Self-produced in a small North Beach flat, Retro Carnival is ex-Morning Spy drummer Mark Loftin's solo debut. Powered by driving bass and drum grooves, interlocking rhythms and a carnival of guitar effects, Retro Carnival was inspired by a variety of musical genres, including 70's rock, post-punk, psychedelia, new wave, modern indie rock and the TV and movie soundtracks of decades past. Loftin plays all instruments on the album, and spent countless hours studio tinkering: World percussion, organs, strings, horns, synthesizer bursts, processed voices, pop culture of the past, North Beach at midnight, car ignitions, jet turbines, and those everyday sounds we take for granted are layered on traditional rock song structures, transporting the listener through a sonic amusement park of yesterday and today. Mark Loftin is the drummer for San Francisco indie rock bands Morning Spy and Marrow.

Beck, Arcade Fire, Sublime, Sonic Youth, Interpol, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Thin Lizzy, Joy Division, David Bowie, U2, T. Rex, Roxy Music, Brian Eno, Blondie, Modest Mouse, Metric, My Morning Jacket, Pinback, Morning Spy, Foxtail Somersault, Apples in Stereo, Minipop, Queens of the Stone Age, AC/DC, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Pavement, DJ AM, Zombies, Ramones, David and David, Kings of Leon, Ian Hunter, Capstain Shafts, New Order, early 70s Fleetwood Mac, Lalo Schifrin, TV soundtracks of the 70's.