It was a great summer full of some really fun albums. First off, I had the pleasure of producing “The Colorado”. This ambitious project from director Murat Eyuboglu features a score full of wonderful pieces by composers John Luther Adams, William Brittelle, Glenn Kotche, Paola Prestini, and Shara Worden performed by the Grammy winning Roomful of Teeth, percussionist Glenn Kotche, and cellist Jeffrey Zeigler. And as if that wasn’t enough, the film was narrated by the incredible Mark Rylance! This is some of the finest sounding music I’ve ever worked on and can’t wait for you to hear it on it’s May13th release with Naxos Records.
Following that I took a trip out west to St. Louis to produce and record a new batch of songs with the fantastic Greek Fire. We tracked at Sawhorse Studios for a couple of weeks in late Summer and really pushed the boundaries of what the band has done so far. A fantastic album that’s still being crafted and will be on their way to you soon.
Following those I hit the road with the Seán Curran Dance Company and Ustatshakirt Plus show called Dream’d in a Dream. This fantastic fusion of traditional Kyrgyz folk music with contemporary American dance was a beautiful show and full of fun challenges to amplify the instruments in a manner that stayed true to their traditional sounds. While in NYC on this tour we popped into Terminus Studios and recorded the musicians performing the entire show. This soon to be released album is one of the few recordings of Kyrgyz music to be released in the West and I will be updating with information on how to find it soon. Come for the jaw harps, stay for the virtuosic komuz performances.
Released recently, the Benjamin Cartel album “Gothenburg” saw a return to collaborating with Kristoffer Ragnstam and Joel Lundberg! Recorded at their Gothenburg studio (located in a bomb shelter and the same where we produced Little Goes a Long Way), this is my favorite combination of Swedish and American approaches to indie rock. Featuring wonderfully written and performed songs this album really shows off how well Benjamin’s songwriting skills mesh with Kristoffer and Joel. Mixing and overdubs took place at MiraVe and SweetSounds Studios here in New York and the album is available to stream on Spotify here.
October saw the return of Einstein on the Beach and it’s introduction to South Korea. They got the gang back together and we spent a lovely few weeks in Gwangju performing in the brand new Asian Arts Theatre. Subsequent live shows with the Philip Glass Ensemble took us to Houston for the inaugural Day For Night Festival.