BY JON PETERS

In print | Published September 18, 2008

When I returned to Swarthmore for senior week, I immediately went up to the radio station — not only had I stored a great deal of stuff there over the summer, but I was also curious to see what had changed while I was gone. As I looked around the station, I saw signs of great activity: musicians had unmistakably left their mark with sheet music and keyboards dotting tables and floors. Who were these students and what were they doing at WSRN over the summer?

Well, the answer is not all that surprising. They were recording music — lots of it. Last semester, just as Wren Elhai ’08 put the finishing touches on Studio B, WSRN’s adjunct recording studio, an overflow of talent came in to record. Now equipped with a computer, professional software, microphones and even pop filters, the studio can accommodate almost any type of set-up. Ben Bradlow ’08, Sergio Rivas ’10, Pat Kolodgy ’09, a cappella group Sixteen Feet and even yours truly ventured up to the fourth floor of Parrish to record. Though Studio B’s musical renaissance began last semester, it only flowered over the summer.

I should not play totally ignorant; I had heard Woody Jiang ’09 was recording over the summer. In fact, he received a grant through the music department to finish working on a rock album. And with the help of some friends who were also on campus, he was able to record most of that album. While Woody handled guitar, drum samples and vocals, Dan Perelstein ’09 played the bass. According to Woody, “I am going for a polished radio rock/pop sound — just short of glossy.” “Not the One,” a single from the album, lives up to that promise. It’s a pensive rocker that incorporates Eno-like atmospherics as well as a smoking solo that Woody amazingly said was still being revised. The summer had given him some serious time to contemplate the rock — “I lived in Parrish, the only thing I had to do was cook for myself” — but the album is still unfinished and will probably not come out until next year. One song, yet to be released, was a collaboration with Charles Inniss ’09, another regular at Studio B.

I met Charles after a long day casting for his new musical, “Written in the Stars.” Though he seemed drained, he was strong enough to last a few minutes for a short interview. Through aother music department grant, Charles was also able to record a solo album this summer. He wrote and produced four tracks as part of a nine-song EP. Adamantly opposed to a full-length album (“one single for seventeen tracks”), he appreciates this older model. Unfortunately, “the downside is people don’t buy EPs.”

As I spoke to Charles I realized how this EP was indicative of an appreciation for all things classic; he mentions Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder as influences, for example. He expects the album to be “summery.” One of the songs will be a “FAMF Theme,” obviously inspired by his old band, The Funky Ass Mother Fuckers. In fact, much of the old band is part of his new album, including Perelstein on bass and Harrison Russin ’09 on keyboards. While recording this album, he also worked on “Written in the Stars,” which he wrote and is now directing. His work on the album will continue after the musical wraps this autumn. The very prolific Charles Inniss plans to release the album by the summer of 2009.

When I visited the studio, Patrick Kolodgy ‘09, general manager of WSRN, gave me an overview of the project’s progress, “The space is here. It is definitely done to the extent that you can do pretty sophisticated stuff in here.” Now the only concern is “training enough engineers to handle requests for sessions.”

Patrick himself is also working on an album “Ronk ng Rool,” much of which he created here at the studio. Influenced by punk and lo-fi music, Patrick’s band Handglops creates noisy pop. He played me “Teenagers in the Weekend,” which sounded a bit like Half Japanese with an indelibly noisy edge. The album will come out on an independent label sometime before year’s end, but the details are not yet settled.

As summer turns to winter and the station at the top of Parrish cools from its 100 degree average, more musicians will come to record. Already, Olde Club opener Vivian Girls recorded a set in Studio B and believe it or not, they sounded pretty good. In fact, most musicians who record up there are sounding pretty good. Call it luck or call it magic, but the studio has the power to be something bigger than big as the secret gets out and the sessions start to pile up this year.

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