Sunday, April 6th brought indietronic melodist Casiotone for the Painfully Alone and Australian tour-mates Clue to Kalo to The Mink's Backroom.

Check out the review and pictures after the jump

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone

Clue to Kalo

The evening started off with local group Hearts of Animals, but due to prior commitments we did not get a chance to see them. Sorry! I have heard really good things about you guys too. Oh well, maybe next time. We walked into The Backroom half expecting a not-so-busy crowd, but surprisingly the upstairs room had already started to fill up. Clue to Kalo were on stage taking care of a last-minute sound check before starting the night off for Cereal and me. They jumped into their first song just a few moments later.

I was unsure what I was walking into with Clue to Kalo, but was instantly taken over by a bouncy pop-folk sound. Their set did not really impress me, which also seemed to be the opinion of others, but there were definitely a few moments that shined. Multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Mark Mitchell, Clue to Kalo's frontman and founder, used many different formats to bring his songs to life. I particularly enjoyed his dulcimer playing on several of their songs. A dulcimer is definitely not your ordinary, every-day instrument used in indie music. It added a new dimension to the dual keyboard/synth attack that most of CtK's songs involved. I also enjoyed the addition of female vocalist and keyboardist Ellen (last name?). My favorite moment of the night came when CtK covered Ellen's song "Too Slow" from her former band Birth Glow. Clue to Kalo could end up being pretty good, but for now, more and more touring should help them blossom into a much better band.

Clue to Kalo - "Too Slow"

I was not aware that Casiotone for the Painfully Alone had such a large fan-base in Houston, but that was quickly apparent when, after set-break, we were stuck towards the back of the room. After slipping through the crowd to make it up front, we were happily treated to a mix of heavy beats and the slow, almost spoken vocals of CFTPA, also known as Owen Ashworth. The stage set-up consisted of two mixing boards full of his bank of sounds and pre-made beats, as well as a Casiotone keyboard, the 80's second favorite keyboard (this being #1). He used every single button and knob on those boards, and damnit if he didn't use them well. CFTPA mixed lyrical stylings similar to the likes of Bright Eyes or Elliot Smith, and added really loud drum and bass grooves layered with several different noises and sounds. It all came together to form his own unique brand of indietronica.

CFTPA employs the help of many different guest vocalists on his albums, but tonight he was flying solo. This gave him the platform to show off his sense of humor as well as his music. As many great comedians do, Ashworth maintained a dialog with the crowd. He offered up several witty remarks about muppets, and confessed his love for Willie Nelson and Tegan and Sara. The crowd seemed to enjoy the banter as much as the musical portion of the show. After a short set that featured many of the songs off of his latest release Etiquette and a brilliant cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Streets of Philadelphia", CFTPA closed it out with "New Years Kiss". The crowd hollered for more, but Ashworth quickly left the stage to man the merch table. After paying my respects to both bands, we meandered towards the exit with the rest of the show-goers.

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - "Streets Of Philadelphia"

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - "Ice Cream Truck"

I cannot wait for the next time that Casiotone for the Painfully Alone makes it back to Houston. As the size of his fanbase in Houston is quite large, I expect that time to come quite soon.

Eggs' Rating: 7.3 yolks. For giving me a great show, five minutes from my house, on my day off.

Eat Your Damn Breakfast!

-Eggs