Beat Circus – Dreamland
Reviewed by Sadie O., 3/25/08
Billed as “Post-Americana / Post-Cabaret”, very dark and dreamlike, with lots of banjos and tubas. Really visual somehow – could be the soundtrack to something like Tim Burton’s “Sleepy Hollow” or Neil Gaiman’s “Mirrormask”. It’s not cheery folk music! It’s sort of a new version of something ancient, and deeply strange.
No FCCs detected. Listen to it all – you might well like something that left me cold. I like 4 and 10 best.
1. 2:23 ***random slinky percussion intro, then banjo and tuba – a dream of demented tightrope walkers. Instrumental. Train sounds fade into next song.
2. 4:44 **train sounds, whirring and plucking, kind of a limping circus march. Song of a sad backcountry girl, male lead and female chorus. Great harmonica solo at end, long fade.
3. 1:02 *very strange strings instrumental, rather like wind blowing.
4. 4:06 ****low-key intro with banjo that sounds almost like a sitar, random percussion, very slow and frankly creepy. Vocals sound like old fashioned mic, great chorus. Absolutely nutted horn break in the middle.
5. 1:04 *slow strings, then faster and somewhat discordant.
6. 3:12 *starts with more than 15 seconds of radio static, then violins and highly processed vocals, about very dark things. Vocal remind me a bit of David Bowie, actually. Builds in volume and tension, not much of a beat.
7. 0:44 *drone and lovely female singing with no words.
8. 3:01 **violin and drone, very slow and quite gorgeous cover of the very famous Russian folk song (instrumental). Second verse is faster with more instruments, a waltz.
9. 4:08 ***another Russian-esque folk instrumental, this one fast, more of a manikin polka - to the death. Great banjo solo – no, really! Winds up very slow (I guess the manikins died.)
10. 3:26 ****fantastic slow spring-laden beat – completely great sound. Very strange lyrics, apparently about Satan’s gin joint. Yay! Fine demented guitar solo, too.
11. 1:20 *flourish and bullfight trumpet, but rather depressed. Fades into next song.
12. 4:19 ***instrumental dance of the ghosts of the pre-Anglo Califorñeros. (Given the title, more likely Tejanos…) Bit of crowd noises in middle, then back to the dance.
13. 3:32 ***drum roll and dramatic carney freak show announcer intro, then midtempo march of the freaks (no wait, that’s supposed to be the last song!) with demented vocals and a chorus of “die die die die die”. Gnarly! Again goes straight into next track.
14. 2:38 *disjointed calliope and yelling – it actually sounds much better than I’m describing it.
15. 3:08 *waves breaking and Victorian-style piano, classic old tune. In the offchance someone doesn’t know, Dreamland was an amusement park on Coney Island that slowly died away… Music stops and you hear distant squeals of roller coaster riders. Manic player piano for last 30 seconds. Whew! Ends a bit shy.
16. 2:25 starts 1 minute in! Really fun midtempo wheezing march for almost a minute and a half, but…