O, Casiotone For The Painfully Alone! How I once laughed at your band
name and assumed that you were some emo wuss unworthy of my
hard-hearted attentions!
That all changed one day in college, when I heard your song "I Have
Mice" and realized your life and mine were inextricably intertwined. Truly, we are fellow travelers in this world of scummy kitchens and renegade rodents.
As I lay awake in my crumbling, infested Baltimore rowhouse, I took
solace in your song, heartily identifying with those wrenching
lyrics: "Sometimes at night I watch the mice across the kitchen floor/
I used to think that they came from the fireplace/ But they come in
under the pantry door/ They get so close I could touch them all."
Amen, man. A-FUCKING-MEN. We used to think that they came in from
the pantry, but they came in from behind the oven.
Slowly, all of my roommates grew obsessed with the song. One of us
went so far as to make a mouse's eye view music video for the
song and turn it in for a film class. I should mention that I really
wanted to include that video in this article, but the auteur has
decided that it's not up to his high standards of excellence and will
not allow me to post it. He got what the kids called "a gentleman's
C" in that class. I'm sure Casiotone himself, reportedly a film-school dropout, would understand.
These days, I'm more into "Don't They Have Payphones Wherever You Were Last Night" (can I get another AMEN????) from 2006's Etiquette (Tomlab), but "We Have Mice" earned Mr. Casiotone a permanent place in my heart.
I would tell you all about how I also identify with certain songs by
tour headliners Xiu Xiu (who will continue to play shows after the Casiotone stint), but I'm afraid that would scare the shit out of you.
I used to think that they were touring in Europe, but they're actually
touring in the United States:
