On a regular basis, the Time Out Chicago music staff sits down with one of our fair city’s fine local musicians for a chat and a recording session. We keep each episode of The Infinite Loop short enough to listen to on an El ride downtown, and direct enough so you can plan your weekend quickly and easily. Each podcast contains a little backstory, a little sense of the artist’s personality and, of course, selections from an exclusive live performance for the Infinite Loop at our State and Jackson studios.

This week we got together with Fruit Bats frontman Eric Johnson, who was kind enough to drop in between a pair of tour-closing dates at Schubas. Johnson’s local roots run deep, having grown up in “Chicagoland,” working at the Old Town School of Folk Music and playing in local groups like Califone and the Paulina Hollers before shipping off to the west coast a few years back. Still, Johnson assembled a largely Chicago-based lineup to record Fruit Bats’ fourth album, The Ruminant Band, a gorgeous collection calling back to the California canyon rock highs of the ’70s. We picked his brain about the pacific northwest scene and in the process learned why Portland, Oregon is effectively a retirement community for bands. We also discussed the fading four-track phenomenon, and learned why he’ll never throw away his old Tascam.

Fruit Bats’ The Ruminant Band is out now on Sub Pop. Read more about the band in our Music section.

Subscribe to an RSS feed of past and future Infinite Loop podcasts below.

Subscribe to the Infinite Loop podcasts via iTunes.

Infinite Loop image: Nadine Nakanishi