Kraut-pop combo Operator Music Band just released their new Coordination EP. This is the second recording I’ve mixed/mastered for the group (after this spring’s Puzzlephonics I & II), and features production by Zula‘s Henry Terepka and drums by Ava Luna‘s Julian Fader. The EP (streaming above) has already received great write-ups by AdHoc, Post-Trash, and PopBollocks, and is out now via New Professor Music.
From the New Yorker’s Night Life section:
Jonathan Schenke is a go-to producer for the indie-rock élite, having worked on albums for Dirty Beaches, Parquet Courts, and Frankie Rose, among others. He steps out from behind the mixing boards with this exaggerated electro-funk project, which he shares with the multi-instrumentalist Bob Jones. The duo, which builds synth-based soundscapes that would not be out of place in an early-eighties slasher flick, has released two self-titled records; this year’s is grinding and quirky, full of deep club tunes with the Korg-inflected whimsy of early New Wave bands like Oingo Boingo and the Buggles. They perform with Yvette, a raw industrial duo whose jagged tracks should come with cautionary signage.
There’s a new 7″ out by NYC psych-punk group Acid Dad. I recorded this upstate over the winter on my Otari MX-5050, and mixed it at Doctor Wu’s in the spring. Check out the songs above, read this interview with Consequence of Sound, and pick up your copy of the 7″ via Greenway Records.
It’s truly an honor to be featured in the new issue of Tape Op Magazine! I got my first issue as an aspiring intern thirteen years ago, and have read each issue since cover to cover. A multitude of thanks to John Rau, Montana Simone, Nivia Hernandez, and Larry & the Tape Op crew for making this happen… RIP Doctor Wu’s Studio, new studio opening very soon!
NYC synth-poppers Strange Names have a new single called ‘Into Me’ out now. The song is the first single from their upcoming LP Data, which was mixed by me at Doctor Wu’s and mastered by Heba Kadry at Timeless Mastering. Data will be out early 2018 on Frenchkiss Records, and you can hear ‘Into Me’ below:
Dream Police – the psych/synth spin-off from the Men – has a new single called ‘Revenge’, out now on Sacred Bones. I mastered this stomper – read about it on Noisey, and stream it below.
Operator Music Band just released a new single called ‘Realistic Saturation’ via Stereogum. The song is from their upcoming Coordination EP, which was produced by Zula’s Henry Terepka and mixed/mastered by me at Doctor Wu’s. The Coordination EP comes out 12/1 via New Professor Music, and you can listen to ‘Realistic Saturation’ below.
I recently scored the short film Milespires & Reliquaries by Phillip Birch with Jonathan Campolo (Pill, Softspot). We improvised the music with synthesizers, piano, delay, and feedback at Gary’s Electric and Doctor Wu’s. Milespires and Reliquaries is screening as part of an installation at Lyles & King, which runs October 13 – November 12 – read about it on Art Beat.
Sometimes you work on songs and love the results. Sometimes they come out quickly, sometimes you have to wait a while, sometimes they never come out at all. A couple of these languishing gems have finally been unearthed…
Frankie Rose recently released “Sorrow String”, a remix I made for the single from her last record Herein Wild. The remix is based around voice, live strings, and Moog bass, and I’m thrilled to have it out in the world. My studio partner Yale Yng-Wong recorded the strings and synth bass, as well as mixing Frankie’s new record Cage Tropical. Cage Tropical is out now on Slumberland Records, and Frankie and her band are on tour now.
I also mixed the single “Asleep at the Wheel” for Fort Lean around the time Daniel Schlett, Jake Aron (my other studio partner, and former member of Fort Lean) and I were finishing mixing their last album Quiet Day. It was one of my favorites from those sessions, and still sounds great years later. Enjoy!
Matador Records – the massively influential label and a personal longtime favorite – announced today that they’ve signed Snail Mail to their roster. I went upstate last month to the newly re-designed and re-opened Outlier Inn (where I also recorded Parquet Courts’ Sunbathing Animal and Honduras’ Rituals) with the band and Jake Aron (my studio partner and the album’s producer) to do the basic tracking. It sounds fantastic – the studio’s fun and beautiful, and the songs are a great progression from the first EP. Jake’s mixing it this fall – it will be a good one!
Jonathan Schenke 