Jason Kelly – former drummer & songwriter of such genre-bending groups as Fergus & Geronimo and Future Punx – returns with the new song “Letting Go Again”. Written, recorded, and performed entirely alone, the skewed & dexterous electronic-pop of “Letting Go Again” evokes feelings of McCartney II, John Maus, and R. Stevie Moore. I mixed the song this fall at Studio Windows, and Mark Yoshizumi mastered it. It brings me great joy to hear Jason’s new work – he is a dear friend (one of the first I made in NYC) and his musicality lifts any composition to which he contributes. I hope this is the first of many he’ll be sharing with us! “Letting Go Again” is available now on Bandcamp.
Brooklyn’s day-glo retro-futurists Future Punx are back with a brand-new full-length called 2020. Band leaders Jake Pepper and Chris Pickering engineered and mixed the album largely on their own, and I assisted throughout the process – from song-selection and recording through additional production and preliminary mixing at Studio Windows. The resulting album feels like the strongest realization of their instant party-starting electro-rock dreams, just in time for summer! 2020 is currently available for streaming & download on their Bandcamp page, with plans for a physical LP due later this year via Dull Tools.
The self-titled debut from Brooklyn’s Beech Creeps is out now on Monofonus Press! Critical reaction (from press and fans) has been real good for these guys with another song (the massive slice of sludge “Arm of the T-Rex”) and a full album stream hitting Stereogum over the past few weeks. They share many kind words, calling the album “aggressively imaginative rock… [that] feels raw and blood-thirsty in a way that current rock just doesn’t anymore.” They also hit the nail on the head when they talked about the aspects of “fun” and “play” in this music – we had a blast making this record. I’m also just very proud of the work that we did, so it’s real treat to see if finding such an appreciative audience. Check it out now if you haven’t already!
Eaters recently released some new material as well – a contribution to the ‘Dreams’ series by the website Stadiums & Shrines. The premise is that each artist receives a collage of a foreign land, and musically interprets it as they imagine it. We chose Finland (which neither Bob nor I have been to), and the result is above. Make sure to visit the site in order to read the hilariously bizarre dream sequence they’ve depicted, replete with giants, talking reindeer, shape-shifters, soul-birds, and lots of laughter.
Eaters live, photo by Sam Cole
We also played a couple of fantastic Eaters shows in February. We started the month by playing with our Dull Tools homies Parquet Courts and Future Punx at Palisades on an instantly sold-out show. These three groups are so intertwined and supportive of one another, it was a wonderful family affair. And just recently, we supported Dan Deacon at the record-release show for his new album Gliss Riffer at Rough Trade NYC. It was an absolute treat to be a part of that show – playing some new material, on a proper stage and sound system, to a new audience, with an old friend on his big night. The L Magazine had some great things to say about us, and Impose took some fantastic photographs of the night.
I spent some time this month working with the duo Lushes on their upcoming album Service Industry. They recorded and will mix the record with Aaron Mullan (Sonic Youth‘s studio engineer and leader of the band Tall Firs), and we worked primarily on creating synth parts and providing treatments for samples and vocals. It was an interesting and different approach to record making for me – not that I haven’t done these things in the past, but that I usually work on those things during recording or mixing a record. Working exclusively on synths and treatments allowed us to expand the record while keeping the original sound/vision intact. I’m a fan of the band and their debut What Am I Doing?, and was really psyched to work with them on this one. Look for the record later this year on Felte.
I also started working with Forest Fire on their new record. Their previous record – 2013’s Screens – remains one of my all-time-favorite record-making experiences, and we were all twitching with anticipation to start a new record together. We did a few days of basic tracking at the end of the month, and will be passing files back and forth throughout the spring. I’m really curious and excited to hear how this album develops, but it seems to be refining and expanding upon the electro-romantic streak of Screens.
Make sure to visit Lightning Bug’s bandcamp page, where they’re posted their debut record Floaters as a pay-what-you-wish download and cheap cassette. I mastered this record earlier this year, based on an introduction through a mutual friend, and was mightily impressed by the quality of their work – a potent blend of Broadcast-style psychedelia, krautrock, shoegaze, and ambient drift. I just re-listened to it as I wrote this post – it’s great!
Also now available on bandcamp is Wondering Home, the new album by Hums & Haws. Matt and I worked together at Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago, so it was great to bring it back around again to work with him on this record. My friend Nick Broste recorded it, and I mixed much of it (along with a couple songs by fellow ESS engineer Todd Carter) and mastered it here in Brooklyn. Enjoy!
And in case you were wondering – yes, I re-did my website. Hope y’all like it.
The Ark Work, the new record by Liturgy, was announced this past month. I’m truly thrilled for people to hear this album – many people gave a lot of themselves to realize this vision and see the album through, and it is truly unlike anything else. NPR premiered the lead single “Quetzalcoatl” on All Songs Considered, with Impose, Ad Hoc, and others picking it up as well. It’s also worth checking out this strange and beautiful trailer by Zev Deans. We tracked the band at Strange Weather (who recently mentioned the album on API’s website), worked on overdubs and arrangements at Doctor Wu’s and Hunter’s place (with additional recording and programming by my longtime friend and associate Frank Musarra), and mixed it at Doctor Wu’s. Jason Ward at Chicago Mastering Service did the master and lacquer. The Ark Work is out March 24th on Thrill Jockey.
Another record I’m excited to have had announced this month is the self-titled Beech Creeps album. We recorded this in two days in Secret Project Robot last summer, I mixed and mastered it as we could all get together, and it slays. I wrote something about the Melvins, Thin Lizzy, and Saturday morning cartoons when we first worked on this album, and I still think that applies! “Times Be Short” was the first taste of the record – which got some love from blogs like Stereogum, Consequence of Sound, Impose, and others – with a video for “Sun of Sud” following on Noisey a couple weeks later. Check ’em out! They’re playing a record-release show in Brooklyn on February 26th at Shea Stadium with also-homies PC Worship and Turn to Crime… see you there? Beech Creeps is out March 3rd on Monfononus Press.
Nuclear Santa Claust have a new album – Je Ne Sais Claust – coming out this week (February 2nd) on Don Giovanni. We recorded this at Seaside Lounge on an MX-5050 and mixed and mastered it at Doctor Wu’s last summer. Classic SST/The Spits vibes here – tough hardcore punk with a melodic bent, a Gennesse in one hand, and a shit-eating grin on its face. We knocked it out so quickly and had so much fun doing it, re-listening to it this week was pretty nostalgic – I’m really happy for this to be out! Noisey premiered the first single “Sayonara Baby”, and the band is playing Don Giovanni fest (w/ California X, Downtown Boys and more) this weekend to celebrate the record release. Come hang!
Also out now is In My Dreams, a singles collection and the first in a re-issue series by early-80s Australian punk outsiders The Sunday Painters. I was unfamiliar with the band and their work before What’s Your Rupture head Kevin Pedersen and reissue producer Michael Train approached me about remastering their back-catalog(ue). Byron Coley calls their work “an ecstatically weird mix of skewed pop, art, and noise… like a cross of early Swell Maps, the Velvets, and Cabaret Voltaire.”These singles and their two full-lengths cover a lot of ground – from jangly to industrial sounds but always with a wink of mischievousness – and each release comes with download-only never-before-heard bonus material. Noisey (via my man Timbo!) has an interview and stream of the record, which serves as a great introduction to the Sunday Painters. In My Dreams is out now on What’s Your Rupture?, with more coming soon.
And out of seemingly nowhere, my Chicago pals Unmanned Ship have a new 7″ coming out. I mastered these songs – “Crystal Pepsi” b/w “Pad Thai Fighter” – years ago with For Whom the Bowl Tolls, and they’re now available through Maximum Pelt Records. The guys in this band are all friends of mine from living in Chicago, and Kevin has got some love for his work in Oozing Wound, so it’s a real pleasure to see these jams unleashed. Grab your copy, but not before I do!
I tried my best to take time off this past month, but still made time to work on a couple projects other than my own. My Detroit friends Derek Stanton and Ian Saylor from Turn to Crime and Greg Ahee from Protomartyr have been making an album in their downtime, and we had talked about me mixing it for months, which I finally found the time to do. Every time I describe it to someone, I say the words “synth pop” and then the person’s eyes get really wide, but it’s totally like that – completely skewed yet genuine synth pop that’s worth widening your eyes for. Who knows what they’re calling it or when it’s coming out, but I’m mastering it soon and hopefully it’ll be out before too long.
I also recorded, mixed, and mastered an EP for the band Junk Boys, a new band that includes members of Organs and Dream Police. We tracked it in one day at Seaside Lounge and mixed and mastered it one day later that week at my place, and it turned out great… bluesy, boozy, rock and roll. Look out for them around NYC this year, should be a good show!
I spent the rest of last month working on Eaters with my musical partner Bob Jones. We played a fun show with US Girls, Slim Twig, and Bottoms earlier this month, were featured on Oh My Rockness, and have waded deep into the pool (sea? ocean?) of new writing/recording. We’re hoping to debut some of it at our upcoming shows – February 9th @ Palisades with Parquet Courts (who recently played on David Letterman) and Future Punx (who not-too-long-ago hit Puerto Rico and had this glowing writeup on Tiny Mix Tapes), and February 25th @ Rough Trade NYC with Dan Deacon for his record-release show of his new album Glass Riffer. I hope you bought tickets already because these are both long-sold-out and I’d love to see you there.
Eaters toured the northeast/midwest in October with Lace Curtain and did some non-CMJ shows during CMJ in New York. We played some great and memorable shows with some great and memorable bands – too many to mention, but special shout outs to Protomartyr (always awesome), Turn to Crime (psyched to be working on a collabo with these guys – Derek, whaddup??), Koko vs Real Life in Montreal (seriously, please record something!), Dull Tools (represent), Big Mama’s House in Philly, my Chicago people, and of course David/Lace Curtain. Impose posted some photos of our show with Protomartyr at Death By Audio, even sneaking one of man-behind-the-curtain/third-Eater ChrisDuffy.
Eaters also appeared on Driftless Ambient 1 with an improvised composition titled “Banner of Your Choosing”. I love how this song came about and turned out, and really happy to be a part of this compilation. Stream it above, and check out track-by-track details and hear the whole record on Dazed.
For the month before that, I was working with Liturgy on their new record. It’s an immense record – intricate and beautiful and fucking heavy – and its the culmination of years of work by Hunter, the band, and many others. I am thrilled to have been a part of this album, and absolutely can’t wait for people to hear it. We recorded at the illustrious Strange Weather in Brooklyn, with additional recording and production done by my long-time friend and associate Frank Musarra, and mixed at Doctor Wu’s. I wish I had something from it to share, but I don’t, so just watch this clip of them playing with Peter Fonda on drums instead.
I do have plenty of other stuff to share though, like this short film by Mary Harron (director of American Psycho and I Shot Andy Warhol) that I sound-designed and mixed. It’s a part of We the Economy, a series of shorts about the US economy, produced by Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) and Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft), which screened for free last month and are currently streaming online with supplemental information about the wide variety of topics covered. Mary’s is called This Won’t Hurt a Bit, and is about the the history and sorry current shape of the American healthcare system. Bob Balaban, Lili Taylor, and many other familiar faces appear – this was really fun to work on.
There are several new releases out this week that I worked on as well. I co-mixed the new Dream Police record Hypnotized with Kyle Keays-Hagerman at Doctor Wu’s in the spring, and it’s out now on Sacred Bones. Dream Police is Mark and Nick from the Men, and this record veers way off into psychedelia and synth-rock, getting comparisons like “a scuzzy and potent take on that whole Drive soundtrack sound” and “a demented Dire Straits record”. The record premiered on Pitchfork Advance, and made it into Stereogum’s Heavy Rotation – check it out!
The new Future Punx EP I’m So Inspired is also out this week via Dull Tools. Drummer and swell guy Jason Kelly recorded and mixed much of this (with the basics tracked at Rubber Tracks), and we worked at Doctor Wu’s to finish the mixes and master. It’s got a classic new wave vibe, like some lost classic from the early 80s, hitting all the right notes for people pining for more bands like Devo, the Units, and Tom Tom Club. Noisey debuted the song “Forgive the Doubt”, and Impose posted the video for “Spike Train”, their track with Parquet Courts on the LAMC series (and which we mastered in the same sessions). People between NYC and Texas should make a point of checking them out on tour, and people everyone should listen to the EP, streaming above and on sale now.
Parkay Quarts/Parquet Courts have a new record called Content Nausea out this week as well. Austin and Andrew recorded and mixed this themselves about six weeks ago (fastest turnaround ever, no big deal), though some work we did together during the Sunbathing Animal/Tally sessions shows up here as well. I love the detours and explorations they take as “Parkay Quarts“, and it’s cool to see some old favorites re-imagined and find a home alongside some killer new stuff. Of note is the mastering job by Joe LaPorta at Sterling Sound and how cohesive these recordings made on a 4-track cassette, on an 8-track reel-to-reel, in Ableton sessions, and from a karaoke jam sound together. Awesome all around – check it out above, out now on What’s Your Rupture/Rough Trade.
Two very different but equally exciting records that I worked on drop this week – Wooden Aquarium by the British band Mazes and Social Rust by Brooklyn’s own PC Worship. I love the way both of these records sound and I love both of these bands, so it’s wonderful to see so many reviews remarking on the sonic quality and calling them both the best of each band’s work.
I produced the Mazes record this past February, recording it upstate at the Fat Cat studio and mixing it at Doctor Wu’s over the course of two weeks. It was a crazy bonding experience – everyone jet-lagged (I had just got back from Australia), the rental van getting robbed outside my apartment (my bag with my laptop, hard drives, camera – gone), getting snowed in upstate and digging our way up to the studio – and I think that intensity and camaraderie really comes across. DIY Magazine has been all over Wooden Aquarium, with a glowing review, an interview with Jack Cooper, and a track-by-track stream and guide; NME gave it a 8/10 review; and it was BBC Radio 6’s Album of the Day last week. Alan Douches did a great job on the master – this record sounds incredible. Wooden Aquarium is out now on Fat Cat Records.
Social Rust is just nuts. I mixed and mastered the thing so I’ve probably heard it more times and more in depth than anyone aside from lead-worshipper Justin Frye, and there are things that still catch me by surprise. This record sounds unlike any other record I’ve ever worked on – a mud-and-blood spattered, moth-eaten tapestry of absurdity – and I love it. Ad Hoc interviewed Justin about the record, and Impose Magazine raved: “Social Rust is PC Worship at their very best, even if their best is dissonant and unsettling, voyeuristic and creepy, maniacal and rapturous. Maybe it’s a reflection of the times, or maybe it’s just a good record. Either way, listen to it and lose yourself a little.” I couldn’t agree more. Social Rust is out now on Northern Spy / Dull Tools.
Also out this week is the re-release of Mannequin Pussy’s Gypsy Pervert, re-mastered and re-sequenced on vinyl for the first time. I mixed this with them last year, and it’s killer – I’m really psyched to see it getting another life. Check out this interview they did with Impose recently, and go see them when they come through your town soon. Gypsy Pervert is out now on Tiny Engines.
And out next week (September 16th) is the newest single in Famous Class Records’ LAMC series (#13) – Parquet Courts b/w Future Punx. It’s kinda like the return of Fergus & Geronimo… “This is Happening Now” was recorded during the Sunbathing Animal sessions and mixed this summer, “Spike Train” was recorded and mixed by Jason Kelly, and I mastered both sides. All proceeds go to VH1 Save the Music – a non-profit dedicated to music education in public schools.
Parquet Courts also recently released a music video for “Bodies Made Of” recorded live at their show at Sugar Hill Supper Club this summer, and directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard (whose amazing Nick Cave pseudo-doc 20,000 Days on Earth comes out later this month). I recorded, mixed, and mastered this bad boy too.
I recently went on a road trip to Cleveland to see the opening of the new university center at Case Western Reserve University, which houses Welcome to Cleveland, a new interactive installation I worked on with Thu Tran, Ivan Safrin, and Bobo Do. It was incredible to see and hear our work in the space, and surreal to be back on my old campus and honored at the opening. Check out that photo below for an idea of what I’m talking about (that game on screen is inspired by the 1986 Balloon Fest, where your head controls a helicopter and you try to pop as many balloons as possible). The games were as completely silly and weird in real life as we had hoped, so it was extra exciting to get to work with Thu, Ivan and Bobo on a new game this month. I’m sure more will be announced about it soon, but it’s even sillier and even weirder than the others.
I also had the opportunity this past month to do some sound design and mixing for Mary Harron (director of American Psycho, I Shot Andy Warhol, and The Notorious Bettie Page). The short film is part of an upcoming series about the US economy produced by director Morgan Spurlock and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and is a black comedy about the healthcare system. It was fantastic to be a part of this project, and hey – I learned something too! The New York Times ran a story about the series, which airs this fall.
I’ve been doing more mastering recently as well, working on a split EP with Tonstartssbandht and Hot & Cold, finishing up the Beech Creeps record from this summer, and mastering a single by Von Hack.
And while I’ve been doing a lot of post-production this month, I did get a chance to break out the MX-5050 with the band Pocket Hercules down at Seaside Lounge. The tracks sound cool, we’ll be mixing in a couple weeks at Doctor Wu’s.
Eaters have been keeping busy too. We have a show this Saturday (September 13) with Survive from Austin, TX, an incredible band live by all accounts – get your tickets and come on out! We’ve got some new material coming out this month, including a track on the newly-announced Driftless Ambient 1 compilation. And more shows soon, including a tour with Lace Curtain (a Total Control/Rat Columns offshoot) and some CMJ shows.
Pitchfork recently ran a review of the Eaters LP, my collaboration with my friend Bob Jones. There are a lot of great quotes (“the textures on Eaters are beautiful: Grim and subdued but so rich you could raise tomatoes in them”), and it’s honestly just amazing to see our personal project recognized on such a large scale, regardless of the just-ok score and slightly slighting tone. Mixed emotions for sure, so we spent the rest of the day making a track for an ambient compilation due later this year – can’t wait for everyone to hear it.
Eaters are playing two very different but equally exciting shows in a couple weeks. The first is Friday July 11th at Glasslands Gallery, opening for !!! – tickets are going fast, but some are still on sale. If you can’t get a ticket in time or just would prefer to watch synthesizer music on the beach, then you should come to the Brooklyn Vegan/Dull Tools Beach Party! It’s taking place Sunday July 13th at the Rockaway Beach Surf Club, and we’ll be playing alongside our friends Future Punx, Final Bloom, and newcomers Royal Garde.
I’ve seen Future Punx absolutely slay the last couple times they played and they’re some of my best friends around town, so it goes without saying that I had a blast working with them on their new EP I’m So Inspired. Jason Kelly (funkiest drummer I know and a walking-talking-smiley-face to boot) did a fantastic job of recording and preparing the mixes, which I spruced up and spazzed out at Doctor Wu’s. It sounds as epic and fun and trippy as you’d want a band called “future punx” singing “see you in the future” to sound – really epic and fun and trippy! I mastered the thing too, which should drop later this year.
And while we’re on the topics of “fun”, “trippy” and “beaches”, I should probably talk about making the new Beech Creeps record. They’re a trio of dudes who played in bands like Pterodactyl, Ex-Models, and Yeasayer, and the album’s equal parts noisy, catchy, and goofy. It’s kinda like if the Melvins wrote a record harnessing the good-time riffage of bands like Thin Lizzy and Blue Cheer, which was then turned into a beach-themed Saturday morning cartoon. We recorded it live at Secret Project Robot and mixed it at my home studio. Oh, and if you’re a granola-eating hippie like me, you should make a point of trying the Coconut Almond Beach Crunch flavor of Mark’s Monster Crunch. It’s incredible!!
I started playing and recording music in the midwest, first in Cleveland then in Chicago, and met a lot of amazing musicians along the way. Among them were a crew of Bloomington, Indiana folks like Elephant Micah, Bronze Float and Vollmar. It was a nice surprise then to get an email from David Brant of Bronze Float, asking if I’d be interested in mixing and mastering his new album Standard Candles. It was recorded by Joe O’Connell (aka Elephant Micah), and features performances by members of his old band and Vollmar. The songs are both deeply melodic and humble, reminiscent of records by Lou Barlow, Skip Spence, and Arthur Russell (in his Love is Overtaking Me vein). It was wonderful to reconnect with David, and I’m just happy to have played a part in getting these songs out there and restarting this project.
I also recently mixed and mastered the new single by glam-punk duo Fa Bonx. I really dug working on their first single (‘Jilto Boy’ b/w ‘The Rinda’ on What’s Your Rupture?), but this new one blew me away! I found this review of ‘The Rinda’ up on Pitchfork (“an immediately gratifying burner… wide-eyed, candy coated rock’n’roll”), and they recently did a hilarious interview with CMJ.
I’m thrilled to be able to share this first song “Astigmatism” (via Spin) from the upcoming Mazes record Wooden Aquarium, due September 9th on Fat Cat. We recorded this upstate at the Fat Cat studio to 2″ 16-track tape in the middle of multiple blizzards, and mixed it over at Doctor Wu’s. It was a wonderful experience, walking away from the sessions with not only an incredible sounding record, but some really good new friends as well. I miss these guys, damn Atlantic Ocean… Heather Strange from Future Punx and I did backing vocals on this record, and Teenage Cool Kid/fantastic painter Bradley Kerl did the artwork.
Also: Careers, the Beverly record by my friends Frankie Rose and Drew Citron., is out this week on Kanine Records. I did some tracking with them early on in the process, and to be honest, I’m not sure how much of it made the final cut…. drums on 4-5 songs, some vocals I think, maybe some guitars and bass? Regardless, it’s a fun blast of Amps-style buzzy pop music with gorgeous harmonies, mixed by my studio partner Yale Yng-Wong at Doctor Wu’s.
I got a copy of the LP a couple weeks ago and listened through it again for the first time in a while. I don’t know how to write about it without sounding like a proud papa, but maybe that’s just what I am. The artwork is stunning (Andrew kinda blew me away this time), and sitting there poring over the packaging while the music played from my stereo, I was able to forget that I had anything to do with making it and just enjoy it. It’s a cool record – catchy and gnarly and tough and fun – the kind of record that made me want to make records in the first place. We worked really hard to see this vision through, and I couldn’t be happier with the results or the reception it has had. Their homecoming show last week at Sugar Hill Supper Club (with our pals Protomartyr and Future Punx) was icing on the cake… just that much sweeter.
My copy of the LP also came with a 7″, featuring an alternate version of ‘Black and White’ and another Sean song “Tic in My Brain’. We couldn’t figure out which version of ‘Black and White’ we liked better, so they just put them both out. Austin and Johann Rashid made a pretty stellar video for this second version of ‘Black and White’.
Impose Magazine recently posted a mix Bob and I made as Eaters. We worked out the song selection together, with “each artist embodies a spirit of exploration in their work and blurs the line between outlier and trailblazer.” But Bob’s the real brain behind this mix, and it sounds fantastic… a proper journey. We’ve been working on some new material, and have some shows coming up this summer, including this one at Glasslands on July 11th.
I’ve been busy with a lot of other great projects (including a new Future Punx EP), but wanted to get this out there before too long…. talk at ya again soon.
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.
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.
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!
So I just wrapped up two weeks straight in the studio with Parquet Courts on their new new album. It’s madness. I’ve never worked so hard or gotten in so deep as I did on this one – we really pushed ourselves this time. They’re back on the road now (at Austin City Limits, then on a European tour with Mazes, who I’ll be working with on their new album next year), and we’ll finish this beast next month.
Their current new EP, Tally All the Things That You Broke is out now! Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, NME, and just about everyone else is praising the EP, and the band packed Music Hall of Williamsburg for their record release show. Now you can check out this video for “You’ve Got Me Wonderin’ Now” by my buddy Thu Tran. I’m really excited that this EP is out now – we had a blast working on it, and it’s a great step forward… just wait until you hear the new one.
My friends and associates Forest Fire also got a nice write-up from Pitchfork and played their record release show for their fantastic album Screens. They also have a new video for the release; bassist Galen Bremer made a creepy psyched-out collage for “Cold Kind”.
Another band I worked with recently also just celebrated their record release: the ever- ferocious Mannequin Pussy! You can stream their kick-in-the-nuts of an album Gypsy Pervert and check out their tour dates at their bandcamp page. Go see ’em!
And chances are, you may have seen them around town – they played both the Parquet Courts and Mannequin Pussy record release shows – but have you heard the twitchy dance punk of Future Punx on record?? You can now! Check it out!!
Jonathan Schenke 