Interview

NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross aired a feature interview with Brian Carpenter on April 7, 2011. The broadcast can be listened to here.

On Ghost Train Orchestra...

"Brian Carpenter is a multi-faceted artist, musician, composer, arranger, film director, radio producer and more. In short, he's a guy who follows his muse. In this case, that muse is jazz of the 1920s and I'm mighty thankful he took this detour. Hothouse Stomp is a loving tip of the cap to some of the unsung greats of Harlem and Chicago's South Side...the only thing better than hearing this recording would be seeing the band live." -- Frank Alkyer, Downbeat

"A trip through 1920s Chicago and Harlem...Carpenter selected, transcribed, arranged, and conducted tunes made semi-famous by bands that have faded into semi-obscurity...one must stop and remind oneself: This crazy-beautiful living-history lesson sprang from Brian Carpenter's mind. Wow." -- Steve Greenlee, Boston Globe

"A band this good deserves a stand at the Vanguard" -- Lucid Culture

On Beat Circus...

"Boy From Black Mountain is the prettiest darn dark Americana record in recent memory." -- Barry Thompson, Boston Phoenix

"Boston's circus of malcontents Beat Circus not only has the chops but features a fallen hellfire preacher/band leader (the captivating Brian Carpenter) who simultaneously channels Nick Cave and Johnny Cash. " -- Village Voice

"For anyone still awed by Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Boy From Black Mountain was an album that promised a similar journey through innocent speculation and otherworldly magic. Beat Circus has provided one of the highs of the year. " -- Richard Elliot, Pop Matters

"Dreamland realizes a lushly imaginative American mythology...a surreal melange" -- Time Out New York "Dreamland is an ambitious new Brechtian concept album with rich and tight orchestration..." -- Dan Kaufman, New Yorker

"The music and the wonderfully well-realized arrangements of Dreamland are, if anything, better than on the band's debut...the stylistically varied results make for a wonderfully imaginative record." -- Stewart Mason, All Music Guide

On Free Association...

"Free Association lives up to its name, as Carpenter segues handily from turntablism and free jazz to techno and avant garde, blurring the distinctions along the way." -- Jazziz