Good Danny's Personal Highlights
By Danny Reisch, Fri., Aug. 12, 2016
Shearwater: Jet Plane and Oxbow (2016)
This record feels like the culmination of my creative collaboration with Shearwater frontman Jonathan Meiburg. We've made many records together and toured all over the world. There's a real trust and brotherhood that grows from those shared experiences. This collection of songs feels like the best of our combined tastes.
Okkervil River: Golden Opportunities 2 (2011)
Making a live record in the studio takes way more talent, focus, and musicianship than most bands can successfully pull off. We made Golden Opportunities 2 live, in one day. No re-dos, no punch-ins, no overdubs, no remixing, no tweaking. There's a special thing that happens when that kind of pressure is on. People play like they mean it, like everything really counts.
D was a challenging record to make. The band's label went through many personnel changes that summer. It was a lot of up and down, and there were questions of it being shelved at one point. It's a testament to the band and their determination that this record turned out so great. "Street Joy" off of this album is still in regular rotation for me.
The Octopus Project (upcoming)
I love this band. I've been a borderline scary fan of theirs for 10 years, so I was thrilled to get to work together on their new record. Honoring the band's anything-goes ethos, I threw out all of my go-to, regimented mix moves on this record and forced myself to try combinations of gear/approaches/FX that I had never even considered before. There was so much freedom and exploration in working this way, and the result sounds unlike anything except for the Octopus Project.
Tele Novella: House of Souls (upcoming)
We made this record in a few short windows while I was home from touring with Other Lives last year. Because of the tight time frame around my tour schedule we worked crazy long days. Max and I often worked in shifts, with various band members shuffling in and out throughout the day. I think that insane schedule contributed to a sort of kooky, manic quality in the production that totally complements the duality of the band's Munsters-meets-dreamy-pop aesthetic. I can't wait for people to hear this record.
The Bright Light Social Hour (2010)
Perhaps with the exception of the two records I've made with Crooks, I've never laughed as hard every single day in the studio as I did making TBLSH's debut album. These boys know how to control energy in a live setting so well. They're super dynamic. That can be really hard to capture on record, but I think we managed to do it largely by keeping the process so much fun throughout the making of it.
