Tag: Sunday Painters

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Eaters - Moment of Inertia Cover

Moment of Inertia, the new EP from my group Eaters, is out now via Driftless Recordings.  The EP is an audio-video document of a sound-sculpture conceived by visual artist, group member, and old friend Christopher Duffy (who is also responsible for the on-stage sculptures at our live shows).  I’ve tried describing it many different ways, so perhaps it is best to quote the statement we prepared:

A large cylinder of glass serves as a manually-spun platter for an altered turntable, playing an original composition cut to acetate. Void of a motor of any sort, the turntable slows over the course of the composition, eventually coming to a complete stop. Throughout the experience, tempo and pitch fluctuate, exploring perceptions of speed, elasticity, and entropy.

Brooklyn Vegan premiered the EP last week, coinciding with more shows with the always-incredible Shabazz Palaces.  Check out the video (a single shot of the sculpture in action) and audio (three different versions of the compostion) below.  Special thanks to Steven Probert for shooting the cover image and video and to Josh Bonati for cutting the acetate.

Parquet Courts recently announced their new EP Monastic Living.  The recording was done at Sonelab and in their practice space (by band member Austin Brown), and Austin and I mixed and mastered it last month at Doctor Wu’s.  I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s a weird one!  Monastic Living is out November 13th on Rough Trade.

Stereogum recently announced the new Lushes album Service Industry.  I spent some time with the group this past winter, developing synth parts and treatments across the record, which was recorded and mixed by Aaron Mullan (Sonic Youth, Tall Firs, et al).  The album comes out October 16th on Felte Records, and you can stream the first single “Low Hanging Fruit” below.

Also coming soon: Do You Remember Real Pain, one of two new EPs by Rat Columns (aka David West).  I met David when Eaters and Lace Curtain (one of his many other projects) toured together last fall, and we started mixing when we got off the road.  I mixed and mastered 4/5 songs for the EP (which you can stream below), to be released August 20th on Adagio 830. (His other EP – Fooling Around – is out now on Blackest Ever Black).

Honduras just released a video for “Paralyzed”, the first single from their upcoming album RItuals. I produced this record a while ago – recorded upstate at Outlier Inn, mixed/mastered at Doctor Wu’s in Brooklyn – so it’s excited to see pieces of it shared with the world.  It’s a great record, and though it sounds like we have longer still to wait for the full thing, you can check out the video and audio for “Paralyzed” now.

I wrote about this in my last post, but there has now been an official update to the delayed Optimo Music post-punk compilation that I re-mastered and restored along with Michael Train this spring.  Originally titled Now That’s What I Call DIY! (Cult Classics From the Post-Punk Era 1978-82), the double-LP collection was set to be released this month before Sony – who is behind the series Now That’s What I Call Music!  – issued a cease and desist.  Optimo couldn’t reach an agreement with Sony’s lawyers, so all of the original packaging has been destroyed and the title has been changed to [Cease and Desist] DIY!  The compilation is truly great, so I’m pleased to announce that it has a new release date of October 30th.  Read more of the story and the full track-listing on Pitchfork, and check out a sampler of the collection below.

I also worked with Michael Train to restore and remaster the long out-of-print back-catalog of late 70s/early 80s Aussie post-punk group the Sunday Painters. The first reissue in the series was a collection of early singles called In My Dreams, which was released earlier this year.  Their two subsequent full lengths – Something to Do and 4th Annual Report – are coming out August 28th via What’s Your Rupture.  As with In My Dreams, these reissues have been lovingly restored and feature bonus downloads of never-before-heard live recordings.  Check out “Something to Do” and “Shattered Lens” below.

After mastering the compilation American Music this spring, I recently mastered five different EPs for GODMODE Records, one of my favorite local labels.  Yvette, Soft Lit, Fitness, and Hand of God all have new EPs coming soon; Fasano’s The Beach EP is out now (streaming below).

I recently spent a few days in the studio with Junk Boys, recording/mixing/mastering a full-length record as a follow-up to the EP we did this winter.  It rips!!

I also mixed a commercial for director Robin Comisar (creator of the short Mom Died that I sound designed and mixed).  The commercial is for Crossfit, and features a 79 year old woman using the fitness program for rehabilitation.  The ad is playing on ESPN, and you can stream it on Youtube as well.

Thanks as always for taking the time to read this!  Much more in the works – finishing the next Eaters LP; lots of records; maybe some short films; and hopefully some more beach time before the end of summer!

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Liturgy - The Ark Work

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!

Parquet Courts, Future Punx, Eaters

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.

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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!