News
8/10/2010
I said I'd never do it, but... The Simple Carnival is on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/simplecarnival
8/7/2010
Thanks to Steve from ShockPop radio for conducting an interview with me today! It's going to air tomorrow (Sunday) during his show (noon to 3PM EST, 5-8P BST) on ScrubRadio.com. We chat about the upcoming album, garages, and The Brigadier. Tune in if you can! 
8/1/2010
New, free mp3 download!
Just finished recording this today! "The Melancholy Days" is not on any Simple Carnival release, and is intended as a "warm up" for recording album #2. The song was written by Matt Williams, a.k.a. The Brigadier, and this download is being provided with his permission. Check out the original version (and his other fantastic songs) here!
5/3/2010
An advance thank you to DK the DJ from WBWC for playing "Really Really Weird" tonight. Tune in to the Island Time show from 10 PM to 1 AM EST on WBWC 88.3 FM & wbwc.com.
Thanks to Steve (aka "Shockpop") from scrubradio.com for playing The Simple Carnival on a recent show.
4/18/2010
Thanks to Craig Leve from the Snap, Crackle, POP! show for playing The Simple Carnival this past Friday. The show is broadcast over the web at kwvaradio.org on Friday mornings, 8 AM-10 AM PST.
Thanks to Steve from the Dalecast podcast for playing "Really Really Weird" recently.
Pre-production work on the second Simple Carnival album is steadily progressing. 2-1/2 arrangements are fleshed out so far. (Actual recording won't begin until all of the arrangements are written.) I'm building some UREI 1176 limiter clones, which I hope to finish soon. The Simple Carnival's Facebook page always has the latest scoop, so why not be a fan?
3/22/2010
An advance thank you to DK the DJ from WBWC for playing "Caitlin's on the Beach" tonight. Tune in to the Island Time show from 10 PM to 1 AM EST on WBWC 88.3 FM & wbwc.com.
Thanks to Razor and Di for playing The Simple Carnival on this past Friday's show. You can check them out Fridays 2 PM-6 PM & 3rd Saturdays 11 AM-1 PM (CST) on 88.7 FM in Chicago and streamed live on wluw.org.
Thanks to Steve from the Dalecast podcast for playing "Caitlin's on the Beach."
Lastly, a belated thank you to Radio Blau out in the east german city of Leipzig for playing The Simple Carnival a little while back.
3/7/2010
Last night marked a milestone in the making of The Simple Carnival's second album: pre-production has begun!
What does this mean?
It means that nearly all of the songs have been written. It's now time to make demo recordings, which will serve as a guide when I record the songs for real. It's also time to experiment with some new studio techniques that will be on the album. (Turn my garage into a reverb chamber? Oh yeah...!)
If you're interested in songwriting, music production, or just following the creative process in general, come "be a fan" over on The Simple Carnival's Facebook page. There should be some interesting adventures ahead:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Simple-Carnival/147491852830
See you there!
3/1/2010
Thanks to DK the DJ from WBWC for playing "Caitlin's on the Beach" tonight. Tune in to the Island Time show from 10 PM to 1 AM EST tonight on WBWC 88.3 FM & wbwc.com.
2/25/2010
Thanks to Steve (aka "Shockpop") from scrubradio.com for playing The Simple Carnival on a recent show.
2/24/2010
|
1/26/2010
Thanks to Matt from Indieville for a pretty good review of Girls Aliens Food.
1/23/2010
The Simple Carnival got a really nice write-up in a blog article about "basement music." (It's about a quarter of the way down the page.)
The "DrummerMan Remix" that's mentioned in the article was created by Geoff Mann, who won last year's "Really Really Weird" remix contest. You can download Geoff's excellent remix here.
Thanks to Aaron from Indie69 for being mentioned with such fine company (Jim Noir, R. Stevie Moore, etc.).
1/14/2010
Thanks to Martin and Rich from The Network Security Podcast for playing "Really Really Weird" on episode 177!
1/11/2010
Well, this is pretty cool -- Girls Aliens Food made The Rock and Roll Report's Top 20 Power Pop Albums of 2009! Thanks to Aaron Kupferberg for the honor and the great review.
1/10/2010
Thanks to Steve (aka "Shockpop") from scrubradio.com for including The Simple Carnival on ShockPop's 200 Most Spun Indie Artists of 2009.
Also, thanks to last.fm user Jean-Marie (aka "Dumbangel") for placing Girls Aliens Food on his Top 20 of 2009 list.
12/29/2009
Thanks to Jordan Sovereign (aka KingWart) for declaring Girls Aliens Food the 10th best album of 2009! Shortly afterward, he tweeted that the album was released in 2008 (and thus probably doesn't qualify for being on a "Best of 2009" list), but I appreciate the honor anyway!
Thanks to radio DJ (and fine, fine songwriter) Marc with a C, co-host of "Serious Business" (on 91.5 WPRK in Winter Park, Florida) for playing The Simple Carnival recently! The show airs every Wednesday morning from 8-10 AM EST. You can listen online here.
12/28/2009
An advance thank you to DK the DJ from WBWC for playing "Caitlin's on the Beach" tonight! Tune in to the Island Time show from 10 PM to 1 AM EST tonight on WBWC 88.3 FM & wbwc.com.
Thanks to Steve (aka "Shockpop") from scrubradio.com for playing The Simple Carnival three times recently!
12/25/2009
Hope everyone is having a very merry Christmas!
Two bits of news. Thanks to Di from Full on Friday on WLUW (Loyola University Chicago) for playing The Simple Carnival's materialistic Christmas song, "Super Robot Toy" (from Sonic Rescue League Vol 1).
Also, thanks to Steve from the Dalecast podcast for playing "Caitlin's on the Beach."
12/20/2009
A big thanks goes out to Aaron from Powerpopaholic for ranking Girls Aliens Food among the Top 20 Best Power Pop Albums of 2009!
(Yes, technically, Girls Aliens Food was released in 2008, but who's counting? Maybe it'll make someone's "Best of 2010" list too.) Thanks again, Aaron!
Also, thanks to Steve from the Dalecast podcast for playing The Simple Carnival recently.
12/8/2009
Whoo-hoo! Mega-cool pop retailer Not Lame is providing a FREE copy of The Simple Carnival's Me and My Arrow EP with any purchase! All you need to do is to go to this secret page and add the CD to your shopping cart.
While you're there, make sure to pick up a copy of Girls Aliens Food if you don't already have it. (And if you do, why not pick up an extra? It makes a great Christmas present for a pop-loving friend. )
It's been a couple months since I've posted here, but there's quite a bit going on with album #2. When I made Girls Aliens Food, I worked in a vacuum -- I didn't let anyone know what I was doing for 2-1/2 years. For album #2, I've been posting frequent, live-in-the-studio updates on The Simple Carnival's Facebook page. Won't you stop over and become a fan?
10/9/2009
The Simple Carnival's critically acclaimed debut album, Girls Aliens Food, is now online in its entirety!
Hear the whole thing here on last.fm or here on MySpace. (MySpace is probably the better choice, as it plays one song after another as a playlist.)
You don't need an account at those places to listen -- just go to either link and listen to the whole thing. Free. There is no catch.
Well, maybe one.
If you like what you hear, I do appreciate your support by buying t-shirts and CDs. (And what seems to be a popular option -- you can also get your CDs signed.)
Yes, technically, you can get the music for free online. And if you're really clever, you can just record all that streaming stuff and put on your iPod or what-have-you.
And if you do that, well, that's your thing.
But the music was not free to make. (Actually, it was pretty expensive.)
Anyway, this is just the long way of saying that all merchandise proceeds help defray the cost of making the next album. I'm currently working on the next album. And I can't wait for you to hear it.
Eventually.
10/3/2009
I've finally succumbed to the peer pressure. I got a Facebook page.
Someone showed me a Simple Carnival Facebook page a couple months ago. I had nothing to do with that page, and I don't know who put it up, but it's gone now.
Anyway, if you're on Facebook, do a search for The Simple Carnival and you'll find it. That page is really me. I'll probably be spending more time on Facebook once I make further progress on the album.
In other news... one of my favorite electronic artists has gone pop! Mister Fusty (i.e. one Rob Gibson from the UK) has released a great new album called Over The Rocky Mountains.
Mister Fusty's instrumental debut album, Honest Blundering (which you can listen to in its entirety here), is one of my favorites. The newest album -- the first to feature vocals -- is equally good, but very different from the debut. You can hear the whole thing here.
What does this particular release have to do with The Simple Carnival? Well, I was lucky enough to hear a pre-release version of the album, and I received a thank you in the liner notes for offering a little bit of feedback.
Anyway, if you like electronic music and dig The Simple Carnival, check this thing out now! You'll probably love it. It's been on rotation here a lot last week. It's great stuff.
Thanks to Pop! The Beat Bubble Burst for playing The Simple Carnival on the October 1 show.
Lastly, a thank you goes out to RFM Radio for playing the song "Flirt" recently.
9/6/2009
Thanks to Robert Pally over at daily-rock.com for what appears to be an excellent (3-1/2 stars out of 4) review of Girls Aliens Food. The review can be found in this PDF on page 15.
Thanks to Hotel Arizona for playing The Simple Carnival on episode 61!
8/23/2009
T-shirts are headed toward extinction!
Only one XL Simple Carnival t-shirt remains. Unfortunately, it has a small, slight red mark over part of the first girl's head. It's not a terribly obtrusive thing, but it's not 100% perfect like the other t-shirts either. Because of this, the last remaining XL t-shirt is on sale for a measly $7.
Once this shirt -- actually, every shirt -- is gone, that's it. There are no plans for restocking. So if you were thinking about getting a Simple Carnival t-shirt, get 'em now before they become collector's items!
UPDATE: The last XL t-shirt has been sold. S, M, and L sizes are still available.
8/9/2009
It may not look like it from the number of updates here, but WOW am I busy. I'm writing The Simple Carnival's second album, and it's been a struggle to find an hour or two every night to work on it. As a result, all of my online stuff has been taking a back seat. I'm now a little bit slower getting back to people on MySpace. The Songs and Sonics blog is on hiatus. Apologies in advance, but that's what has to be done in order to make progress on the album.
Meanwhile, Girls Aliens Food seems to be enjoying a healthy life on its own.
Grazie to the Italian blog Under The Tangerine Tree for posting what appears to be an extremely positive review of Girls Aliens Food. Unfortunately, I don't know Italian, and the Babelfish translation is a bit... off. ("It has realized egg whites, Girls Aliens Food, deserving of praise and kiss in forehead.") The first person to provide a good English translation of of this review will get a complimentary download of Girls Aliens Food.
Thanks to Tweefort for having The Simple Carnival on its CD/download compilation, Home and Abroad Songs Vol. 1. This compilation features artists in and out of New Haven, Connecticut. (The Simple Carnival would be in the "out" category, obviously.) There was a CD release show this past Friday, but you can download the compilation here for free. Enjoy!
Thanks to Earlier DJ Lee Rosevere at CBC Radio for playing The Simple Carnival again. You can check out his show here.
Finally, thanks to Steve from the Dalecast podcast for playing The Simple Carnival twice recently.
7/19/2009
A new song is up on the MySpace player -- Flirt, from Girls Aliens Food. Check it out!
The Simple Carnival has a track ("Caitlin's On the Beach") on a Series Two/Eggnog Records EP compilation! The compilation is on a tiny 3" CD; read more about how to order your copy here.
Thanks to two new MySpace friends, Di and Razor for playing The Simple Carnival on their respective shows (Full on Friday and The Razor Show) on WLUW (Loyola University Chicago). You can check out their playlists here and listen to their shows live here.
Lastly, thanks to Pop on Paper radio in Germany for playing The Simple Carnival this past Thursday.
7/18/2009
Thank you to Marc with a C, co-host of "Serious Business" (on 91.5 WPRK in Winter Park, Florida) for playing The Simple Carnival this past week! The show airs every Wednesday morning from 8-10 AM EST. You can listen online here.
Thanks to the Japanese-speaking PSM S.A.R. Podcast for playing The Simple Carnival on episode 119.
7/4/2009
Wow, when did this happen? The Simple Carnival now has over 2,000 MySpace friends! Despite this, I can't find anyone who wants to help me put up drywall.
Thanks to DJ Lee Rosevere at CBC Radio for putting The Simple Carnival's music in rotation. Lee's show is called Earlier and it's broadcast in British Columbia at, in Lee's words, "the ungodly hour of 5 A.M." You can listen to his show here.
Welcome to The Simple Carnival's newest online distributor, Kool Kat Musik, where you can purchase Girls Aliens Food from their online store.
Thanks to Pop! The Beat Bubble Burst for playing The Simple Carnival on the July 2nd "Summer Song Spectacular" show. For a limited time, you can hear this particular episode here.
An advance thank you to Shockpop from scrubradio.com for playing The Simple Carnival on tomorrow's show at noon EST. I'm not sure if I'll be around to hear the show, but if I am, I'll be hanging out in the Scrub Radio chat room.
Lastly, thanks to Steve from the Dalecast podcast for playing The Simple Carnival recently.
Happy 4th of July, everyone!
6/11/2009
A quick update: Pop! The Beat Bubble Burst has archived today's show (which featured The Simple Carnival). It'll be online until June 25th, so check out the show -- it looks good!
6/10/2009
A new song is up on the MySpace player -- Keeping it Quiet, from Girls Aliens Food. Check it out!
Thanks to Rich over at Pop! The Beat Bubble Burst for playing The Simple Carnival tomorrow (Thursday) between 5 AM and 7 AM central time on KDHX in St. Louis. You can listen online here.
6/4/2009
Another wow!
A big thanks goes out to Aaron from Powerpopaholic for reviewing Girls Aliens Food and calling it "a soft pop masterpiece"!
Check out the whole review here!
5/30/2009
Well, wow! Girls Aliens Food is currently being featured on the front page of mega-cool pop retailer Not Lame!
Not only that, but there's a stark raving mad review of Girls Aliens Food on the site as well. (Those are the best kinds of reviews. )
A big thanks to Bruce at Not Lame for the review and for inviting The Simple Carnival on board!
5/27/2009
I thought my very first radio interview was gone forever, mercifully disappearing off the beaches of Maui after its broadcast last August... but noooooooo!
Yes, thanks to the power of the internet, my chat with the very cool Michael McCartney (from Hawaii's The Time Machine radio show) has now been archived for posterity's sake.
So if you'd like to hear me speak very nervously (about 3x my normal rate) and in an exhausted state (it was past midnight on a Friday), here's the link you need!
(And thanks to the power of digital audio editing, they did a heck of a job editing my rambling. Thanks again for having me on the show, Michael!)
Also, thanks to Steve from the Dalecast podcast for playing The Simple Carnival recently.
5/20/2009
Is it OK if I name-drop for a moment?
A few days ago, I received a surprise e-mail from distinguished recording artist Jim Noir. I asked him if I could use a sentence from his exceptionally kind message in The Simple Carnival's press kit, and he said yes.
Rather than tell you what the quote is (it's not exactly family-friendly), you can check it out on The Simple Carnival's quote archive. Thanks so much, Jim -- you made my week! Be sure to check out Jim's most excellent music here.
Thanks goes out to the Digivegas podcast for playing The Simple Carnival on a recent show.
Finally, thanks to Steve from the Dalecast podcast for playing The Simple Carnival (again!).
5/7/2009
It's another podcast/internet radio thank you day!
First, thanks to Shockpop from scrubradio.com for playing The Simple Carnival this past weekend.
Thanks to Larry from The Patio for playing The Simple Carnival on show 175.
Thanks to Atlantic Wave Radio for apparently playing The Simple Carnival. I say "apparently" because I received an e-mail saying that they played a song, but I can't find any podcasts on their site. Maybe it's on their streaming radio station? I don't know, but thank you anyway!
And no thank you list would be complete without thanking Steve from the Dalecast podcast... Not only did he play The Simple Carnival three times recently, but The Simple Carnival made it onto his Dalecast Top 20 list. Thanks Steve! Make sure to check out his show here.
4/29/2009
A new song is up on the MySpace player -- Effortlessly, from Girls Aliens Food. Check it out!
4/24/2009
Well, whaddya know? The Simple Carnival is being featured in a blog post over at Baroque Pop Radio. Check it out! (Thanks, Sean!)
Thanks to The Awful Show for playing The Simple Carnival on Awful Snack episode 93b. (I don't understand why it's called The Awful Show when it doesn't sound awful at all. And Joel, the show's DJ, was very complimentary about the Simple Carnival song he played. Am I missing something? In any case, thank you, Joel!)
Thanks to Steve from the Dalecast podcast for playing The Simple Carnival twice lately. Check out his show here.
Did you know Girls Aliens Food is on www.pandora.com? I didn't. But now I do. And now you do too. Here's the link!
4/2/2009
Thanks to Matt Williams from The Brigadier, Christian Phillips from The Sonic Executive Sessions, and Rob Gibson from Mister Fusty for agreeing to blindly lend their names to yesterday's April Fools' Day post. Also, a big thank you to Missy Kulik, for trusting me to manipulate her artwork for yesterday's foolishness. Based on the feedback I received, it seems that a good time was had by all.
A big shout-out to Tim at Whisperin & Hollerin for an excellent review of Girls Aliens Food -- definitely one for the quote archive! Thanks so much for the kind words.
Finally, thanks to Steve from the Dalecast podcast for playing The Simple Carnival three times... in one day, I think? Check out his show here!
3/20/2009
There were a lot of great entries from last year's Really Really Weird remix contest.
However, I wanted to put one of the remixes -- which didn't win -- in the spotlight, because I think it's really, really good. So up on the MySpace player is Admo's remix of Really Really Weird. (You'll need to click on the bottom song title in the player to play it.) Check it out!
3/18/2009
Remember the cool painting videos that Adam Yeater made with The Simple Carnival's music as the soundtrack?
Well, I thought I'd show where I put one of his paintings in my recording studio. It's right above what I call my "pile of keyboards":
So thanks again to Adam for the excellent artwork. Be sure to check out his MySpace page for more!
Here's something which happened a little while ago but I forgot to mention it. The Japanese site Powerpop Academy now sells The Simple Carnival's Girls Aliens Food and Me and My Arrow EP. Note that these links only apply if you pay for things in yen.
For everyone else, there's iTunes, CDBaby, Amazon, and (of course) www.simplecarnival.com.