The Orange Spotlight

Leah Angstman No One Gains Weight in the Shoulders (Propaganda Press, Jan. 2009)

What we need as a nation is someone who is willing to shout, to push, question and demand, even if it is in a subtle way. In her latest collection, Leah Angstman does just enough to show what I would call creative courage. She tempers her anger with images from her life, tiny observations as she travels through the country and around her neighborhood. When seen in this light it blends together, her political rants and her views on the lives around her. Many of the pieces in this collections take place in the Spring of 2008, and she sets a scene an anxious hopefulness which almost seems foreign this Spring. She alludes to a sense of impending danger, but still remains somewhat conscious of the message of hope and change.

She really sums up the emotion of a nation in this line, "we are pretty fragile now/clumsy eggshells weakened by/the season's cold/but weakened more by the/future's humidity perching us as sloths/so high up in a tree we cannot/possibly know what policies/matter down there on the ground" (The Eager Spring of Politicking). Through out the collection Leah balances that sort of biting commentary with subtle and striking observations on life in general.

Aside from the content, I really like the size of this collection, pocket-size, it seems convenient and compelling. I'm not sure why, but I had always preferred the portability of the size book. Regardless of your motivation, you should check out the latest from Leah Angstman and all of the book from Propaganda Press.

Casiotone For The Painfully Alone Vs. Children (Tomlab, April 7th)

Owen Ashworth is a sad man with a sad sound. He utilizes retro sound, and a voice that is not quite right to cut through the issue, the pain, the heartache, we all face on a daily basis. He's got a formula, and on his fifth full-length album , Vs. Children, he really puts this formula to the test. He writes mini case study about folks in his head, and as their stories wind and unfold you nearly lose yourself in his simply Casio-laced melodies.

When I saw the video for the album's single White Jetta I was blown away, not just by the artistic nature of the video, but the creative sounds Owen was making. However, as I listen through the rest of Vs. Children it doesn't seem like the same effort and attention was paid to each song. Through five albums Owen has managed to take a sound that was brilliantly lo-fi and inventive and turn it into a repetitious parade of sadness. Their is still a certain level of creativity in Owen's music, but he has simple lost a bit of that magic.

Vs. Children (Tomlab)
Casiotone For The Painfully Alone Vs. Children/Tom Justice, The Choir Boy Robber, Apprehended At Ace Hardware In Libertyville, IL/Optimist vs. Silent Alarm (mp3)/Natural Light/Traveling Salesman's Young Wife Home Alone On Christmas In Montpelier, VT/Man O' War/Northfield, MN/Killers/Harsh The Herald Angels Sing/You Were Alone/White Jetta