – “Daytime Superhero”
7. Pat Boerner and Brittany Miller – “Something To Say”
8. Lazerwülf – “Breakthrough”
9. Whitaker Trebella and Charlie McCarron – “Ghosts Of Hallemot”
10. Brandon Dvorak – “Kingdom”
11. Kurtz – “Everything Burns Alike”
12. Jake Anderson – “Full Of…”
13. Jason P. Schumacher – “Secret Selves”
14. WC Tank – “Achoo”
15. Simon Sperl – “Latent Promises”
16. Pete Eisenberg and Tom Holmes – “A Penny Around My Neck”
17. Luke Friedrich – “Just Like Today” (Charlie Parr Cover)

Maria Isabel Ruff-Berganza gathered together her band of self-described “wanderers” to record the first in a series of songs she has written about Cain.

Maria Isabel Ruff-Berganza – Vocals, Lyrics
George Murphy – Bass
Micah Scott – Mandolin, Acoustic Guitar
Daniel Ruff Smith – Djembe, Percussion
Ross Charmoli – Congas
Charlie McCarron – Violin, Electric Guitar

Canto di Caino, Canto de moribundo
I sing of Cain, walks the whole mundo,
Wanderlust aching, corazon breaking,
He looks free but won’t see what he is forsaking

His brother, Abelito, lies in the dust
For work of Cain’s hands made a jealous thrust
And we have passed on to another age now
But all of Cain’s children still wondering…

How do we till the soil, how will we be free?
Who will deliver the fruit from our tree?
Sordo with anger
Bitter with pain
Pinchada con pride and human disdain

We march in production, we dance in our flight
We wake to the light for a self-imposed night
Walk and we don’t know which way we will turn
How best to distract from how we still yearn

How do we till the soil, how will we be free?
And who will deliver the fruit from the tree
Sordo with anger, amarga con pain
Swollen with pride, do we toil in vain?

How will I by solita become what I should
My spine, a serpent that soon strays from good
My hands, two birds, that disown their own kin
My belly bare soil depraved from within
I bend down like spider and reach everywhere
Electric, world shrinking web of despair

How can I till the soil, how be freed?
Which Cain can deliver the fruit from my tree?
So swollen with anger, so swollen with pain
Pinchada with pride, labor of the vain

Canto di Caino, Canto de moribundo
I sing of Cain, walks the whole mundo,
Wanderlust aching, Corazon breaking,
He looks free but won’t see what he is forsaking

Behind the Song

I edited together a little behind the scenes for this one. Maria explains her interest in Cain and why the song’s title is Italian, while the rest is Spanish and English.

It was a treat producing this song. The musical base of the song originated with Micah and George, and Maria came up with the vocal melody and rhythm. So the first step was recording Micah on mandolin and George on electric bass, to get a solid rhythm track. Although I usually have people play to a metronome, this song seemed like it needed to be free from a click. And luckily these guys were spot on with their rhythms.

Once we got the rhythm track down, we recorded Maria’s lovely vocals. Each take had super expressive and interesting parts, so I ended up using the best pieces of each take. We were both on the same page when we heard something that stood out above the rest.

Micah Scott, master of the mandolin

The next step was letting Micah go nuts and record a bunch of mandolin and guitar parts. I would have kept him recording all day, since his solos were getting more and more interesting, but he stopped and said that’s probably enough for one day. And I did have more than enough to work with at that point. I think the guitar/mandolin double solo at the 2:10 mark is a testament to what this guy can do.

Next up was the percussion section. McNally Smith student Ross Charmoli came over with a pair of congas. I ended up placing one mic over each conga to get the crisp hand hits, and one mic underneath each conga to get a bassy tone.

Maria had an ace in the hole with her cousin, Daniel Ruff Smith, who came over with his djembe to lay down the base percussion track. He also recorded shaker and cowbell (muted, because it was too ring-y). I felt like it needed one more counter-rhythm, and I thought wooden claves would sound perfect. But since we only had one wooden stick with the cowbell, we had to improvise. We tried hitting it against all sorts of wooden surfaces, but it just sounded dead. Finally my roommate Jeff handed us a Mag-Lite flashlight, which worked surprisingly well as our second clave.

I’m excited to hear Maria’s other songs for her Cain project, especially since “Canto Di Caino” is the very first song she wrote for it. I’ll spread the word when Maria de las Nieves has some more recordings to share with the world.

Once again, Brandon Dvorak and Jake Anderson joined me in the studio. This time, we recorded a song by Brandon, which goes from mellow to rocking in no time flat. Fun one to produce!

But who could tell?
Memories haven’t served us well
And who could know
Exactly where we are to go?
From here
Skies are clear
And from here
Skies are clear

This kingdom’s falling down and I’m okay, I’m okay
Our king is crawling out of his cave, of his cave
Our home is burning down, we can’t escape
I’m not afraid
I’m not afraid

Brandon Dvorak – Vocals, Guitar, Bass
Jake Anderson – Drums
Charlie McCarron – Synths

Behind the Scenes

I recorded a quick interview with the guys to document this moment in history.

When Brandon played his song for me on just guitar, it struck me as instantly different than anything I’ve produced yet. Even though the song is really only three or four repeating chords on guitar, I didn’t get sick of them. It was very mesmerizing, thanks in part to his unique vocal lines.

So from a production standpoint, I wanted to get this ethereal sound across. I recorded some synth parts to give it a kind of creepy psychological feel at the beginning. For you Ableton Live junkies, my secret ingredient is a special Max for Live plugin called “Squirrel Parade” that you can tweak to create strange animal-like sounds. I was messing with it once before and made a pretty convincing synthesized songbird call. But for “Kingdom” I just tried crafting some spacey humming.

This is one synth I customized for the song. Yes, I am a nerd if you hadn't noticed.

Another trick I used was to distort the guitar in a way that sounds like controlled feedback. I used an effect that pinpoints a certain pitch and cranks it up, as if you were holding an electric guitar next to a really loud amp. The cool thing is, you can change that pitch over time, so you can almost create a melody out of the guitar feedback. Kind of like auto-tuning a guitar. I created two feedback tracks and panned them left and right. Have a listen to this feedback by itself:

And in context:

Here's the feedback effect I used on the guitar. The green line above is the pitch being distorted, which varies wildly during the choruses.

It was great to work with these guys again. If you missed Jake Anderson’s song from Week 14, check it out. You can also hear more music from Brandon and Jake in their band, With A Gun For A Face.

Jake Anderson, back on drums.

Simon Sperl, a fellow composer from CSB/SJU, spent the better part of a year volunteering in East Africa. He was inspired to start writing a classical quintet while he was in Kenya. I was glad to see “Latent Promises” come to fruition, thanks to five amazing musicians.

Latent Promises
By Simon Sperl

Eric Graf – Cello
Megan Hagberg – Piano
Katie Murphy – Violin
Emily Olson – Flute
Emily Powell – Clarinet

Behind the Scenes

Yes, Simon is actually conducting in a stairwell in the above video. We needed to find someplace with a decent piano, and my parents’ house fit the bill. When someone gave me a quote of $2,000 to rent a grand piano room on a weekend, my great-grandmother’s piano didn’t sound half bad.

Megan ticklin' the ivories.

It was a small miracle we were able to gather four players together, considering it was Thanksgiving weekend when we recorded. I was looking forward to it, since these talented ladies were all music majors with me at St. Ben’s/St. John’s. It was kind of a mini reunion for us.

Like true music majors, they’d all been extremely diligent about learning their parts. But since they hadn’t played Simon’s piece together before recording day, it took a bit of rehearsal time. Simon didn’t hold back when he was writing it; there are plenty of tricky and unique rhythms. I wonder if he ever imagined he’d be conducting in 11/8 time.

A glimpse of the "Latent Promises" score.

After we finished recording, we moved the party downtown Stillwater, and went out to eat at a bar that happened to have live bluegrass music. And Katie Murphy happened to bring her violin in out of the cold. And they just happened to need a fiddle player! After a little egging on, she got right up on stage, and her violin skills secured her a spot in the band anytime she’s in Stillwater.

So that was Thanksgiving weekend. Everything went super smoothly. But…we still needed a cellist. Three weeks and dozens of calls later, I finally found a guy willing and able to play the part. Eric Graf, a junior studying cello performance at the U of M, did an excellent job. He was also super prepared when he came in to record, despite only having a few days to look at the piece.

Eric Graf playing along with the other four members of the quintet.

Since a few sections of latent promises are solo cello, I knew we’d need some sort of metronome going so we could line up the parts. But at the same time, the piece would never feel right if the four women were forced to play to a metronome. I had to be a little clever about it. So when Simon was conducting the group, I tapped my keyboard along with his beat, and recorded those pulses as MIDI notes, so I could use them later as a metronome for our cellist.

Simon scaling Mount Kenya

It was great to hear the story behind Simon’s piece. Having also been in East Africa, I understood his frustration with trying to initiate change but getting nowhere. The laid-back, unhurried culture is really refreshing at times, but it can wear on you if you’re trying to get something accomplished as a volunteer. The school I taught at in Tanzania was in desperate need of bookshelves, and what could have been a week-long project turned out to be a three-month endeavor.

Anyways, everyone who knows me is probably sick of my Tanzania stories. So in summary, I wish Simon all the best in his future composing. And a huge thanks to this quintet for taking the time to rehearse and record “Latent Promises.”

Dan Jenstad, graphic designer by day, came over to record last week. He was torn between recording a cover and an original song. I’m glad I pushed him to try out his original, though, because it turned out to be one of the best song-a-week tunes yet. And surprisingly, it’s the first full song he has ever written. Quite a debut.

I’d travel like a bullet would
Careening round your neighborhoods
As a train
As a train

In transit, was pedantic
I got lost in the semantics
Of the rules in how to travel
Ties started to unravel
Just a train wreck in a necktie
Work myself right off the tracks
But i’m suited for destruction
So there’s no route for turning back

When I pushed towards the Mississippi
And all your streetlights that had kissed me
Started glowing in my frame
But I pushed on just the same
And all the steam that I would muster
Would like the dazzle of that luster
It stitched the path that trailed
The whistle sounds its brightest wail

This is just an evolution
Of one vessel’s constitution
But there’s nothing quite as pretty
As the absence of the city

Dan Jenstad – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Mitchell Johnson, Gwen Wasmund, Ryan Ruff Smith – Backing Vocals
Charlie McCarron – Electric Guitar, Bass, Piano, Percussion, Backing Vocals

Behind the Song

Matt Schubbe giving some feedback on Dan's lyrics. Notice how this picture was not in any way staged.

I met Dan years back through song-a-week-er Matt Schubbe. Matt always said Dan had a ton of songwriting potential, so I was excited to hear his stuff.

After Dan played the song for me, we talked a little music theory, and spent some time figuring out a few last chords he was unsure about. The song was pretty much fully formed, but tweaking a few chords slightly here and there helped give the song some more character.

For the theory nerds out there, take a listen to the lines “Just a trainwreck in a necktie” (0:45) and “All the steam that I would muster” (1:27). The chord progressions around these sections are almost the same, except for basically one note. The first time, we go from a D major chord to a D7 (D dominant 7th chord). The second time we, go from a D major chord to a DM7 (D major 7th chord). Notice how the first section feels a little more playful, but kind of unsettled at the same time, like it has to keep moving. That’s the character of a dominant seventh chord. At least that’s what it sounds like to me. And the second section, where we use a D major seventh chord, sounds more like the train is approaching its destination (pardon the pun). To me, major seventh chords always seem to add poignancy and depth to a song. Pretty crazy how a single note in a chord can change the mood drastically.

We had a special guest on night two of recording. Matt Schubbe showed up to hang out and help with some lyrics. After they got the lyrics sorted out, Dan recorded vocals. We did take after take after take, but not because Dan wasn’t performing vocally well. It was partly out of wanting to get the best take possible, and partly out of coming up with melodies on the fly. In my book, there’s nothing wrong with improvising in front of the mic. That’s where the awesome whistle solo and “oohs” at the end came from.

Putting finishing touches on the lyrics before Dan steps into the vocal booth.

Later on, I played the song for my roommate Mitchell Johnson, and he immediately had a vocal arrangement idea for the “Trainwreck in a necktie” part. So we rounded up all the singers who happened to be in our house (Ryan Ruff Smith, Gwen Wasmund, Mitchell, and me), and we sang each vocal line in unison. That’s the method Mitchell and Ryan often use for recording vocals in their band Spencer McGillicutty.

It was great fun having free reign in producing this song. I got to use my early Christmas present of a bass guitar (thanks Mom and Dad!). It was also one of the few times I’ve recorded a piano solo. I got two hours of sleep on Monday night because I was getting way too into adding percussion parts, which include knee-slapping, a broken coat hanger, and a homemade shaker.

Step 1: Fill a nalgene with rice. Step 2: Shake.

I wish I had a link to more of Dan’s music, but it doesn’t exist yet. Luckily, recording this song has spurred him on to start writing more. I’ll be the first to spread the word about future Dan Jenstad songs.

Since last week’s song is still in progress, I thought I would share this Fleet Foxes cover song I recorded this past weekend. Jeff Schwinghammer and I went out into the fresh snow on Sunday and found an awesome spot to shoot a music video:

Behind the Song

It was a pretty slow night on Friday, so I decided to finally record a Fleet Foxes cover. I had learned “Montezuma” a while back, with the intention of doing a one-take recording. But I decided instead to try out my favorite moment in the entirety of their new album Helplessness Blues: “The Plains / Bitter Dancer.” I really wanted to learn these beautiful three-way harmonies.

Production-wise, I tried to keep things simple. I recorded the main fingerpicked guitar line on my electric, then laid a couple other guitar lines on top of that. The “cha-ka-cha-ka” rhythmic section after the first verse is actually muted electric guitar strumming. I ran it through a vocoder noise effect to make it sound a little like a snare drum.

Ableton Live's vocoder effect in "Noise" mode.

Behind the Video

Jeff and I brainstormed ideas for the video on Sunday morning. Our first plan was to greenscreen three of me lined up and singing together. But that idea seemed way too gimmicky after seeing some of the naturally beautiful footage Jeff shot outside.

When we started our journey outside to film, we didn’t have any idea what we were going to shoot. We just hoped there would be something cool around the lakes in Minneapolis. Sure enough, we spotted the awesome Kenwood Park Water Tower on our trip around Lake of the Isles.

With this iconic image in mind, we spent the next couple hours grabbing shots that we could edit together into an abstract story. Don’t ask me what it means. It’s so mysterious it just defies all explanation.

To add to this mystery, Jeff shot me singing in our dungeon-like basement, in near darkness. I have to confess I imagined myself looking pretty dorky singing this song, but Jeff’s lighting was like magic. He really did an excellent job with this whole video. I’m thankful he was willing and able to work with me on this and finish it up in just two days.

You can check out more of Jeff’s work and say hi on YouTube, Twitter, and at JeffreySchwinghammer.com.

Jake Anderson, drummer by nature, has been playing guitar and writing songs recently. This past week he and Brandon Dvorak came in to create what I believe is the first official Jake Anderson recording.

Frozen, forgotten
What’s the difference?
So now wish me luck
I’m full of hate
I’m full of

You’re the coldest shoulder to lean on,
Silver glazing eyes
Gazing over the ocean,
Waiting for the sunrise

Frozen, forgotten
What’s the difference?
So now wish me luck
I’m full of hate
I’m full of

Soon, with the toll of the turning season,
Like the fading tide,
The coldest shoulder to lean on
Forever mine

Frozen, forgotten
What’s the difference?
So now wish me luck
I’m full of hate
I’m full of

Since I called on these guys kind of last minute, Jake’s song was still in progress. But it already had some great guitar riffs and vocal melodies. So the three of us jammed a bit and worked out the song’s structure. Probably to the annoyance of our upstairs neighbors. But sometimes you just have to keep repeating the same thing over and over to get a few sparks of inspiration.

Brandon recording some soothing backing vocals. Six takes total, and since he was right on pitch every time, I used them all!

I really had no idea what Jake would bring to the table, since I hadn’t heard him play guitar or sing solo. I think his voice is pretty awesome, though, and his guitar skills are honed. Hopefully we’ll hear more solo stuff from Jake soon.

Jake, Brandon, and my cousins Matt and Nate Graves are all in the band With A Gun For A Face. They play around the Twin Cities quite a lot, so check out one of their shows. I usually make it to around 50% of them, so maybe see you there!

After 8th grade graduation, it was rare that I got to see my buddy Luke Friedrich. I missed out on a whole chunk of his musical life. He’s been playing in three (or four?) bands, and writing some great music. Luckily we discovered that we’re now neighbors here in Minneapolis. This past week, Luke came to me with a bluegrassy Charlie Parr song he wanted to try recording.

Just Like Today
Performed by Luke Friedrich, words and music by Charlie Parr

Behind the Song

Luke brought over his beautiful resonator guitar, and we recorded a demo track of him playing and singing at the same time, to get the overall structure down. Luke recorded guitar and vocals individually after that, but then we realized his demo recording was the take. Sure there were a couple buzzed notes here and there, but I loved his delivery and the emotion in this demo track. I was only recording the guitar in mono for this demo track, which I wouldn’t normally do, but it actually worked out great for the Iron & Wine-style production I wanted to try out. At key points during the chorus, I have the overdubbed guitar part enter in stereo, to fill out the soundscape a bit.

After that, Luke laid down vocal harmonies and slide guitar, and I played a violin part. When it came time to master the track, I resisted my urge to produce a “clean” track, and added a little hiss and pop to give it some old-timey warmth. I added a couple other cool Ableton Live effects to give it the old tape sound:

1. I set up a Frequency Shifter effect to make the whole track warble a little. I randomized the rate and boosted the amount a little bit at the beginning and end. If you try this effect, make sure the Dry/Wet knob is at 100% wet, otherwise you’ll get some funky phasing effects.
2. I added a simple overdrive effect, mostly acting as an EQ filter to take some of the high and low end off. I have the effect gradually decrease over the whole song so it sounds more lo-fi at the beginning.

I’m glad Luke introduced me to Charlie Parr’s music. You should also check out Luke’s own music, too. He plays drums in Crimes, who just released an album. He sings, writes, and produces music in Squares:

Latest tracks by squaresmn

This week I recorded a guy who has won all nine battle of the bands he’s entered, including one earlier tonight. Paul Spring and his band are all amazing musicians, so it was a treat to produce “Plum Street.”

Jeffrey Schwinghammer made this music video right in our living room. Special thanks to former Song-a-Weeker Jason P. Schumacher for helping out with lighting and other random tasks.

I would be lying if I said that I didn’t worry
Because all my friends got hitched in such a big hurry
I sit round thinking what’s the rush?
But then again I’ve been drinking and sleeping too much.

I better start making some money off playing these chords,
Because I’m developing high class habits that I can’t afford.
They tell me I gotta change,
But I don’t want to sing a song that’s out of my range.

I want someone who doesn’t need me
A woman of her own
A girl who can’t stand me
But won’t leave me alone

A wise old man gave me a kindly reminder
He said “As soon as you stop lookin, that’s when you’ll find her.”
He said “Impatience is the greatest sin of all.
It’s why we lost paradise and it’s why we’ll fall.”

I want someone who doesn’t need me
A woman of her own
A girl who can’t stand me
But won’t leave me alone

Paul Spring – vocals and acoustic guitar
Dylan McFarling – electric guitar and backing vocals
Danny Mittnacht – bass
Jed Anderson – drums and backing vocals

I finally met Paul this past week after seeing him around St. John’s years ago, playing awesome shows while he was still in high school. Strangely enough, I had a hand in producing a Paul Spring song about 4 years ago. Jed was recording some drums for my senior project, and we ended up recording a drum track for one of Paul’s songs. It was about Mountain Dew. Apparently he had (or maybe still has) an obsession.

All of these guys were startlingly efficient at recording. Whereas my own guitar playing seems to require 50 takes per song, Paul did one. He sang the lead vocals twice. Jed and Danny nailed their parts in just a few takes. Dylan was spitting out so many sweet guitar riffs, it was painful to let them fall by the wayside. Hopefully these guys will remember me someday when they’re off touring the world, being musical guests on SNL, picking up babes, etc.

To hear some more of Paul’s tunes, visit PaulSpringMusic.com or YouTube.com/PaulSpring

Check back soon for a behind the scenes video from Jeff.

This week’s recording is a special treat. Straight from Stoke-on-Trent, England, the band Lazerwülf has come out of a 24-year-hiatus to record “Breakthrough”:

Breakthrough
By Lazerwülf

Right click here to download the mp3.

It’s time to talk about the way that I feel
It’s like a fantasy romance, but it’s real

All the places that I go with you
And the feelings that we show
And the love you’ll never know

You could say I’m still not the man for you
But oh
Build up your walls you know what I’ll do
Well I
I’ll break through

I try to find my way alone, in the dark
I light my lantern with the flame of your heart

And the places that I go with you
And the seeds I’ve tried to sow
But the love would never grow

You could say I’m still not the man for you
But oh
Build up your walls you know what I’ll do
Well I
I’ll break through

It’s time to talk about the way that I feel
It’s like a fantasy romance, but it’s real

And the places that I go with you

It’s time to talk about the way that I feel…

Vocals, Keytar: Freddie Reginald
Vocals, Beats: Nigel Basil-Nigel
Synthesizer: Clive Scroggs

Lazerwülf (top to bottom): Nigel, Freddie, and Clive

An Intimate Moment with Lazerwülf

Charlie: Did you ever think Lazerwülf would be playing music together again?

Freddie: You know, I think deep down we all wanted to make music. But if a keytarist plays a single note in the middle of the wood, late at night, and no one is around, will anyone hear?

Charlie: Probably not.

Freddie: Our fears exactly. It seemed the world didn’t have a place in its heart for Lazerwülf anymore. But then something magical happened. I was on my way to Brent Cross, when a young lad passed me wearing one of our “Wank the World ’84″ tour t-shirts! Can you believe it?! To me, this was a sign that the youth was once again ready to, as we like to say, “howl.”

Charlie: How did it feel going back into the studio without your lead bassist and dear friend, Geoffrey Follisworth?

Freddie: Recording without Geoffrey was like bangers without mash, tea without digestives, bubble without squeak, d’you know what I mean, mate?

Charlie: No, not really…

Freddie: Well, we missed him dearly on this one. If he could have just kept his nose clean, maybe he’d be with us here today.

Charlie: Cocaine overdose?

Freddie: No mate, bogey overload.

Charlie: Sorry to hear that. Well, have you been making any music since your glory days in Lazerwülf?

Freddie: Well of course everyone remembers my two successful solo albums Freddie’s Outta This World and Starlight Manifesto.

Charlie: …those must have been a bit before my time.

Freddie: Well perhaps you recall a little band called Stink Out?

Charlie: Umm…Nigel, Clive…what have you guys been up to?

Nigel: I can honestly say I don’t remember the last 24 years, whatsoever.

Clive: Gardening, mostly.