Recording and composition
In November 2007, the band announced they were in the demo and writing phase for their next album; alongside this, they posted a demo of "25" on their Myspace profile. A demo for "Fresh Attitude Young Body" was posted online on March 30, 2008, followed by several others for a limited time. In September 2008, the band played a few East Coast shows with the Riot Before. On October 6, 2008 the band entered the studio to start recording. A day prior, the group released the album's track listing and mentioned that the album would be released in early 2009. Frontman Jeff Rosenstock said it would contain "a ton of weird stuff on it." Recording concluded by December 2008 with the completion of gang vocals. Like most of the band's records, several songs feature samples as transitions between tracks. A clip from Green Day's performance at Woodstock '94 is played at the end of "9/11 Fever!!!" A clip from Ol' Dirty Bastard's song "Dirt Dog" is sampled at the end of "25!" A clip from the movie '' Milk'' is played at the end of "It Shits!!!"Release
Towards the end of October 2008, the band went on an East Coast US tour with Shinobu, prior to a Canadian tour with Mustard Plug, leading up to an appearance at the Skanksgiving ‘08 festival. On January 7, 2009, the album's artwork and track listing were posted online. "Can I Pay My Rent in Fun?" was posted onDemos
On February 15th, 2019 (the ten year anniversary of the original release of ''Scrambles''); Rosenstock announced the release of a collection of demos on Twitter. Along with a link to the demos and the original album, there was a short piece of writing where he reflected on the creation and release of ''Scrambles''. He concluded with "Thanks for reading, listening, and giving a shit. – Jeff". The demos appear to only feature Rosenstock. Several of the tracks contain musical and lyrical differences from their finished versions; "Cold Chillin' Cold Chillin'" is performed almost entirely on unadorned acoustic guitar and vocals, "It Shits!!!" contains different chords and lyrics, and "Wednesday Night Drinkball" lacks its climacticReception
] Reviews of the album have praised its perceived cohesiveness and clever lyrics. One reviewer wrote that, "Rosenstock's songwriting, which has always been quirky and introspective, is at its best here, mixing the personal and the humorous, and finding the difficult balance." Another reviewer declared that "Jeff Rosenstock is slowly becoming the only voice in punk rock, punk that matters."Track listing
Personnel
*Sean Bonnette – vocals (track 5) *Neil Callaghan – melodica (track 13) *Mike Campbell – omnichord (track 1) *Chris Candy – trumpet (track 10) *Mike Costa – drums (all tracks except 1) *John DeDomenici – bass (all tracks except 1, 6, 7, 10) *Dino – vocals (track 3) *Kepi Ghoulie – vocals (track 3) *Joel Hatstat – sleigh bells (track 1) *Rick Johnson – theremin (track 7), bass (track 10) *Matt Keegan – trombone (tracks 1, 10, 13) *Christine Mackie – bells (tracks 1, 13), claps (track 4) *Tom Malinowski – guitar (tracks 4, 6, 8, 12) *Sean McCabe – trombone (tracks 1, 10, 13) *Jeff Rosenstock – vocals (all tracks), guitar (all tracks), piano (tracks 1, 4, 5, 6), saxophone (track 1), tenor saxophone (tracks 10, 13), keyboards (tracks 3, 10, 11, 12), claps (track 4), synthesizer (tracks 4, 6, 11, 12), wurlitzer (tracks 4, 5, 7), mellotron (tracks 5), key bass (tracks 6, 12), fuzz bass (track 7), bells (track 11) *Laura Stevenson – vocals, banjo (track 13)References
External links