Paul M. Davis» compilations | Paul M. Davis

Someday Coming Round: Deviant Twang Revisited

Paul M. Davis — Tue, 05 Jul 2005 00:32:14 +0000

The second in the deviant twang compilation series, released sometime around 2005 (if my failing memory serves me correctly.) On the whole, this one is much more cohesive–if less ostensibly “twang-y”–and likely the last compilation I’ll ever put together, grace willing. It’s striking how anachronistic a CD-R comp seems a mere four years later, but for as much as putting these together was a pain in the ass (burning hundreds of copies off with every computer conceivably available, silkscreening covers one by one, affixing CD labels,) there’s a lot more charm to the process than dumping a zip folder up on Megaupload. So, here’s a zip file of tracks. Progress!

Someday Coming Round: Deviant Twang Revisited (zip file)

Track List:

Mule Train – Dead to Rights
The Devil Makes Three – Bangor Mash
Clampitt, Gaddis and Buck – Wayward Brother
Dusty Rhodes and the River Band – Fire in the Sky
The Jewgrass Boys – Jim McCann
Boaz Vilozny – Not in this Town
Power of County – Preacher Man
Emily Herring – Doc Bronner
The Juanita Family and Friends – Song of Mihitabel
the Strangers – Outskirts of the City at the Edge of a Desert
The Younger Brothers – Easy Son
Kids on the Couch – God
Steven Griswold – Needle and Twine
The Jesus Chords – When the Man is Getting You Down
Rum and Rebellion – San Luis Waltz
Meg Woodruff – Sunshine

This one got a fair amount of press given its provenance, including a feature in the Metro Santa Cruz (once again, before I began contributing, but not my long.) For posterity, press clips below:

“It’s the kind of album that reaffirms your faith in country music and makes doing this radio show possible.” - Silverfish in the Kitchen Radio

“It’s rare to find a compilation worth listening to, where only a couple of tracks stand out against a dozen other B-sides. It’s even more difficult to find a decent country music compilation, a genre so vilified because of mainstream vapidness and patriotism. Someday Coming Round is an ideal primer for those who can’t get past Travis Tritt, and even for those who don’t have Bocephus’s entire discography…Do yourself a favor and get this comp, and then do yourself a bigger favor and buy the respective records of all the bands on this comp.” - Punk Planet # 72

“The phrase “deviant twang” sums up the very essence of this sampler’s sound—it’s a little bit honky-tonk, a little bit rock ’n’ roll and whole lotta dirty. Alongside some of our already established favorites, such as “Dead to Rights” from Mule Train and “Bangor Mash” from fellow local deviants The Devil Makes Three, Someday Coming Round brings us some of the greatest sounds from up and down the West Coast.” - Good Times Santa Cruz

Also, credit where it’s due, the cover was designed by myself and the emitable Daniel Strong, and printed (by printed I mean photocopied and colored in with Sharpies when the silkscreen didn’t register right) by the two of us over beer, Vicodin, and marathon sessions of Six Feet Under DVD’s.

Someday Coming Down: A Deviant Twang Sampler

Paul M. Davis — Wed, 31 Mar 2004 00:00:48 +0000

The second compilation I organized, Someday Coming Down: A Deviant Twang Sampler, was released in 2004 and focused largely on underground country, folk, and cowpunk from the West Coast. It featured the Devil Makes Three, the Diamond Star Halos (featuring Emily Jane White), Two Gallants, and tons more bands. Even though it was largely put together while I brefly lived in Southern California, the kind folks at the Metro Santa Cruz (where I later became a contributor) called it “one of the most important compilation albums for the young local scene in years.”

Someday Coming Down: A Deviant Twang Sampler (zip file)

Track List:

The Devil Makes Three – Ain’t Nobody’s Business
The Chop-Tops – Hey Baby
The Puffin’ Billies – Bhune the Sheepherder
Mule Train – Bait & Switch
Boaz Vilzony – Working Man
The Diamond Star Haloes – Red, White and Blue
Ten Gallon – White Freightliner
Hobo Jazz- Rocking Chair
The Waiting Man – Driving Nails in My Coffin
Two Gallants – Cocaine Blues
Blackstrap – St. James Infirmary Blues
The Blue Lady Quintet – Porcelain
Ladytown - Easy Come, Easy Go
Brown Recluse – Desire
Muleskinner Jones – Pretty Polly
Steven Griswold Trucking Project – Drink it Away
The Younger Brothers – Mid November

Tastes Like Burning Compilation

Paul M. Davis — Sun, 11 Aug 2002 18:58:37 +0000

Ah, the heady days of 2002. At the time, my nutrition primarily came from Budweiser and vodka and day-old bagels. Out of personal torpor and an antsiness that defines both of our personalities, my good friend Pete Bernhard and I organized Tastes Like Burning, our first CD-R comp of indie, punk and folk bands from the Santa Cruz local scene along with a number of like-minded folks from other West Coast areas.

Few of these bands exist anymore, though a handful do. The obvious historical quirk is the inclusion of a couple demos by our friends-of-a friend in The Thermals, who have gone on to a well-deserved measure of success (including releasing one of 2007′s most critically acclaimed albums). There are some great nuggets in here by musicians who’ve gone on to bigger things (such as Pete, with the Devil Makes Three) as well fantastic songwriters and bands that deserve a bit more historical re-estimation (including great Santa Cruz indie popsters Sin in Space, brilliant songwriter Boaz Vilozny who gave up music for organic chemistry, and Sweatitout, an amalgam of ’80s metal and the Cars that would have made Brooklynite hipsters swoon if they’d formed on the other coast.)

The other day, this blogger Steve, who runs the great Cover Freak blog and had ordered the other two CD-R comps I put together (Someday Coming Down and Someday Coming Round), sent me an email asking if I had any copies of this comp left. Unfortunately, I only have a couple copies kicking around the apartment anymore, both of which are slowly submitting to the decreptitude that awaits CD-R’s and home-silkscreened covers. His email inspired me to rip the tracks and archive them while I still could, scan the art, and post it all online for posterity.

Download Tastes Like Burning .zip file

The track listing and links to the current musical projects of the bands and musicians involved:

01> marker – road to nowhere (current projects unknown) 02> depth charge revolt – socrates diminished 03> the thermals – goddamn the light 04> sin in space – fly by night 05> pete bernhard – revenge (Pete is now in The Devil Makes Three) 06> boaz vilozny – waiting all night 07> paul m. davis – alkaline 08> the automatones – nobodys hero (current projects unknown) 09> sweat it out – takin forever (current project: The Gibbs) 10> audio crush – in love with misery (Joe Clement’s current band: Crucial Unicorn) 11> the spooks – rollin dice with jesus christ (current projects unknown) 12> the shakes – six fifty (The one document of me and Pete’s short-lived goober garage-punk outfit) 13> the thermals – it’s time to lose 14> ill lit – beating the daylights out of my nightlife 15> paul m. davis – bottom of the stack 16> zirkles unit – love inside 17> the roots of orchis – please call 874-2420

For more about Santa Cruz independent culture and DIY history, check out the awesome SCUM wiki.

Insert cover art by Koak.