John McEntire

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John McEntire
The sea and cake 20121111-00806 (33439954560).jpg
McEntire performing with The Sea and Cake in 2012
Background information
Born (1970-04-09) April 9, 1970 (age 54)
Portland, Oregon, U.S.
Origin Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation(s)Musician, recording engineer
Instrument(s)Drums/percussion, synthesizers, electronics
Years active1988–present

John McEntire (born April 9, 1970 in Portland, Oregon) is an American recording engineer, producer, drummer and multi-instrumentalist, based in Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of both Tortoise and the Sea and Cake.

Contents

McEntire started playing drums at age 10. [1] Throughout high school, he performed in marching bands and studied privately for seven years. He went on to attend Oberlin Conservatory initially as a percussion major, but eventually switched to study in the school's then newly created program for Technology in Music and Related Arts. [1]

Musical career

McEntire is currently a member of Tortoise, The Sea and Cake, and The Red Krayola. His drumming work as a sideman can be heard on recordings, such as Since by Richard Buckner, Enantiodromia and Life on the Fly by Azita, Near-Life Experience by Come, Kernel by Seam, Chicago Wednesday by Jandek, and The Spectrum Between by David Grubbs.

While attending Oberlin, he briefly played with Mark Edwards in My Dad Is Dead in 1988, and then joined Bastro with David Grubbs and Bundy K. Brown in 1989. In 1991, he relocated along with Grubbs and Brown to Chicago where they changed their musical direction and became the first incarnation of Gastr Del Sol. Their debut album, The Serpentine Similar , was released in 1993. McEntire and Brown left to play in Tortoise in 1994, yet McEntire continued to make contributions to Gastr Del Sol's later recordings and performances.

McEntire had also played in Seam, The Stokastikats, Stereolab, and The Oily Bloodmen. He was a principal musician on Jim O'Rourke's Terminal Pharmacy and has appeared on many other solo O'Rourke projects.

Production/engineering work

As a producer and engineer, McEntire has mixed and remixed recordings by many artists. [2] He also owns and operates Soma Electronic Music Studios in Nevada City, California, to which he relocated in 2018 after 25 years in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago and then a brief stint in Los Angeles.

He produces and engineers most of the recordings for his own bands, as well as many of the solo efforts by bandmates Sam Prekop, Archer Prewitt, Jeff Parker, and Doug McCombs. He has also engineered, produced, and/or mixed albums and tracks for many artists including: Bell Orchestre, Stereolab, Bright Eyes, Bobby Conn, Teenage Fanclub, Sylvain Chauveau, Kaki King, Tom Ze, The Ex, Smog, Trans Am, Eleventh Dream Day, Cougar, Antibalas, Innaway, The For Carnation, Dianogah, U.S. Maple, Chicago Underground Duo, Spookey Ruben, Blur, Pivot, The Fiery Furnaces, The Car Is on Fire, Small Sins, [3] Broken Social Scene, Coldcut, Spoon, Jaga Jazzist, Great 3, Yo La Tengo, Radian, Pia Fraus and most recently, La Ciencia Simple.

McEntire is a pioneering user of modern digital audio workstation software, first employing Pro Tools on the 1997 The Sea and Cake album The Fawn and then on Stereolab's Dots and Loops , released later the same year. [4]

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Bastro was an American post-hardcore band which was active in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band's main line-up consisted of David Grubbs on guitar, Clark Johnson on bass guitar, and John McEntire on drums. The band also experimented with use of piano, organ and musique concrète compositions, foreshadowing McEntire's and Grubbs' subsequent musical projects.

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Douglas McCombs is an American musician who plays bass and guitar with the instrumental rock band Tortoise and leads the instrumental band Brokeback. He is also the longtime bassist for the rock band Eleventh Dream Day. In 1997, he formed Pullman with Bundy K. Brown, Chris Brokaw, and Curtis Harvey, with whom he released two albums. In May 2018, McCombs replaced Eric Claridge as the touring bassist with Chicago jazz-pop outfit The Sea and Cake.

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Ombarrops! is the third and final studio album by Polish alternative rock band The Car Is on Fire. It was produced and mixed by John McEntire and recorded in Soma Electronic Music Studios in Chicago. Guest appearances are made by McEntire himself and Aleksandra Tomaszewska.

Bundy Kenneth Brown, also known as Ken Brown or Bundy K. Brown, is an American musician and recording engineer. He is best known for being a founding member of Tortoise and for his production, engineering and remixes in the Chicago post rock scene.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Tortoise's Sonic Genius". Jimdero.com. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  2. ↑ "John McEntire". Discogs.com. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  3. ↑ Katzif, Michael (2007-09-26). "Small Sins' 'Friend' Makes Perfect Introduction". Npr.org. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
  4. ↑ "Stereolab: Dots and Loops". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
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