Awwwwwww. Owen Ashworth, the man behind the brainy and moody Chicago synthy-indie outfit Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, is not favoring KC (or Lawrence or anywhere else in KS or MO, for that matter) on his upcoming summer tour. But at least we get some new music to console us in our grief.
CFTPA has two releases out this summer. The first, Advance Base Battery Life, is a collection of 7-inch split-singles and compilation tracks released between 2004 and 2007, most of which have never before been on CD. The second is Vs. Children, CFTPA's fifth studio album. Grab a sweet-sounding track from each below, courtesy of Team Clermont.
MP3: Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, "Old Panda Days" from Advance Base Battery Life
MP3: Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, "Optimist vs. The Silent Alarm (When The Saints Go Marching In)" from Vs. Children
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Click on my name for evidence of him liking Bryant's. That was the actual promo photo from that tour.
Ian, I was at Grand Arts in early 2008 to hear Owen Ashworth speak as part of an opening by artist and "provocateur" Laurel Nakadate. He had scored her movie Stay the Same Never Change, which was shot in KC and premiered at the gallery. It included new and previously issued Casiotone material, and the music was the only endurable aspect of the movie. Watching it without the music would have been like being drubbed with a pillowcase full of Vienna sausage tins until the tins opened or you did and the gallery floor was covered with cold viscera. Watching it with the music was closer to being smacked with the sausage already out of the cans, so, as with many experiments in art or music, it's all relative.
Both times I've seen him in Lawrence he's looked bored and miserable. I thought that was just his schtick, but then I saw him at SXSW and he was SMILING the whole time and looked like he was having fun. So maybe he just hates our little neck of the woods. Although I'm kind of sad because Vs. Children is the jam.
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