Apostle of Hustle, Memphis, Ola Podrida

 

First of all, I’m sorry I haven’t kept up with this blog. Excuses excuses blah blah blah.

Anyway, last night I saw a concert so incredible that I just had to write about it.

I’ve been a fan of Ola Podrida for a while now after learning about them from one of the many music blogs I frequent. I fell in love immediately with their lush, hypnotic sound. David Wingo (a film composer who has designed the scores for Snow Angels, Great World of Sound, and other movies) fronts the band, along with four of his friends, including Andrew Kenny of American Analog Set.

They sounded much better live than recorded, if that is even possible. They opened with “Photo Booth” and followed with the lovely “Jordanna.” Their songs are folky and twangy and made the crowd close their collective eyes and just sway along with the notes. They finished with “Cindy”, my very favorite.

Next up was Memphis, a band I wasn’t as familiar with. They were very good too. Singer Torquil Campbell is also the frontman of the amazing band Stars, which I didn’t know until after they performed. Campbell is a very intense performer and really got into it.

While the two opening bands were awesome, the headliners Apostle of Hustle was amazing.

Photos here.

Emily Haines

Since I’m seeing Emily Haines on Jan. 12th, here are some Emily Haines songs, from her solo project, Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton,  and her other group Metric. This is mostly for Kales. Enjoy. These will only be available for two weeks.

Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton- Crowd Surf off a Cliff
Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton- Reading in Bed
Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton- Our Hell

Metric- Monster Hospital
Metric- Hustle Rose

& Purchase “Knives Don’t Have Your Back”

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone

I recently conducted an interview with Owen Ashworth of the one-man band Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. CFTPA is definitely worth a listen, as the Seattle Stranger notes that “CFTPA is the solo moniker for Owen Ashworth’s sentiment-soaked, deceptively simple keyboard pop–chronicling in straightforward vignettes the middling malaise of adult mediocrity.”

CFTPA- Young Shields
CFTPA- Bobby Malone Moves Home
CFTPA- Lonesome New Mexican Nights

Visit his website at http://www.cftpa.org

&& Purchase “Etiquette”

How did you come up with the title of your one-man band, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone? The “Casiotone” part is kind of self-explanatory, but how did you come up with “for the painfully alone”? Is that a self-descriptive title?
A lot of my favorite songs growing up were sad country and blues songs that my parents would listen to in the car or whatever. I liked the feeling a truly miserable, desperate, tragic, pathetic story gave me. Sad songs could be comforting in a way that happy songs weren’t. I liked the idea of there different music for different times and moods. When I started writing songs, I wanted to give other people that same sort of miserable and comforted feeling that my favorite music had given me. It only seemed fair to let people know they were getting themselves into, though. Casiotone describes the music, Painfully Alone describes the listener. If you’re in the mood for something cheerful, you should probably put on something else.

How would you categorize your music? I’ve seen labels from “indietronica” to the God-forbidden “emo”.
I don’t think I would categorize my music. That’s someone else’s job.

Why did you first start creating music?
I started making sound collages with a hand held tape recorder when I was 15 or so. It was a few more years before I tried to sing in front of anybody.