Casiotone For The Painfully Alone

***REISSUED!!! “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 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."—Owen Ashworth