Casiotone For The Painfully Alone is the one-man band that consists of Owen Ashworth from San Francisco, California. Mr. Ashworth decided to start his career in music after dropping out of film school in 1997; to him making music was a much more efficient way to throw out ideas than filmmaking.
In the Casiotone arsenal thrift store keyboards and scratchy vocals reign supreme. But although Owen Ashworth only uses battery-powered instruments, the songs are well structured, usually under the two-minute mark and always very interesting. Song content usually revolves around love songs about girls, but that’s all right because he manages to take a new perspective on typical heartbroken stories with incredibly hilarious lyrics and simple melodies.
Music has possibly never been as lo-fi as it is on Casiotone For The Painfully Alone’s releases. The primary mode for sound capture is the 4-track, but other things like answering machines and boomboxes are also used to record the songs on.
After killing the San Francisco indie scene Owen moved on to tour the rest of the United States and Germany, where he’s on the infamous Tomlab label, numerous times. He has toured with bands like The Rapture and Xiu Xiu, which helps to give him a lot of cool indie cred. You can find out all about upcoming shows on Casiotone’s LiveJournal.
Discography
Pocket Symphonies for Lonesome Subway Cars (2001)
Theme: Public transportation.
A little info: Live cello and drum parts. Trains, buses, subways, taxis, and airplanes all sampled throughout the recording. Recorded in various bedrooms.
Track listing:
- we have mice
- tonight was a disaster
- suitcase in hand
- caltrain song
- dying batteries
- oh, contessa!
- bus song
- yr boyfriend
- casiotone for the painfully alone in a green cotton sweater
- number ten
- destroy the evidence
- lesley gore on the TAMI show
- oh, illinois!
- the subway home
- air port samba
- we have mice
Answering Machine Music (1999 w/reissue in 2002)
Theme: A series of answering machine messages.
A little info: The title is an obvious nod to
Lou Reed’s "
Metal Machine Music". The
SK-1 was the weapon of choice for this recording. AMM was originally released on Cassingle, Owen's label, in 1999 with only the first 12 tracks. With the rerelease in 2002 on
Tomlab tracks 13 - 16 were added; 13 and 14 were recorded for the
SCUMROCK soundtrack, while 15 and 16 were originally a seven inch record.
Track listing:
- theme from david hanna
- when the bridge toll was one dollar
- casiotone for the painfully alone joins the foreign legion
- cold shoulder
- rice dream girl
- secretest crush
- a normal suburban lifestyle is a near impossibility once you've fallen in love with an international spy
- baby it's you
- you never call
- daina flores you're the one
- beeline
- i should have kissed you when i had a chance
- hey jelly
- hotel huntington sign
- it's winter and you don't love me anymore
- seattle, washington
Twinkle Echo (2003)
Theme: None really.
A little info: Guest appearances from Jamie Stewart of
Xiu Xiu and Jherek Bischoff of Seattle's Degenerate Art Ensemble. Seemingly named for one of the instrument names on Casiotone keyboards.
Track listing:
- to my mr. smith
- jeane, if you're ever in portland
- toby, take a bow
- it wasn't the same somehow
- hey eleanor
- half ghost
- calloused fingers won't make you strong, edith wong
- blue corolla
- casiotone for the painfully alone in a yellow t-shirt
- students for scarves & charm
- roberta c.
- attic room
- giant
- twinkle echo
Sources:
http://www.tomlab.de/artists/cftpa.html
http://www.livejournal.com/users/cftpaforever
thanks to conform for additional information