Orindal

CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE- Twinkle Echo ORD-80

Vinyl reissue release date: August 9, 2024

“Never has electronic music sounded warmer or more human than Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. Owen Ashworth uses equipment that could be considered antique (SK-1 or MT-100 models of Casio keyboards) to provide a humming, squeaking, buzzing backdrop for his tales of pained love.”

That was taken from the 2003 press release for Twinkle Echo, the third album I made under the name Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. Originally released on German electronic label Tomlab Records, Twinkle Echo has been out of print for nearly a decade, slowly building a cult audience from a new generation of DIY & indie music enthusiasts, thanks in large part to the album’s availability on streaming services. I’d previously reissued vinyl editions of two later Casiotone for the Painfully Alone albums (2006’s Etiquette & 2009’s Vs. Children) on my own label, Orindal Records, but I had some hesitation about reissuing Twinkle Echo, partially because its hyper, overdriven sound felt so far removed from the music I make now with Advance Base, & partially because this music came from a difficult period of my life that I just didn’t care to revisit. I’ve finally come around to the idea, thanks to the encouragement of some old friends & new listeners.

Twinkle Echo is a rawer & more lo-fi affair than the later Casiotone releases, with its fourteen brief, abrasive electronic pop tunes performed almost exclusively on the cheap, battery-powered synthesizers that gave the project its name. (The album itself is named for a preset voice on one of those Casios.) Made between 2001 & 2003 as I moved between various rented rooms & movie theater or record store jobs in the Pacific Northwest & the San Francisco Bay Area, Twinkle Echo was recorded piecemeal whenever friends would offer to help me record a few songs or just loan me their 4-tracks. I spent my free afternoons searching swap meets & thrift stores for Casios & I wrote my songs around the keyboards’ preset drum patterns & synth voices, filling notebooks with lyrics about heartbreak, loneliness & life’s other little tragedies. I had the support of some wonderful friends throughout this period of my life, but I suspect I also had undiagnosed anxiety & depression, & making music was the way I made sense out of the confusion in my head. The hyper drum machine tempos in these songs matched the speed of my racing thoughts & the blown out Casios mirrored the angst & frustration of my mid-twenties. I was writing with an imagined audience in mind, hoping that others experiencing similar confusion would find some comfort in these songs. I’m proud of the music I made back then, even if it’s difficult for me to listen to now, & I’m grateful that so many people have connected with these songs over the years.

The new vinyl edition of Twinkle Echo features the original artwork by Heidi Anderson on an extra heavyweight, reverse board jacket, plus a recreation of the original handwritten lyric sheet. The vinyl was pressed here in Chicago by Smashed Plastic from new lacquers cut by Matt Barnhart at Chicago Mastering Service. For the first time ever, Twinkle Echo is now available on color vinyl, as well as classic black, just like the original edition.

Here’s something I said in a 2003 interview about the songs from Twinkle Echo:
"Although my songs are mainly fiction, I think they are in some way documenting the lives of people not too different from me. I like to think of [my songs] as tiny, honest tragedies in the lives of fairly average young people. I hope that they are stories that people can relate to."

Here’s something Julianne Shepherd wrote for the Portland Mercury around the same time:
"The beauty of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone is in the dichotomy. It's just one person named Owen, and he writes extremely endearing pop songs about love and crushes on Casios and other thrifted/dumpstered keyboards. What keeps it from being cloying is partially because he's so remarkably earnest and shy onstage. Mostly, though, Casiotone rocks because of his utter disregard for sound quality; it seems as if he takes joy in forcing the audience to listen to the buzz of static and other piercing noises randomly presenting themselves in front of his cute melodies. It's extreme--really sweet and fucked up at once--both lo-fi and caustic. He may be a situationist genius."

So, here is Twinkle Echo, for anyone who had been waiting for it & for everyone who has yet to discover it.

Thanks for reading & thanks for listening.
Owen Ashworth

Tracks

  1. To My Mr. Smith
  2. Jeane, If You're Ever In Portland
  3. Toby, Take A Bow
  4. It Wasn't The Same Somehow
  5. Hey Eleanor
  6. Half Ghost
  7. Calloused Fingers Won't Make You Strong, Edith Wong
  8. Blue Corolla
  9. Casiotone For The Painfully Alone Is A Yellow T-Shirt
  10. Students For Scarves & Charm
  11. Roberta C.
  12. Attic Room
  13. Giant
  14. Twinkle Echo

Pressing Information

2024 VINYL REISSUE
Super high quality, 140 gram vinyl LP with full color labels packaged in an extra heavyweight, reverse print, full color jacket with original album artwork by Heidi Anderson. Package includes 11x11 risograph-printed lyric sheet. 14 tracks, 30 minutes.

350 copies pressed on Corolla Blue semi-transparent vinyl
200 copies pressed on Classic Black vinyl

Vinyl reissue pressed by Smashed Plastic in Chicago, IL. Lacquers cut from Jim Reitzel's original 2003 master by Matt Barnhart at Chicago Mastering Service.