Casiotone for the Painfully Alone
Advance Base Battery Life

This record left our Brian feeling happy.

Casiotone FTPA. Oh!... the sound of one lovelorn bearded fellow & his lo-fi acoustic/electro pop gems. Not much new to say about this man as I seem to get every fucking release he does just about & I've already waxed lyrical about how fond I am of his stuff! This latest 'Advance Base Battery Life' is a compilation of obscure singles, split sides & covers, that sorta thang. The second song 'Lesley Gore on the T.A.M.I show', sung by Jenny Herbinson, is just the most delightful thing i've heard this month, the prettiest, simple chord changes & the cutest, saddest vocal I could imagine, all bathed in this detached glow of heartfelt DIY genius. There's TWO Brucie Springsteeenie covers & his oddball deconstruction of Paul Simon's 'Graceland' to contend with, plus oodles of other quirky, melody rich tunes to make you feel all woozy & comforted. For such a simple set up, he has a very unique & personable sound - Wurlitzer organ in a wheelie bin wrapped in a crotcheted blanket - that you kind of treasure, like precious photos. Or a favourite pair of socks. He's that kind of guy. I reckon he's happier than he used to be because these songs radiate even more warmth through melancholia than before! CD/LP on the esteemed Tomlab, home of the talented & sideways inclined!

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What their label says...

From Kraftwerk to Leonard Cohen, The Smiths to Suicide, and Pet Shop Boys to Smog, Oakland California’s one-man musical army Owen Ashworth - a.k.a Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - has been bracketed with all manner of illustrious names in the course of his eleven year career.

But in collecting the 7-inch split-singles and compilation tracks he released from 2004-7 (all but two of them on CD for the first time), Advance Base Battery Life provides compelling evidence of the singular nature of this industrious film-school dropout’s talent.

If 2006’s sumptuously accomplished "Etiquette" was Casiotone For The Painfully Alone’s "The Queen Is Dead", this is his "Hatful of Hollow"  - a selection of formative fragments which add up to an utterly satisfying whole. In expanding his musical palette from minimal battery-powered electronics to include strings, flutes, tabla and pedal-steel, Ashworth has lost none of his miniaturist’s eye for detail.

Includes covers of Paul Simon’s "Graceland", Missy Elliott’s "Hot Boyz", and not one but two Bruce Springsteen tunes (each with the power to pluck at the heart-strings of even the most hardened Boss-sceptic) - soon reveal a beguiling internal logic.

Tracklist:
1. Old Panda Days (w/ Nick Krgovich) 2. Lesley Gore on the T.A.M.I. Show (version) 3. White Corolla 4. White on White 5. Holly Hobby 6. Lonesome New Mexican Nights 7. The Only Way To Cry 8. It’s A Crime 9. Missoula 10. Hot Boyz (w/ Dear Nora) 11. Born in the U.S.A. (w/ Concern) 12. Streets of Philadelphia (w/ Concern) 13. Graceland 14. Sunday St 15. Voice of the Hospital

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