The tour with Frankie Rose and Dirty Beaches was totally awesome!  Everyone in both bands was a blast to be on the road with, and the sets by both bands were uniformly excellent.  Thanks so much to Frankie for having me along, and to all my new friends from the road – you guys rule.

I ended up returning to Montreal with Alex & the Dirty Beaches gang after the tour to do some recording for an upcoming EP.  If you saw any of these dates recently, then you probably have an idea of what to expect – dark, loop-based mutant funk, accented with poly-rhythmic percussion and effected sax skronk & drones.  If you didn’t get a chance to check out the set, think of the new Lone Runner single, but wilder.  We banged out 6+ songs in one marathon all-nigher session, and we’re all excited to see what comes of them.

The debut album by Natural Harbors, called The Most Vernal of Equinoxes, is available now for download on his Bandcamp page (that’s the album art above).  I mastered this album earlier this year, and am thrilled to see that it’s out in the world.  It’s a really engaging collection of electro/acoustic pop songs with wildly inventive arrangements and production.  A limited-edition lathe-cut LP will be available via Positive Beat Recordings later this year.

In other news, I’m mastering a couple records some of my favorite Chicago bands (Cacaw and Unmanned Ship), finishing a compilation for my SOUNGS Label, and scouting out studio spaces with Ben Greenberg (who operated Python Patrol Studios).  Exciting shit!!

Thanks for stopping by!  Hit me up if you want to chat: jonathan[dot]schenke[at]gmail[dot]com