STACK #235 May 2024

PRODUCER SPOTLIGHT

Jack Antonoff

Jack Antonoff on the cover of his latest album as Bleachers (2024)

WHY HE’S A BIG CHEESE Jack Antonoff’s sought-after status as a producer stems from the New Jersey native’s knack for candid and heart-peeling emotion, cooking up textured soundscapes that mingle nostalgic ‘80s synths with modern pop ideas and surprising details.

MAY

NOTABLE WORKS Lorde Melodrama (2017)

Which recent album do you currently have on repeat? A really recent one that I’ve been listening to non-stop has been Ethel Cain’s Preacher’s Daughter , but one that’s been on repeat all year for me is Being Funny in a Foreign Language by The 1975. What’s your all-time favourite album and why? Big, big question! I’m going to cheat here and list the two that I always come back to, and they’re twelvefour by The Paper Kites, and The 1975’s debut self titled album. Do you have a vinyl collection? If so, how did it begin, and expand? I do! My first vinyl I believe was Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, a band I’ve loved my whole life - and it expanded quite quickly from there. I pick up lots of vinyl at concerts I go to, but mostly from JB itself. We honestly have such a good range! What do you enjoy most about working in music at JB? Finding new artists! I know the old saying ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’ and how that applies through life, but honestly I love album artwork - and sometimes a good-looking album turns out to be a good sounding album!

While Antonoff was also responsible for the stylings of Lorde’s most recent album Solar Power (2021), it was his dab hand with the rich, cathartic introspection of Lorde’s Grammy nominated Melodrama (the

’ s ROVING REPORTER

obsessive process of which has been picked apart all over the internet) which won him enormous acclaim. Lana Del Rey Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Boulevard (2023) Antonoff either co-wrote or produced ten of the 16 tracks on wouldn’t he? Lana had already trusted him with the reins on 2019’s Norman F—g Rockwell ! (earning her two Grammy noms) and 2021’s Chemtrails Over the Country Club . Did You Know... nabbed her a further five noms at the 2023 Grammys. Taylor Swift Midnights (2022) Lana’s most commercially celebrated album. And why

JORDAN AMMUNSON @ JB Marsden Park, NSW (Merchandise Team Member)

Produced entirely by Antonoff and Taylor Swift, Midnights presented Swift’s new era as a world of retro dream-pop with lush electronics, instantly winning critical admiration. She was awarded two Grammys for the pair’s effort,

What’s an early, cherished music memory? When I was in Year 4, I won a competition to meet Jordin Sparks and got to ask her what her favourite song to sing was.

including ‘Album of the Year’ - and Midnights was the best-selling record of 2022.

What do Nick Cave and Disney have in common? The answer is Tom DuBois, the ‘gospel artist’ whose original work is featured on the cover of Cave and the Bad Seeds’ album Ghosteen . In the mid-‘90s, Disney tapped American commercial illustrator DuBois to paint a series of scenes from their most adored films. Not long afterwards, DuBois started on his incredibly detailed Noah’s Ark series, travelling to zoos across the US to sketch animals - and soon found his calling in biblical images. Ghosteen ’s cover is an edited version of DuBois’ The Breath of Life from his Eden series. So, what does ‘edited’ mean…? The primary difference is that the Ghosteen image does not contain Jesus; that figure is replaced by a white lamb, and, to its left, a white horse. In Christianity, the lamb is sweetness, forgiveness, and purity - perhaps the spirit of Cave’s 15-year-old son Arthur, who tragically died four years before Ghosteen ’s release. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Ghosteen (2019)

Wild God by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is out in August via Bad Seed Ltd.

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