2007 news |
East Coast tour in February 2008 12.14.07
Beat
Circus is preparing for a tour of the east coast in February 2008 to celebrate
the release of the new album Dreamland produced by Martin Bisi.
The tour dates run Feb 6-16, 2008 and will include shows with some of our
favorite artists, including HUMANWINE, Nervous Cabaret, O'Death, Larkin
Grimm, The Cassettes, Flaming Fire, and Hallelujah The Hills. Check the
SHOWS page for more information as things develop.
Brian Carpenter's Ghost Train Orchestra NYC debut Nov 17 11.01.07
Brian Carpenter's instrumental music side project The Ghost Train Orchestra makes its NYC debut on Saturday November 17th at Barbes. Carpenter assembled the orchestra in April 2005 to record a cartoon score commissioned by animator Lorelei Pepi. Since then the 10-piece band has performed twice at the historic vaudeville house The Regent Theater in Arlington, MA as part of their 90th anniversary event Voltaic Vaudeville. On the November show, Carpenter will be presenting unearthed music mined from the dusty vaults of a basement record collection, new arrangements of "voodoo music" and spirited stomps from the most incredible of the late 1920s Chicago and Harlem jazz bands, plus original music commissioned for the cartoon score and vaudeville shows.
Brian Dewan's Dreamland illustration 9.28.07
In August 2006 I met Brian
Dewan in NYC at Tonic after he opened for Beat Circus with
a very peculiar and moving solo performance of songs accompanied by a giant
custom-built electric zither. Built by Brian and made entirely of wood and
harpischord hardware, it is plucked, sits like a table, has eight Humbucker
pickups, and sounds like "Jimi Hendrix on smart drugs" (that's
a quote from Bar None Records). After hearing these incredible sounds I
convinced Brian to come into Martin's studio the next day to record three
tracks of electric zither on Dreamland. It was not until weeks
after the session, going through my cds, that I discovered Brian was also
the illustrator responsible for the famous flying victrola for Neutral Milk
Hotel's In The Aeroplane Over The Sea. I asked him to illustrate
the cover for Dreamland and he provided the stunning watercolor
you see here.
Brian Dewan is a true multi-media artist. He has produced two albums of songs and performed extensively as a solo artist, as well as collaborating with many ensembles such as Flaming Fire, The Music Tapes, They Might Be Giants, and the Raymond Scott Orchestrette. He also builds furniture and instruments; with his cousin Leon, he has designed and built a series of synthesizers in custom cabinetry they refer to as Dewanatron.
Dave Bias (also the designer of this website) designed the booklet for Dreamland and it is a beautiful package of song lyrics and historical photographs. After researching hundreds of historical photographs and postcards with Aaron Beebe, curator of the Coney Island Museum, we found several photographs and postcards we are excited to present in the context of Dreamland. Other historical photographs used in the booklet were supplied by The Denver Public Library Western History Department, The Library Of Congress, and The Museum Of The City Of New York.
Dreamland will see a release date in January 2008 on Cuneiform Records.
-- B.C.
Sxip's Hour Of Charm Sept 21-23 8.18.07
Beat
Circus will be performing a run of 4 shows on September 21-23
at the American Repertory
Theater in Cambridge with our old colleague Sxip
Shirey as part of his Hour
Of Charm. Sxip has been producing his Hour Of Charm shows regularly
at Joe's Pub in NYC and he is taking the show to Boston. Other performers
include trapeze artist Una Mimnagh, comedian/performance artist The Red
Bastard, accordionist Corn Mo, singer/songwriter Erin McKeown, and multi-instrumentalist
Sxip Shirey. These shows will take place at the Zero Arrow Theater, a "circle
in the round" stage and one of the most spectacular intimate venues
in Boston (also where "The Onion Cellar" was performed.) Sxip
Shirey recorded his unique arsenal of sounds on two tracks on the forthcoming
Beat Circus album Dreamland.
Showtimes are listed on the SHOWS page. Ticket information here.
August 2007 Northeast US Tour 6.24.07
Mark
your calendars! Beat Circus will do a short tour of the Northeast in August
with HUMANWINE and
Ara Anderson (Tin
Hat) and his band Iron & The Albatross. Wherein Brian Carpenter reveals
the Third Incarnation of Beat Circus, featuring violist Jordan Voelker (Callithumpian
Consort), contrabassist Paul Dilley (Reverend Glasseye, HUMANWINE), guitarist/banjoist
Andrew Stern (Naftule's Dream), tubist Ron Caswell (Slavic Soul Party),
and drummer/percussionist Ches Smith (Secret Chiefs 3, Xiu Xiu, Mr. Bungle).
The August shows will likely be our only live performances until the release of Dreamland in January. More information on the SHOWS page. Hope to see you all soon. We miss you.
Dreamland update 5.9.07
The long-awaited full-length Beat Circus epic produced by Martin Bisi entitled Dreamland will see a release date in January 2008 on Cuneiform Records. Comprised of narrative songs based loosely on historic figures and fictional characters from turn-of-the century Coney Island, Dreamland features a pantheon of long and short-term collaborators, including cellist Julia Kent (Antony & The Johnsons), saxophonist Briggan Krauss (Sex Mob), multi-instrumentalist Sxip Shirey, homemade instrument pioneer (and cover illustrator) Brian Dewan, thereminist Michael Hearst (One Ring Zero), and ragtime pianist and sideshow historian Todd Robbins. You can read more about the evolution of Dreamland on our myspace blog. An EP of experimental music, noise, and modern classical music also recorded with Martin Bisi entitled Blood Boy has tentative plans for release this fall.
Beat Circus provides score for Quincy & Althea 5.9.07
Beat
Circus' "Big Top Suite" from Ringleaders Revolt provides
the score for Brooklyn-based director Doug Lenox's apocalyptic short film
Quincy
& Althea, a black comedy set in post-Katrina New Orleans. The
film uses an uneventful domestic squabble between the title characters as
a device to put New Orleans' shattered, hopeless landscape on the big screen.
Quincy & Althea won "Best Live Action Short Film"
at the Memphis International Film Festival. More details and upcoming screenings
can be found here.
Käthe performs at Inland Empire premier 3.1.07
Käthe
Hostetter was chosen to perform a solo piece at the request of (our favorite)
surrealist filmmaker David Lynch at the Brattle Theater to set the stage
for his new film Inland
Empire. More photos of this momentous occasion can be viewed here.
Dreamland update 3.1.07
We have finally finished mixing the new album Dreamland with legendary producer Martin Bisi. We're now in the process of trying to find a home for it. Comprised of narrative songs based loosely on historic figures and fictional characters from turn-of-the century Coney Island, Dreamland features a pantheon of long and short-term collaborators, including cellist Julia Kent (Antony & The Johnsons), saxophonist Briggan Krauss (Sex Mob), multi-instrumentalists Sxip Shirey and Brian Dewan, thereminist Michael Hearst (One Ring Zero), and ragtime pianist and sideshow historian Todd Robbins. You can read more about the evolution of Dreamland on our myspace blog. We ended up with enough material to release both a full-length of lyrical songs and through-composed instrumental music entitled Dreamland and an EP of modern classical music, noise, and experimental music entitled Blood Boy. Stay tuned to this frequency as we hope to announce release dates here in the coming weeks!
Beat Circus w/Sxip Shirey and Ara Anderson @ Tonic Feb 13 2.6.07
On
Tuesday February 13 we will be performing on an amazing bill at Tonic in
NYC with our good friends Sxip
Shirey and Bay area multi-instrumentalist Ara
Anderson (Tin Hat, Tom Waits, Jolie Holland), who will be debuting his
band Iron & The Albatross, a "junky-circus-chamber music"
band. Beat Circus will be performing some new songs with virtuoso tenor
banjo/mandolinist Jamie
Masefield and trombonist/guitarist Curtis
Hasselbring.