ALEATORY #20: Casiotone for the Painfully Alone

Owen Ashworth feels your pain.

This is probably why he records so many damn good songs as Casiotone for the Painfully Alone -- as perfect and descriptive a band name as there's ever been. Maybe you've heard his songs, or seen Los Campesinos! lead singer Gareth wear a CFTPA T-shirt in the documentary that came with the group's We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed album, or maybe you'll just see Owen at SXSW this year, or pick up his new rarities album Advance Base Battery Life on March 10th, or maybe even pick up his new new album Vs. Children in April. No matter what though, Owen's aesthetic -- after all these years -- remains almost exactly the same: plug in a keyboard, turn on the mic, and just play it baby. We feel for you.

Congratulations to both him and us: this Globecat's 20th Aleatory -- thanks guys.

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4. Favorite person to have worked with?

I used to work in a bakery with a woman named Kara who was really funny and great. we ate a lot of damaged baked goods together.

10. Favorite lyric?

I ain't no goddamn son of a bitch you better think about it baby

13. Favorite Shakespearean play?

Cats

14. Favorite sound?

Flute samples played in chords

15. Favorite exhibit or subject at the museum?

Wild animal taxidermy dioramas in natural history museums

17. Favorite plant?

I think it's a tie between kudzu and basil

39. What's something you could probably beat anyone you know at?

I don't mean to brag but I am very good at cribbage

40. What was your best/worst subject in school?

I took some anthropology classes in college that I did pretty well in. I never skipped my anthropology classes. I have never done very well with math. I skipped lots of math.

42. What's an image that haunts you to this day?

There was a picture of a dude who had done a mess of PCP and then cut off his face and fed it to his dogs. I saw it on the internet. I still think about it every once in a while and go "ugh" or "ack." Once you put something in your brain you can never take it out again, kids. Think twice before clicking those warning disturbing image links on www.snopes.com.

43. What's the road ahead look like?

It is covered with snow and hazardous

44. Something you've heard, know is false, but wish were true with all your heart?

I heard that polar bears hide their black noses with a front paw or leg when they hunt. This helps them blend in with the snow so they can sneak up on school children or seals or whatever. Sort of like a reverse negative Dracula. Polar Drac. I'm pretty sure this is not true but the image is too endearing and chilling to not want to believe in.

49. Now that you know a much larger audience will get to hear the music you've made, has your writing changed at all? How? What's changed and what's stayed the same?

Oh man I don't know. I think the biggest factor that has changed my writing has been my age. I get older and I think about different things so I want to sing about different things. Also, once you've written a song, you can't go around rewriting it forever so you actually have to come up with some different ideas every once in a while. I am averaging about thirty songs per idea these days.

54. So far in your career, what's been your proudest accomplishment?

Playing in Russia felt pretty nuts. I feel weird listing any names but there have been some people who I have been very proud to have met and shared mutual admiration with. Okay fine Tom Hanks.

57. Most rock star thing you've ever done?

I accidentally knocked all of my equipment off of a stage and the people in the front caught it and pushed it back upright. And everybody thought it was on purpose and some kind of cool trick. IT WAS NOT A COOL TRICK

63. Band/artist you're secretly envious of?

My friend Nick from No Kids because he lives in Canada and gets all kinds of amazing government grants to record expensive andfabulous sounding records. Also, because I would like to be able to play piano like him. I am pretty lousy musician and I am envious of lots of people's musical abilities.

67. Do you reach any kind of personal catharsis when it comes to songwriting/performing?

Yeah, I guess so

78. Your life has been reduced to a bumper sticker: what does it say?

NPR

92. Which venue are you dying to play but have not yet had the chance to?

I would like to play at the Warfield in San Francisco, CA. I saw Kraftwerk play there once and I hear it's haunted.

94. What's your hardest song to replicate live?

There are a few songs on my new record that were arranged for many more hands than I have. I haven't tried to play them live yet and I really don't know what to do with them. There are also plenty of old songs of mine that I just don't like to play because I just don't really like them anymore. I would find it hard to replicate those songs with any sort of sincerity, even though they aren't particularly difficult to play.

99. Licensing your music out to companies for TV ads: good or bad?

Shit I don't know. I haven't done it yet but maybe if I have a kid who needs braces some day I'll feel differently. You pick your battles, you know?

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Visit Casiotone for the Painfully Alone's website.

ALEATORY #18: Plants and Animals

Global warming aside, 2008 was good to Plants and Animals. Parc Avenue, their debut full-length (out now on Secret City Records: pick it up, friends) was shortlisted for the Polaris Prize (given to the best Canadian album of each year), and ranked very highly on many many other year-end lists. Somewhere in between gearing up for tour and getting lavished with praise, drummer/vocalist Matthew Woodley found time for us and filled out our eighteenth Aleatory. Many thanks to him, and to the rest of the flora/fauna of the band!

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1. Favorite word?
Hamburger

4. Favorite person to have worked with?
Sarah Neufeld

6. Favorite visual artist?/Favorite work of visual art?
Alex Usow (www.sharksandhammers.com)

8. Favorite author?/Favorite book?
Jonathan Lethem - Motherless Brooklyn

16. Favorite campfire story?
The one about the very horrific thing that actually happened very close to where we're camping tonight.

18. Favorite pick-up line?
Do you you work at UPS? Because I noticed you checking out my package. WHA!

20. Favorite new band?
Metro League

22. Favorite vice?
Sears Catalogue

27. Favorite chord/chord progression?
I'm more of a metric modulation guy. Partial to anything in D though.

28. What instrument would you most like to learn to play?
Piano

29. Who do you wish more people were listening to?
Katie Moore

39. What's something you could probably beat anyone you know at?
A whistling competition

48. Biggest moment of triumph?
Nova Scotia under-15 provincial fencing champion

65. Ever see yourself penning the score/soundtrack to a TV show or film?
Yes I do.

77. What was the hardest part about recording your current release?
Going to work in between.

81. If you could sync an album of yours to a movie (like Dark Side of the Moon and The Wizard of Oz), what movie would it be?
Anything with Danny DeVito.

90. Sexiest thing about you?
I have no neck.

95. Do you ever read your own reviews?
If it's critical.

96. The one thing that no one knows about you (yet)?
I'm saving up for a neck implant.

100. Even with the gradual decay of the B-side, most artists still have vaults of unreleased songs. What's in yours?
Less Danny DeVito, more Will Smith.

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Visit Plants and Animals' website.

ALEATORY #13: Pale Young Gentlemen

This is a first.

Here at Globecat, we receive e-mails all the time -- be it publicists, readers like you, or even band members themsleves: we happily sift through all of these, but something was quite different when Pale Young Gentlemen drummer Matt Reisenauer contacted us, eagerly discussing the second disc from his band's album Black Forest (Tra La La). We followed up on the lead, and soon found Black Forest to be a tragically beautiful album of indie-folk done right: dramatic without being theatrical, touching without being self-serving. Ripe with cellos, acoustic guitars, and singer Mike Reisenauer's pointed vocals, this is the kind of disc that will sound just as good five years from now as it will when you pick it up later this month. Yes, this is the first time we've featured an artist who has contacted us instead of the other way around, but, really, this is the first band to contact us who genuinely deserves to be on our Aleatory wall. Mike R. takes this opportunity to gladly discuss re-recording radio interviews, the big spoiler he knows about wolf packs, and how Rufus Wainwright gave one of the worst concerts he ever saw ...

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20. Favorite new band?

Our old bass player (Andy Brawner) left the band to work on his own stuff. He released an album called "A Sun Goes Down" as Time Since Western that is amazing.

27. Favorite chord/chord progression?

Any half-diminished chord. Most chords/chord progression have a lot of baggage- they're hard to make your own- but these things add a lot of nuance, I think, so ended up using them a lot on the new record.

30. How many languages do you speak?

One and a half. For some reason, I remember a lot of the Spanish I learned in middle and high school. Or at least I think I remember it. Or at least nobody I knows more than I do and feels alright correcting me.

32. Best thing you learned this week/month?

I saw a thing on PBS about the origin of dogs and how they split from wolves. I won't ruin it for you, but a nicely done show.

36. Lyrics first or music first?

Same time. Back and forth. Like two young boys trying to outrun each other.

39. What's something you could probably beat anyone you know at?

I'm really good at trying to be funny.

40. What was your best/worst subject in school?

Who cares?

42. What's an image that haunts you to this day?

Once I saw a dog get hit by a car as I was pumping gas, a springer- spaniel, I think. It was very dramatic from start to finish.

44. Something you've heard, know is false, but wish were true with all your heart?

That people still listen to entire albums. I wish we were limited to 8-track players sometimes. Make everyone listen to the whole side at least.

45. What's the best lie you've ever told?

My brother and I used to be clowns with my dad. We'd perform skits and tricks on the street. This is totally true. Anyway, fooling another person with a magic trick has to be the most pleasant, guilt-free lie possible.

48. Biggest moment of triumph?

I think I'm still waiting for this one...

57. Most rock star thing you've ever done?

When I was six, my mother told me to take my little garbage can up to my room. I paused and said "No you". My mom reacted in such a way that has prevented any more rock star moments.

60. What's the worst show you've ever played? What would you have done different?

Once we played a show as a three-piece that was all-the-way embarrassing. Christ, we really should have rehearsed. I still regret it.

63. Band/artist you're secretly envious of?

Anybody that's actually making a living at this.

68. Favorite interview you've ever been a part of (aside from this one, obviously)?

We did an interview once for a local radio station that was being taped for a later airing, but the interviewer forgot to press record for the first 40 mins. of it. It's not a terrible thing to lose 40 minutes, but it is weird to re-answer the same questions and try to seem genuine. We ended up with a big inside joke we couldn't share with the audience.

69. There's got to be one: who has been your craziest fan?

We had a fan in Chicago once that wanted to pay us a hundred bucks to play "Clap Your Hands" again. We didn't do it, but maybe we should have.

84. Most disappointing concert you ever attended?

I once saw Rufus Wainwright at the Barrymore Theater. I think I remember wanting him to shut up and play the songs. The whole thing seemed kinda cheesy or something.

87. Ultimately, you will want to be remembered as …

Somebody's dad who wrote some nice songs.

96. The one thing that no one knows about you (yet)?

I am a fantastic cook and I'm really great at driving cars.

97. Your label wants to do a music video for a song off your album, and have inexplicably procured $1,000,000 as a budget, then decide that you'd best direct the visual accompaniment to your own music. What song do you choose, and what will your video look like?

I'd keep the money, split it with my band, and have my dad shoot it for free. I'd probably want to do "Kettle Drum" or "She's All Mine, I Think" because I've always pictured those songs taking place on my dad's property in rural Wisconsin.

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Visit the Pale Young Gentlemen's website.

ALEATORY #11: The Vivian Girls

You can learn a lot about a band by their name. Xiu Xiu takes theirs from a depressing Chinese film about a sad girl and the eunuch who loves her. Menomena is named after a popular skit on the Muppet Show, later picked up by Dr. Pepper. Robert Allen Zimmerman, known for his poetic folk songs -- and better known as Bob Dylan -- took his stage name from Dylan Thomas. There are bands named after songs (Pretty Girls Make Graves, Radiohead), after art (Modest Mouse comes from a Virgina Woolf story; Steely Dan is the name of a sex toy in William S. Burrough's Naked Lunch), and medieval torture devices (Iron Maiden?).

The Vivian Girls take their name from outsider artist Henry Darger's 15,000-page fantasy novel (single spaced, and not including the hundreds of drawings and watercolors illustrating the text) entitled The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion. Famous in underground art circles, The Realms of the Unreal follows the seven Vivian Girls as they suffer under the evil Glandelinians as martyrs. It is unknown which chapter is devoted to them learning to combine the fuzzy haze of shoegaze, punk's lo-fi aesthetics and the harmonies of girl groups like the Shangri-Las, but with 15,000 pages to wade through, it's got to be in there somewhere.

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3. Favorite key to write in?

Almost every Vivian Girls song is in the key of C or G. I like those keys on the guitar cause there's a lot of cool stuff you can do with open chords.

9. Favorite song to start/end a mixtape with?

I have problems finishing mixtapes. I usually just do a little more than half of it and give up. The last mixtape I made started out with "I've Had It" by Catatonic Youth.. sooo good.

17. Favorite plant?

Palm trees, cacti, really anything that reminds me of the desert or the beach.

22. Favorite vice?

Smoking cigarettes.

28. What instrument would you most like to learn to play?

I think it would be really cool to be a good drummer. That's one of my lifetime goals, to learn drums. It's gonna take a while.

39. What's something you could probably beat anyone you know at?

Having a VHS collection of bad high school movies from the 80's and 90's.

41. If you could go anywhere in the universe, where would it be?

I used to think that I'd go on a commercial flight to the moon someday but that seems really scary to me now. I'd probably go to Alaska and then Hawaii if I could go anywhere, cause those are the only 2 US states I still haven't been to.

48. Biggest moment of triumph?

One night I was out at a bar and playing darts with my friend Tim. Neither of us are particularly good at darts or knew how to score a game of darts so after a few weird rounds Tim said, "Okay, next person to get a bulls eye, the other person has to buy them a drink." I agreed, and then threw the dart at the board and it landed in the center! Tim was dumbfounded and then I threw the next dart and it landed in the center AGAIN! So needless to say, he bought me a drink that night.

49. Has your writing changed ever since you realized that you know that an larger audience will get to hear what you've made? What's changed/what's stayed the same?

I don't think so. My personal writing style and Vivian Girls' style as a whole have both changed a little as we've grown older / been in our band longer. But it's not even that much of a difference, just little things like paying more attention to certain details. I don't think we even care about the whole larger audience aspect. We just wanna make music that we like.

50. What's your religious tradition or background?

I was raised Catholic until I was in 4th grade, when my mom started taking me to the Unitarian Church. Then I stopped going cause I didn't really care. Most of my family is still Catholic, though. My uncle is like the most zealous bible thumper. It's insane.

55. You're curating a festival. If you could choose any two bands to open for you, who would they be?

Umm, I don't know if they'd be opening for us. I would like to open for the Wipers and Billy Joel. Is that crazy? I don't care. That would rule!

60. What's the worst show you've ever played? What would you have done different?

It was in July 2007 at Mauled By Tigers Fest. EVERYTHING went wrong. I was drunk and in a bad mood to begin with, and the basement was SO SWEATY AND HOT. Katy dropped her pick during our set and as she picked it up she hit her head really hard on this low pipe. Then the pipe started leaking all over us. The PA kept turning on and off, and so did our amps. It was a wreck all around. Also it was only the 10th show we ever played or something.

64. Weirdest promotion you've been a part of?

I don't think any?? Mountain Dew offered us some money to be on some weird compilation CD but we didn't do it?

70. What is a personal belief you hold that you would fight for to the death?

All of us really hate drugs. Like a lot. They're scary and they ruin a lot of peoples' lives.

71. How well do you feel your music lends itself to remixing or being covered?

Ninja Sonic, this rap group from Brooklyn, did a remix of "Tell The World" which actually sounded really good last time I heard it. I've never thought about what someone covering our songs would be like but I'm sure it would be interesting.

75. Very first song that you ever wrote?

The first song I wrote on guitar was called "Julian," it was about my 8th grade crush. It went "Julian, oh Julian, you are so very fine, and Julian oh Julian I wish that you were mine." So bad! I remember I got my first guitar and the first song I learned was "Doll Parts" by Hole and then I wrote "Julian" like 5 minutes later.

80. Worst run-in with the law (to date)?

When Katy and I were pulling an all-nighter driving from Chicago back to New York in June, we got pulled over twice in an hour. That sucked. Clearly you can tell how wholesome our band is considering this is the worst run-in with the law we've had.

82. Current pop song that you would file under "guilty pleasure"?

Miley Cyrus - "See You Again" RULES. We listened to it so much in the car on tour.

86. With Radiohead's In Rainbows release and Nine Inch Nails doing boffo business with his online releases, do you see yourself ever doing some alterative kind of release for any of your future projects?

We're planning on putting out a 7" ourselves - like recording, mixing, and getting it pressed all on our own. That's basically it though.

88. What's your deepest source for musical inspiration?

Ex boyfriends. Bad dreams, bad vibes. Crushin' hard on dudes. Songs on the radio.

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Visit the Vivian Girls' website.

Visit the Vivian Girls' MySpace.

ALEATORY #5: Eef Barzelay

When Clem Snide covered Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" for the EP of the same name, few would expect that such a bloated power ballad could be done as an effective song that was as earnest as it was forceful. Yet Eef Barzelay is one to always upset expectations, his backwoods indie-ballads always peppered with sharp pop culture observations that intertwine with his ever-present heartbreak (just listen to his solo track "The Ballad of Bitter Honey" to hear the best song ever written about a rap video girl's tormented life). With Lose Big, Eef's second solo album (third if you count his Rocket Science soundtrack), the former Clem Snide frontman shows that constant touring has only made his skills sharper, and that few acoustic balladeers are as witty, cunning, or genuinely affecting as Eef Barzelay, the subject of Globecat's fifth Aleatory.

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2. Favorite board game?

Sorry.

3. Favorite key to write in?

C

8. Favorite author?/Favorite book?

The Bible by God.

11. Favorite music video?

Madonna -- Papa Don't Preach

23. Favorite natural oddity?

My heart.

24. Favorite historical time period?

The time between the wars.

25. Favorite historical figure?

Tupac.

29. Who do you wish more people were listening to?

Tupac.

35. What's the best place you've randomly discovered while on tour?

Miss Tracy's Study Butte Cafe near Big Bend, TX.

39. What's something you could probably beat anyone you know at?

Grinding my teeth.

44. Something you've heard, know is false, but wish were true with all your heart?

That there is god.

50. What's your religious tradition or background?

Raised by Jewish atheists.

57. Most rock star thing you've ever done?

Playboy radio.

62. Your favorite song that you've done so far?

"Collapse" [from] End of Love [by] Clem Snide

65. Ever see yourself penning the score/soundtrack to a TV show or film?

Done and done.

70. What is a personal belief you hold that you would fight for to the death?

Freedom of thought.

76. Dream collaboration?

Little Jimmy Scott.

79. Best concert you've ever been to?

Little Jimmy Scott at Birdland, New Years Eve 2001.

84. Most disappointing concert you ever attended?

Whitesnake, Meadowlands 1986.

86. With Radiohead's In Rainbows release and Nine Inch Nails doing boffo business with his online releases, do you see yourself ever doing some alterative kind of release for any of your future projects?

Pay it forward, yo.

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Visit Clem Snide's website.

ALEATORY #4: Yelle

Yelle is not your typical female eletroclash-loving Parisian rapper. Then again, the phrase "female electroclash-loving Parisian rapper" doesn't get kicked around much these days. With an attitude that could out-sass Lily Allen and a fashion style that virtually defines "retro-chic", Yelle has proven herself a force to be messed with. Although the notion of a dance-pop chanteusse rapping entirely in French may seem uncommercial, Yelle's eye-popping, colorful, and flat-out crazy music videos have turned her into a YouTube sensation, logging tens of millions of hits (no joke) and truly breaking down any and all language barriers with her unique sense of fun. Labels notice these things, and earlier this year, Yelle's debut album, POP UP, got a digital release here in the U.S.

Yet during her schedule of touring, junkets, and making more delicious music video eye-candy, Yelle had time to take part in our fourth Aleatory, showing a love of dog snores, a dream of working with Dave Gahan, and having "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" played at her funeral ...

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1. Favorite word?

Putain (fuck).

3. Favorite key to write in?

Be alone.

4. Favorite person to have worked with?

GrandMarnier.

12. Favorite band when you were in high school?

Take That!

14. Favorite sound?

When my dog snores.

30. How many languages do you speak?

Just two: French and English.

31. Other than musician, what career would you most enjoy?

I would love to be a cook.

36. Lyrics first or music first?

It depends; no rules.

39. What's something you could probably beat anyone you know at?

Make grimace.

45. What's the best lie you've ever told?

I’m a bad liar but certainly something for miss[ing] school.

51. What are you currently obsessed with?

I always check if the door is closed 3 or 4 times before leaving my house.

72. A few years ago, Beck gave an interview for SPIN in which he lamented the glut of reality TV shows and blogs about musicians, wanting to know less details about their life because he felt they were more mysterious that way (he liked to envision Devo as living in a crazed art-deco pyramid when he was young, instead of just some guys in a tour bus). Do you feel that there's a lack of mystique out there for musicians in today's YouTube age? Do you feel your band carries any mystique?

I don’t know cause I think we must live in our generation and [be] OK with YouTube, MySpace, [and the] internet in general. But I think you can [have] mystique and have something mysterious around you; it’s not a problem. I come from Brittany and for Parisians, it’s bizarre ...

76. Dream collaboration?

Dave Gahan.

86. With Radiohead's In Rainbows release and Nine Inch Nails doing boffo business with his online releases, do you see yourself ever doing some alterative kind of release for any of your future projects?

Yes I think. Today [it] is complicated to be a musician and to live off your music but we can find solutions and stuff to change relations with the public.

89. You just died. I'm sorry. Fortunately, your will states that you want very specific music to be played at your funeral. What did you choose?

"Girls Just Want to Have Fun," Cyndi Lauper.

91. Which single album should be in everybody's home?

Mine!

92. Which venue are you dying to play but have not yet had the chance to?

I don’t know; maybe in a hot air balloon.

93. Longest show you ever played? What was different?

Maybe it was in Paris in May: [on] a special night, I had [to] sing with Alain Chamfort, a kind of french dandy, good producer, famous in 80’s cause he worked for Lio, and with Gainsbourg at the beginning of his career. It was very cool!

96. The one thing that no one knows about you (yet)?

Nothing.

99. Licensing your music out to companies for TV ads: good or bad?

Maybe bad cause I think TV is not the good way [to] make people love your music, but [through] live show[s], I think concerts are the key.

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Visit Yelle's website.