Beat Circus

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Beat Circus
Innova Records
MembersBrian Carpenter
Paul Dilley
Andrew Stern
Gavin McCarthy
Abigale Reisman
Emily Bookwalter
Alec Spiegelman
Past membersParan Amirinazari
Leigh Calabrese
Ron Caswell
Curtis Hasselbring
Jim Hobbs
Kaethe Hostetter
Briggan Krauss
Matt McLaren
Alec K. Redfearn
Brandon Seabrook
Jordan Voelker

Beat Circus is a band from Boston, Massachusetts, US, fronted by the multi-instrumentalist / singer-songwriter Brian Carpenter, who has been its only constant member since its inception.

Musical style

The band's songs are characterized by lush arrangements, eclectic instrumentation, and Carpenter's lyrical themes of love, death, religion, and American mythologies. The music draws heavily from disparate genres including

Southern Gospel and funereal music.[1] Since 2005, Carpenter has been developing a "Weird American Gothic" trilogy of concept albums, starting with Dreamland.[2]

History

Early years and Ringleaders (2002–2004)

In 2001, Carpenter moved to

Innova Records in 2004.[3]

Dreamland (2005–2006)

In 2005, Carpenter steered the band in an entirely different direction with the development of

Sex Mob (saxophone), and original members Redfearn, Caswell and Seabrook. In 2006, Carpenter enlisted the New York City-based producer Martin Bisi to record and mix Dreamland in Brooklyn. Dreamland was released on Cuneiform Records in January 2008 and announced as the first installation in Carpenter's "Weird American Gothic" trilogy.[4]

Boy from Black Mountain (2007–2009)

In late 2006 near the completion of recording Dreamland, Carpenter's son was diagnosed with

Southern Gospel music, bluegrass music and Southern Gothic writers, and was released by Cuneiform Records in September 2009.[5]

These Wicked Things (2014–present)

In 2014, Carpenter was commissioned by the

Berkeley Repertory Theater to write music for The Barbary Coast, a play based on the true crime book by Herbert Asbury about the rise of San Francisco during the Gold Rush era. Two years after a week-long residency in Berkeley, California, the band recorded a few of the songs from the play and several other new songs and instrumentals for These Wicked Things, the third and final part of Carpenter's Weird American Gothic trilogy. Recorded in Boston and mixed in Tucson with Craig Schumacher, the record bridges a number of disparate genres including experimental music, cowpunk, post-punk, Mexican folk music, mariachi music and "spaghetti western" and giallo film scores.[6][7]

[8]

Discography

  • Ringleaders Revolt (
    Innova Records
    , 2004)
  • Dreamland (Cuneiform Records, 2008)
  • Boy From Black Mountain
     (Cuneiform Records, 2009)
  • These Wicked Things (Innova Records, 2019)

References

  1. ^ Monger, James Christopher (January 28, 2008). "Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved January 28, 2008.
    - "Brian Carpenter: Eclectic Jazz, Rooted in Americana". NPR. April 7, 2011. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
  2. ^ Elliot, Richard (December 2, 2009). "Beat Circus: Boy From Black Mountain". PopMatters. Retrieved March 20, 2010.
  3. ^ Garelick, Jon (September 24, 2004). "To Play is The Thing". Boston Phoenix. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007.
    - Harrell, Scott (May 12, 2005). "When The Circus Comes". Creative Loafing. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007.
  4. ^ Mason, Stewart (March 1, 2008). "Dreamland". Allmusic. Retrieved March 1, 2008.
  5. ^ Sullivan, Jim (January 11, 2008). "Notes on Beat Circus". Boston Phoenix. Retrieved January 12, 2008.
    - Thompson, Barry (January 6, 2009). "Southern Exposure". Boston Phoenix. Retrieved January 7, 2009.
  6. ^ "Berkeley Rep Ground Floor Residencies" (PDF). Berkeley Repertory Theater. February 26, 2014. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  7. ^ Sullivan, James (March 22, 2019). "After a decade of silence, Beat Circus is back to being weird". Boston Globe.
  8. ^ Smith, Steve (March 22, 2019). "Video Premiere: Beat Circus, "These Wicked Things"". National Sawdust Log.
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