Tag: Eaters

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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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Sunbathing Animal Artwork

The new Parquet Courts record Sunbathing Animal  was officially announced this week, and with it a stream of the titular track and a Best New Track nod from Pitchfork!  Of all the songs on the record, this is the one that still elicits the strongest reaction – it really does something for me.  Tracking this song is probably the most intense recording experience I’ve ever had – there’s almost nothing in the instrumental to cue where you are in the song and it’s practically un-punch-in-able – and I think that feeling of riding the rails and struggling to finish the sprint is truly captured here.  I like to think of it as the sonic equivalent of a beast of hair, teeth and claws bearing down on you as you for dear life.

Over the weekend, I listened to the acetate of Sunbathing Animal back to back with the test pressing of the Eaters LP with my other Eater Bob Jones and Andrew Savage from Parquet Courts (who’s co-releasing Eaters on his label Dull Tools).  Both of these records mean so much to me (emotionally, creatively, professionally), from the experiences of making them (with people I consider to be both inspiring collaborators and close friends), to the finished albums (and the feeling that I wouldn’t change a single thing about either one).  I can’t wait for people to hear what I’ve been doing with the last year of my life.

 

Another labor of love that just hit the internet is the first song from my good friend Gregg Gillis’ new Girl Talk EP with Freeway, Broken Ankles.  I’ve been working with him off-and-on throughout this project, and it’s so exciting to see this drop.  The first single “Tolerated” has a verse from Waka Flocka Flame, and an Enon sample to boot!  Plus, the video is completely ridiculous and amazing.  The full EP comes out April 8th on Dat Piff.

 

And I just got my own copy of the Fa Bonx 7″!  They exist!  There are all kinds of back stories and rumors about the provenance of these recordings… something about a forgotten glam band and rescued tapes… all I know is that Kevin from What’s Your Rupture brought me these tape transfers to work with, and it was a blast doing it.  Check out The Rinda below.

 

I’m so psyched to be mixing the new PC Worship record right now!  They were the first band I fell for after moving to New York, and I’ve scrambled to keep up with their releases since.  This new record, recorded and mangled by primary Worshiper Justin Frye at Roulette, is a massive slab of mutant rock n’ roll that pushes the boundaries of their sound in some stunningly mind-numbing ways.  Look for it this fall…. you should be psyched too.

I just finished working on a record by Dream Police, a new project from Mark Perro and Nick Chiericozzi of The Men.  It’s a trip of a record, heavy on drum machines and wild solos, with a lot of stylistic ground covered – from industrial biker vibes to acoustic psychedelia to cinematic synth-pop and everywhere in between.  I co-mixed it with Kyle Keays-Hagerman and the band at Doctor Wu’s, and Kyle tracked it at his space Spice World on his own Otari MX-5050.  I’m not sure when or where this will be coming out, but it’ll be a real treat when it does.

Lots of cool stuff coming up this month!  It’s too much and too soon to get into everything, but I promise it will be amazing!  Thanks for reading, and please hit me up if you’d like to talk about sound: jonathan.schenke[at]gmail.com

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Eaters Press Photo - FINAL

The Fader recently premiered the first single from Eaters, my new project with my buddy Bob Jones.  The song’s called “Far”, and my good friend and associate Chris Hefner (director of The Poisoner and The Pink Hotel) just completed a mind-blowing video for the track, which should hit soon.  The (self-titled) album comes out April 15th through Driftless Recordings and Dull Tools, and I can’t wait for people to hear it.  If you can’t wait either, come check us out this Friday (March 7th) at Death By Audio with Future Punx for their 7″ release show (which incidentally I mixed and mastered).

We just wrapped up the new Parquet Courts record last week, and it’s every bit as satisfying and exciting as you might imagine.  We worked on this puppy for about 10 months, across three recording sessions in two different studios (Seaside Lounge and Outlier Inn), with two different mix sessions plus a final stems tweak at Doctor Wu’s.  It was a serious undertaking, but listening through the record with the band last week was so incredibly rewarding – it was seriously everything we wanted it to be…. and the (multitude of) outtakes are badass too!!   The record’s being mastered by Joe LaPorta at Sterling Sound as I write this, and will be released this summer by What’s Your Rupture/Rough Trade.

PC - SBA sheet music

But you won’t need to wait that long to hear what we’ve been working on!  As Spin just announced, the band is dropping the first song from the LP on Record Store Day, aka April 19th.  The single consists of “Sunbathing Animal” (the LP’s titular track), and non-album b-side “Pilgrims to Nowhere”, both of which have worked their way into the band’s live sets over the past year.  Check out the sheet music/cover art above, or download it here if you wanna give it a whirl.

Jonny digging

I also spent a couple weeks working with the lovely London lads Mazes recently, producing/recording/mixing their new LP for Fat Cat Records.  We went upstate to Adam Pierce (aka Mice Parade’s) studio Tree Time for the tracking (which is where I also recorded Screens by Forest Fire for Fat Cat).  It was a real bonding experience, between a theft, getting snowed in multiple times (see above), and the awesome record we made together.  Jack from the band came back to Brooklyn with me, we ate chilaquiles and pizza, and mixed the record at Doctor Wu’s.  It’s a really cool record, and I’m excited for people to hear it later this year.

I have many projects that I am very excited about coming up soon, so please check back if you’re interested.  Please contact me if you’d like to talk about sound (jonathan.schenke[at]gmail.com), and thanks for reading!

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Parquet Courts at Outlier Inn

The new Parquet Courts LP is nearly done!!  I spent a week upstate with the guys and my Otari MX-5050 earlier this month, recording at the wonderful Outlier Inn. Massive thanks to our gracious hosts Josh and Ambika – they made our stay there so comfortable and productive, I can’t recommend it highly enough.  We then went to Doctor Wu’s to mix those sessions along with tracks from our previous sessions at Seaside Lounge.  Everything is sounding wild – it’s a real step up sonically from Tally All the Things That You Broke, even though it’s still on the same 8-track tape machine.  We’re still working on a final track order, but it’s a total trip of a record!

For Austin’s birthday, they played Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, which still kinda blows my mind.  And on Friday, I’m flying to meet them in New Zealand for a tour with Laneway Festival and Total Control.  HUZZAH!!

In the meantime, I sound designed and mixed a couple shorts for Dean Fleischer-Camp and Jenny Slate (while they were at Sundance Film Festival for the showing of Catherine).  They’re really great shorts called Childs’ Playhouse, which were written by and starring small children.  Plus, they’re for Disney, so I can scratch “make something for Disney” off my bucket list!

Last fall, I mixed a film with my friend and film maker Duncan Skiles (director of Why Shit So Crazy by Reggie Watts and The Fuzz) called Last of the Great Romantics.  I’m particularly fond of this charming and funny little rom-com!  There’s a new trailer online, with screenings coming later this year.

I also mastered a couple projects over the last week: an album by Fennec called Let Your Heart Break (out February 11th), and an EP called Reach House by the Brooklyn band Railings.

EATERS - front cover ref

Maybe the thing I’m most psyched about though is unveiling Eaters to the world.  My friend Bob Jones and I started working on this project nearly two years ago, and I couldn’t be happier with how things have developed.  We’re playing our first show tonight (at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn), the first single drops in a couple weeks, and the album comes out in April on Driftless Recordings…

Thanks for reading!  I’ll be in and out of the Internet for the next few weeks, but as always, feel free to send me a note 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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Tally All the Things That You Broke

Parquet Courts‘ newest release, Tally All the Things That You Broke, came out last month to good-to-glowing reviews.  Two of my favorite pieces I’ve read were in the New York Times and Rolling Stone, where the authors gushed like unadulterated fanboys.  Hell, even my mom’s calling me to tell me she heard them on NPR (“Yeah ma, I know, I mixed that show.”)  I love it!

We’re in the middle of a new record as I write, while the band take a much-deserved break.  I truly cannot wait to continue work on it, and just as excited for everyone to hear it.


In the meantime, I had the chance to remix the JASH Network series Catherine into a short film.  I was a big fan of the original, and this is just as sweet and bizarre in its own special way.  It’s debuting this weekend at the AFI Festival in LA, and will hopefully be making the rounds on the festival circuit next year.

But the biggest recent development in my world was finishing the Eaters album with my friend Bob Jones.  We’d worked on these recordings off-and-on for a while now, and were approached by Joel Ford and Patrick McDermott about releasing material on their new label Driftless Recordings.  We took our recent material from this summer and reworked some older material to craft an album that I  honestly feel is compositionally and sonically unique in the current musical landscape.  It’s the first music of my own that I’ve made in years, and I couldn’t be happier with or more proud of the result.  The self-titled album will be out in the spring, with singles and videos streaming in the new year…

I’ve got a number of projects small and large coming up over the next month, and hopefully much more to share soon.  If you’d like to talk about sound, please write at jonathan.schenke[at]gmail.com

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Tally All the Things That You BrokeI am sooooooo psyched that the new Parquet Courts EP Tally All the Things That You Broke is coming out soon!  October 8th, What’s Your Rupture.  Pitchfork broke the news and debuted the new single “You’ve Got Me Wonderin’ Now” recently.  I can’t wait for people to hear this EP, the sessions were incredible and the recordings turned out so well.  But even more so, I can’t wait to get back into the studio next month to finish the LP!  You guys are gonna flip.

Forest Fire continues to get some well-deserved attention around their upcoming record Screens.  Pitchfork praised the first single “Waiting in the Night” recently, even comparing the sound to Dave Fridmann, thank you very much.  Meanwhile, Stereogum debuted another song, “Alone with the Wires”.  Mark did a pretty cool interview with Ghettoblaster recently, which gave a good insight into the mindset and process of the record.  I really do love this record, and I am so excited for everyone to hear it – I think we made something truly special with this one.  Screens is out September 10th on Fat Cat.

Also coming out around then is The Fuzz!  The series airs September 9th on Yahoo Screen.  It’s about a buddy-comedy/crime-drama about a puppet’s rise through the criminal underworld, selling cocaine to humans and jellybeans to puppets, and the reject human/puppet cop partners who are working to bring him down.  We busted ass over to get this done, and I am thrilled it’s airing soon!  The director Duncan Skiles and I are working on his new film Last of the Great Romantics now… it’s so good.

I recently finished working with Mannequin Pussy, mixing and mastering their new album Gypsy Pervert.  They recorded it at Oscilloscope Studio (the Beastie Boys’ studio!), so it sounded great coming to me, and I threw it through my new Universal Audio 1176s and Studer plugins to get it sounding that much bigger.  We’re all really excited about it – they’ll have cassettes on their tour this October.

I also recently worked with Christine Hoberg, mixing her upcoming record at Doctor Wu’s.  It was fun to get into a real David Lynch-y sonic headspace with these songs.. lots of weird delays and pitch shifting around “singer-songwriter” ballads.  Pretty cool stuff!

Jungle Green recently released an EP called Twelve-and-a-half Minitues of the Most Beautiful Love Songs Ever Written as a free download on his bandcamp page.  It’s a pretty wild ride through love and heartbreak, with some totally skronky outbursts and some tender falsetto.  It was mixed by Paul  de Jong (of the Books) and I mastered it with him at Doctor Wu’s.

Oh!  And I almost forgot – Bob and I finished the new Eaters EP.  It’s called Phantom Selves.  More on that later.

Thank you thank you thank you for taking time to read this, hope you dug some of it.  Feel free to get in touch to talk about sound: jonathan[dot]schenke[at]gmail[dot]com

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South By Southwest was awesome this year!  March in Texas is still in my opinion the best weather in the world, and it was so nice to get to see so many friends all in one place.  Parquet Courts killed it, and Daniel Francis Doyle’s new band blew my mind… so much good stuff going on….

The Apocalypse won best in program at SXSW, following a strong showing at Sundance.  But maybe the coolest thing about this short is that while hanging in Austin, I caught up with my childhood babysitter and was telling her what I’d been up to.  When I told her the premise of The Apocalypse, her jaw dropped, and she told me that her son had come home one day and showed it to her on Youtube, and that it had sparked a long conversation about information overload in our lives…  SO COOL!!!

The Apocalypse is hitting a bunch of other festivals too, check it out:
Sundance London
Dallas International Film Festival (this weekend!)
Sarasota Film Festival (also this weekend!)
Florida Film Festival (ALSO this weekend!!)
Rincon International Film Festival
Bradfrod International Film Festival

The Fuzz Press Conference

The Fuzz debuted at SXSW, as part of the new Yahoo! Screen (along with a new show by Tenacious D).  There was a great sneak-preview event with the creators and stars (including Herbie and Rainbow) – with jellybeans!  The crowd reaction was great, and I’m really excited for everyone to get to see this.  The first episode will be premiering next month, but you can check out the trailer now.

Wind & Rain, the debut EP by Wild Leaves, is out now.  The limited-edition vinyl comes in a lovely hand-printed cover, which you can stream and purchase on their Bandcamp page.  They’ve also made a couple videos, check ’em out!

NAC_3-Panel_JcardTemplate_FRONT

The new Thin Hymns EP (which I mastered) is available for pre-order.  It’s called Black Water, and you can stream it and purchase a cassette copy at their Bandcamp page.

I’ve been keeping busy in the meantime – working on a master by slowcore shoegazers Vibrant Light, and doing sound design for a new Intel ad campaign.  I also started working on a new musical project with my buddy Bob Jones called Eaters… expect an EP in the next couple months!  So psyched about this…

Thanks for checking out the site – please drop me a line if you’d like to talk sound!  jonathan.schenke[at]gmail.com