I’ve been putting the finishing touches on the mix for Wild Quiet, the new album by Junk Culture.  It’s continuing on the expansive pop tip that Deepak (Junk Culture’s main man) has been exploring recently, drawing from similarly widescreen influences like Animal Collective, Broken Social Scene, and Max Tundra.  This album has been a blast to work on – the songs are solid and super catchy, and the production is pretty excellent.  There was a lot to tinker around with, and end result is bigger/better/weirder than I think either of us expected!  It should be out this summer on Illegal Art.  In the meantime, check out “Hang Roxy” here:  http://alteredzones.com/posts/1822/junk-culture-hang-roxy-feat-jana-hunter/

In the middle of all this, I spent three days recording the new album by Parquet Courts, Light Up Gold.  They’re a Brooklyn band fronted by Andrew Savage (of Fergus & Geronimo and Teenage Cool Kids) that play scuzzy vintage style punk tunes… think of what Guided By Voices, Modern Lovers, and Woods might sound like jamming together.  Andrew and I worked together on the upcoming Fergus & Geronimo record for Hardly Art, so I knew we’d have a good time.  We did the full album, overdubs vocals and all, in 3 days to a Tascam 388 reel-to-reel machine (see that photo above) in their practice space.  It turned out awesome!  We’re getting together to mix it in a couple of weeks, which I’m really looking forward to.  If you haven’t already, check out their also-awesome cassette American Specialties.  You can stream a couple of tunes here:  http://parquetcourts.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/she-looked-at-me-like-a-frypan-reducing/

And I recorded a demo with of my friend Bob’s bands, Sharksleep.  It’s haunted acoustic folk tunes, which we recorded live in their living room.  Jim from the band did overdubs and mixed it, and the demo turned out really good.  Check it out: http://sharksleep.bandcamp.com/

Much more coming up, things have been good and busy!  If you want to chat, send me an email: jonathan[dot]schenke[at]gmail[dot]com