Tag: Chris Hefner

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EATERS - front cover ref

Eaters, the labor of love shared between Bob Jones and myself, is finally out in real life.  It’s available digitally through Driftless Recordings (https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/eaters/id859836126), on vinyl through Dull Tools (http://dulltools.bigcartel.com/product/eaters-s-t-lp-preorder-april-22nd), and to stream on Ad Hoc.

I’m nearly overwhelmed with excitement about this album coming out.  Bob and I spent nearly two years working on this, writing and stripping it down and building it back up, looking at it from every angle, until we arrived at this conclusion.  I am both proud and humbled by the work we put into this thing, and I can only hope people will enjoy it as much as we do.

My good friend Chris Hefner created a video for the first single ‘Far’, which was his end of a four-year-old barter that I finally cashed in on (if you want to see/hear my end, check out his first feature The Pink Hotel).  This video is incredible – Bob’s and my jaws dropped when we first saw it.  Interview Magazine debuted the video, along with an interview with Bob and me about process and creation.  Impose Magazine picked up on the second single ‘Bury the Lines’, saying “somewhere in the siren of synths, the life cables and chords of yesterday and tomorrow are cut and trumped to a tune that reminds us all to live for today,” which I really liked.   And The New Yorker hyped our record release show at Glasslands, dishing out some extra attention to my engineering work while they were at it.

We’re taking off on tour later this week, starting with the show at Glasslands April 17th and hitting the Driftless showcase at Moogfest.  Check out these dates, come out if you can, and bring your friends!

Thur 4/17: Brooklyn, NY @ Glasslands Gallery (w/ Yvette, Dan Friel)
https://www.facebook.com/events/246054458905903/

Fri 4/18: Philly, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie (w/ Void Vision, Hiro Kone, Jeff Zeigler) LATE SHOW
https://www.facebook.com/events/229565430566944/

Sat 4/19: Cleveland, OH @ The Happy Dog (w/ Man Forever)

Sun 4/20: Detroit, MI @ PJ’s Lager House (w/ Especially Good, Turn to Crime) https://www.facebook.com/events/681531381889483/

Mon 4/21: Chicago, IL @ Township (w/ Golden Birthday, THIN HYMNS, ADT)
https://www.facebook.com/events/661557683907029/

Tues 4/22: Columbus, OH @ Cafe Bourbon St./ the Summit (w/ George Brazil, Matt Horseshit)

Wed 4/23 : Nashville, TN @ Betty’s Bar (w/ Ttotals, Dirty Dreams)
https://www.facebook.com/events/238586033014449

Thu 4/24: Asheville, NC @ Moogfest (Driftless Recordings Showcase)

Mon 4/28: Baltimore, MD The Crown (w/ Jenny Graf, Shana Palmer, and Alexander Trust)

 

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HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!! I’m so thrilled to be starting 2014!  2013 was great and all, but there is so much to look forward to over the next few months, I don’t know where to begin…

Catherine

… maybe with Catherine playing at Sundance this year?  I mixed and designed the sound for this short film version of the series by Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer Camp (who also made Marcel the Shell).  I’m working on some new shorts with them now, which are just as mind-numbingly weird and funny.

The Poisoner @ Lincoln Hall

… or maybe with the preview screening of The Poisoner on January 10th at Lincoln Hall?  It’s the strange and beautiful second feature film by my friend Chris Hefner, which we mixed last month at my studio in Brooklyn – check out the official trailer.  Daniel Knox provided an alluring score, and will be performing live at the screenings.  I highly recommend all Chicagoans reading this to buy tickets for this screening.


… I know!  Maybe with the release of the remix of “Sorrow” I made for Frankie Rose! I mixed it at Doctor Wu’s, based on a string arrangement by Grayson Sanders of Snowmine, with my studio partner Yale Yng-Wong executing a beautiful Moog bass part before taking a nap.

… but I should probably first just take a few moments to reflect on how great 2013 was.  Sure, it had its difficult bits, but I had opportunity after opportunity to make and do good work with good people.  I spent a month in India; travelled around the states with friends, family, and colleagues; made an album with my boy Bob Jones (EATERS 2014 BABY!); made lots of new friends; and did some of the best work of my life.  I can only hope that things will continue that way in 2014.

Light Up Gold Cover

… and I have to spend a minute marveling at the success of Parquet Courts and Light Up Gold.  These guys have become really close friends of mine over the last couple years since we banged this out in their practice space, and I couldn’t be happier about everything coming their way.  Their music made countless year-end lists – from Pitchfork (Light Up Gold, “Stoned and Starving”, and the cover art) and Rolling Stone (Light Up Gold, “Stoned and Starving”, and writer/VH1-talking-head Rob Sheffield’s personal list), to NPR (Sound Opinions’ numbers 1 and 2 top album) and Associated Press, to Other Music and Amoeba Music – pretty much everyone loved it.  And who could forget Tally All the Things That You Broke?  Its release sealed the deal, as far as I’m concerned.  We’re going upstate tomorrow to finish recording the new record at Outlier Inn – fingers crossed that people will love it too.

I hope everyone has something to look forward to in the coming months!  Thanks for reading, and please write if you’d like to talk about sound – jonathan.schenke[at]gmail.com

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Heavy Metal ChristmasHo Ho Ho Everybody!  The holidaze are upon us, and Cole Haan put together this heavy rendition of Jingle Bells by Unlocking the Truth to celebrate!  I recorded the band at Seaside Lounge and mixed it at home… gotta love that double kick.  Shout out to director Ben Hughes for all the Coil albums he gave me.

I’ve been doing a bit of mastering over the last few weeks.  I mixed and mastered an epic collaborative “transnational blues” jam with Alex from Dirty Beaches and Josh and Simon from Hot & Cold.  I blended a field recorded and iphone recording, which turned out really cool, and mastered it at my home studio.

Tyvek - Blunt Instrumental 2

I transferred and remastered the out-of-print Blunt Instrumental 2 tape by Tyvek for re-release on Dull Tools.  Wild shit!  She Speaks in Tongues from Chicago also had me master their record recently, which should see release in early 2014.

Light Up Gold Cover

As the year wraps up, out come the year-end lists.  I’m beyond thrilled to see my boys Parquet Courts up there already… Light Up Gold has so far made it onto lists by Rolling Stone (#11) and Paste Magazine (#23), and the cover made it to Pitchfork’s best album art (#15).  I’m psyched to see what else is in store for the record, and can barely wait to head up to Outlier Inn in the new year to finish the next record!

I’m wrapping the year with a couple film projects (with my good friend from Chicago Chris Hefner, and loveable weirdos Dean Fleischer-Camp and Jenny Slate of Catherine and Marcel the Shell renown/infamy), and continuing to prep for Eaters to come out next year.  Thanks for checking things out… holler at me if you wanna talk sound: jonathan[dot]schenke [at] gmail[dot]com

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Recording Beverly

I spent a week in the studio this month with Beverly, the new band by Frankie Rose and Drew Citron (of Avan Lava and Frankie’s touring band).  We did a round of tracking at their practice space, a bunch of vocals and overdubs at Doctor Wu’s, and a few days of editing and mixing at my place.  The songs are really cool – punky and melodic, on a real Last Splash/Pacer tip, with killer vocal harmonies.  We’re taking some time off to work on other projects, but I’m really looking forward to getting back into it in a couple months… I think people are really going to love this!

I’ve been doing some mastering over the last few weeks too…. I mastered an album by the Chicago band Warmbloods (featuring members of Watchers and Low Skies).  It was particularly fun to work on since my old studio mate/mentor from Experimental Sound Studio Jacob Ross played on and recorded it…

I also worked on a reissue series of the 80s Australian band The Sunday Painters, remastering from transfers of the original reels.  Their three EPs and two LPs were self-released in the early 80s in very limited numbers (like 250-500 copies each), and have long been out of print.  The sound really runs the gamut across the releases, ostensibly a punk band but with songs ranging from almost twee pop to full-on noise and everything in between.  I think a good frame of reference would be some intersection between Big Black, Swell Maps, and Flying Nun records.  A lot of really good stuff here, I’m really looking forward for these to come out.

My good friend Chris Hefner is nearing completion of his new feature film The Poisoner.  To raise the last of the funds (for Daniel Knox‘s score and sound mix by yours truly, among other things), he’s holding a presale in the form of a Deluxe Investor Ticket – a  limited-edition, signed and numbered, screen printed ticket for a special screening of the film after its completion.  I’m a big fan of Chris as both an artist and a person, and am really looking forward to working with him on this over the summer.  Check out a teaser above.

Chris has also posted The Pink Hotel, his first feature (which I also mixed), in its entirety.  Get spooky!

But honestly, the thing I’m most excited about doing right now is going back into the studio with Parquet Courts!  We’ll be at Seaside Lounge for tracking (where Andrew and I did Fergus & Geronimo’s Funky was the State of Affairs), and Doctor Wu’s for mixing.. two of my favorite studios in NYC.  They’ve got a bunch of new stuff ready to lay down to tape, and we’re all eager to get in there to see what happens. They’re also playing some sick shows coming up, opening for the Roots at BAM(!) and the Breeders(!!).  If you still can’t get enough, here’s some videos from Vice/Noisey and MTV getting in on the action.

Please write me at jonathan.schenke[at]gmail.com if you wanna talk about sound.  Thanks for reading through all this!