"Mourning Time" is NOW available right HERE!

We are thrilled to announce the pre-release of our second album, "Mourning Time". It's available for immediate download and shipping ONLY at our website. It will not be available anywhere else until it is officially released on March of 2011. We want to give our closest fans, friends, and family the chance to hear it first. Get your copy here and let us know what you think about it!

Extra album details:

This second album from Team Smile and Nod explores the constantly morphing state of mourning in an oddly uplifting and quirky manner. Many of the songs were written during Kara's grieving process for the loss of her mother. As depressing as that may sound, the album visits a wide range of themes and emotion, and ends with an empowered, upbeat song of healing that goes by the same name as the album. Listen to the title track here. In summary, many of the songs are upbeat, idealistic, and even danceable (this track, "Truth and Fact", will be the single). "Mourning Time" is released on our indie label Thinkroot Records. The vocals and guitars were recorded in Kara's home studio. The electronic production, mixing, and mastering took place at Rich's Ostrich Studio. The amazing art is by Jesse Smith. It took us 2 years to make this album what it is. We're proud to finally share it with you. Get your digital and/or physical copy here.

Thank you for your constant support. It helps us continue to create music. We really, really hope you enjoy this album.

Take care and cause ruckus,
Kara and Rich

p.s. Download "Truth and Fact REMIX" for free in exchange for one FB or Twitter post!

Neglect! Update from Team Smile and Nod...

Ahhhh... I just remembered that I have this blog. Eeeps. Here's what I've been doing instead:



As far as Team Smile and Nod is concerned, we are progressing on our next album- "Mourning Time". In fact, I just ordered the blank digipaks today. It felt like progress. We are in the post-production phase... working on mixing, mastering, and design. Jesse Smith already has the cover art completed (it's amazing!). So now I've gotta type up the lyrics and lay them out. In the meantime, I've been updating Mind Map That! once a week. Hopefully, the action there can get you by for now... Wheeee...

May 29th, 2010 LIVE at The Shrunken Head with Kevin Milner!

*Folk morphs into electro anti-folk... right before your very ears.*

Kevin Milner is a folksinger from Dayton. You can literally see his heart pouring out of his mouth while he sings... if you squint a little... and spin around in circles. But seriously, it's beautiful. Listen to "Man on a Couch", I love it.

Team Smile and Nod is an electro anti-folk duo from Columbus. We haven't played out for a while. Plus, we've got new songs to try out. So we're pretty much ready to explode with enthusiasm. Woo! (That was only a small piece of what you'll hear on stage... ) Download our first album for FREE.

As an extra bonus, this is an awesome chance to check out the the transformation of Vic's to The Shrunken Head!

In summary, please come. It will be fun.

*Share the event on Facebook!
*Get more details on our main website!

Mind Map That!- NEW Music Blog By Kara...

Awwww... yeah! Mind Map That! is a blog created for Kara (me) to post the odd little songs that dance around in my head that don't really make sense with Team Smile and Nod. In posting them, I'm hoping others will be inspired to add some oddness... make them a creative collaboration! That's the quick summary. Here's the full-length explanation. Here's hoping you'll play with me!

Make Instruments with Us!!! Expand the Vibe!

Yo' Columbus peeps with kids!! Rich and I (Team Smile and Nod) will be helping out at the 10am musical instrument making workshop of Expand the Vibe!! Loads of musical artsy fun to be had for all ages... If you don't have kids, come out for the evening show! (We won't be performing, but there will be a bunch of awesome local bands!) :D

Here's an explanation from the FB invite:

"On behalf of OpenheartART, Living the Arts, and the Peach District, we are happy to present to you our first of many benefit shows geared toward helping non-profit organizations, who support youth by facilitating programs designed around the arts. We believe that we all share the common vision of how crucial the arts are to our youth, our community, and our world. We as local organizations can come together to expand this vision in a big way!

On April 3rd we are putting on our first event in the Neo-V Gallery space, at 247 King Ave. The benefit will start out with workshops hosted by OpenheartART, geared towards encouraging ages 3 years on up, to create and re-imagine music through recycled materials and cooperative jam sessions. There will be 2 three hour workshops, and a fund raising concert later in the evening to collect moneys and or donated instruments for the Short Stop music programs."

Go HERE for more details. Hope to see you there!

6 Reasons Podcasts Rock the Party.

I am a new podcast fan. Yeah, I probably jumped on the podcast fan boat rather late... and yeah, I investigated them for self-fulfilling reasons (to get TSAN's music out there)... but dude, they are so flippin' cool. Here's a list of 6 reasons why they rock the party:

1. Complete Creative Control. They do what they want. Whatever they want. They say what they want... Play what they want... Release their shows when they want... You get my point, right? They have complete creative control to make their show exactly what they want.

2. No one owns them. They are not owned by Clear Channel. They are not owned by advertisers. They own themselves. They make their own decisions. If they decide to monetize, they do it with their own rules.

3. There are podcasts for EVERYONE. It blows my mind. Seriously. Look up anything with the word "podcast" following. I bet you you'll find something.

4. They play independent music! Many major labels won't let podcasters play their tunes. AWESOME! Fuck them! There is so much awesome indie music out there... We are happy to rock the podcasts!

5. Podcasts are by PASSIONATE people. Often podcasts are labors of love. Often the only dough they bring in is from donations. You've GOT to be passionate to do something without getting paid. Why else would you bother?

6. Podcasts and independent music are a natural fit... Often indie bands have a hard time getting radio play. How can we compete with major label money? Podcasters need music to enhance their shows. Podcasters and indie bands fill each others voids perfectly. Everyone benefits... especially listeners. The listeners get to pick a very specific niche and listen whenever and wherever they want... the podcaster only plays the tunes they dig... the musician gets exposure to a very specific group listeners... DUDE... it's a beautiful cycle.

Check out these podcasts... they rocked
Team Smile and Nod:




Dalecast! Episodes #693, #688, and #682
This podcast is an awesome mix of podsafe tunes from around the world... definitely worth checking out: http://www.dalecast.co.uk/

Radio Orphans Podcast- #241
This podcast airs weekly and plays independent music.
Go here to listen- http://radioorphans.blogspot.com/

Geek of all Trades Podcast- #37
This podcast is a variety show... Brian (the host) discusses a wide range of topics including (but not limited to) politics, movies, gaming, personal stuff, current news... and he plays a tune here and there. It is most enjoyable and humorous in nature. Go here: http://arklecast.blogspot.com/

In summary, I miss Flight of the Conchords.

Super SNEAKY Peak of Team Smile and Nod's Next Album- Mourning Time!

So we did it! We posted a track that you can download and/or stream and get a feel for our next album, Mourning Time. We included these songs: Build, Unknown, Come Back Here, She's Gone, and Mourning Time. For that matter, you can listen right now on the player to the right. Oh yeah, we've got it alllll planned out. Mwah-ha-ha... ha. We still have tons to do with the album... lots of editing/ mixing. Then we must master it. Plus, we must figure out what to do for cover art... (Any ideas? Are YOU an artist who has always wanted to do an album cover?? E-mail us if you are or know someone rad: questions[at]teamsmileandnod[dot]com
In summary, that's me and Katie's cat. Isn't she dapper?

Will our second album find completion?

Soooo... Rich and I plan to release a second CD this year. There is so much to do... Right now we're working on recording and mixing the songs. All the songs are written, however, whenever we work on the planned songs, we often get side-tracked by new songs. And soooo... while it's creatively necessary and fun, it lengthens the process. Today and tomorrow I'll record the vocals for "Truth and Fact" and either the ukulele and vocals for "Can You Feel It" or the guitar and vocals for "She's Gone." The problem with "She's Gone" is that it is massively depressing for me to play. I definitely need to be in the mood to deal with that. I am actually tearing up thinking about recording it. Seriously. When Rich and I were listening to a demo version of it and deciding when to work on it, he said "That is the most depressing song I've ever heard." But the thing is, it must be on this next CD. The CD will be called "Mourning Time." Many of the songs are about dealing with my mom's death. So yeah, an upper. Really though, it will be an awesome CD... the songs are coming together in such an amazing way. Okay... I should get to recording now...

In summary, the Kinks rock.

2009 to 2010: Top Things that Tickled Kara of TSAN

There is such a communal sense of wrapping a year up when a new year arrives. All of the "best of 2009" and "top 10 (or whateva') of 2009" drive me a little crazy. I mean, really, must we summarize EVERYTHING? And why does this typically only happen at the end of a year? Of course, really, I get it. It just mildly annoys me. Kinda like all the labels we all have to label ourselves with all the time... everything must have its place... everything must be categorized and organized and regulated and identified...

So I know for a fact that I certainly can't beat "em"... so I guess I'll join this collective summarizing to a small degree. Here's a list of a few things that happened this year with Team Smile and Nod that really tickled me. Yeah, that's right, tickled.

Things that Tickled Kara of TSAN in 2009 (all lists MUST have titles):
*We played 11 shows (including Columbus Pride Festival!). My goal was 10. Bonus.
*Some people said nice things to us about our music at the shows.
*Positive words were written about us... Curve Magazine, Feministing, Columbus Underground, Columbus Alive, etc...!
*Anneli Rufus (author), Nicole J. Georges (author), and Jon Peterson (Shakin' It Radio) gave us some super-kind quotes.
*Jeffrey Brown drew a comic about our CD!
*We did a sweet give-away for Pride with Queerics.
*We put together a bunch of YouTube videos.
*Our tunes were played on some cool radio programs (KAOS, Queer Sounds, Shakin' It...)

So that's my list of summary. Pretty awesome, eh? This year will also rock. A new CD is in the works. Awwwww yeaaaaahs...

In summary, damn, it's snowing hard.