Published by Mattoon Gasser Music (ASCAP)

Mastered by Dan Coutant at West West Side Music.

Design by Matt Urlaub.

tracklist:

1. Station Wagons 2. Station Wagons (Renegade of Noise Remix) 3. Should Be Home (Milieu Radio Edit) 4. Hey, Bumblebee 5. Station Wagons (T-Bone Mix by Caustic)

buy [...]]]>

release year: 2010 label: WTII Records All songs written by L. Casteen (ASCAP) Published by Mattoon Gasser Music (ASCAP) Mastered by Dan Coutant at West West Side Music. Design by Matt Urlaub. tracklist: 1. Station Wagons 2. Station Wagons (Renegade of Noise Remix) 3. Should Be Home (Milieu Radio Edit) 4. Hey, Bumblebee 5. Station Wagons (T-Bone Mix by Caustic) buy now: iTunes

Posted: Wednesday, November 28, 2007

By: Matthew Johnson, Features Editor

Electro-pop meets Spaghetti Western on this unexpected delight of a debut album.

Cowboys and analog synths? Two great tastes that don’t taste so great together, right? Wrong. The Qualia’s Lars Casteen is a synthesizer geek to be sure, but judging by his debut album, he’s also [...]]]> From regenmag.com -

Posted: Wednesday, November 28, 2007

By: Matthew Johnson, Features Editor

Electro-pop meets Spaghetti Western on this unexpected delight of a debut album.

Cowboys and analog synths? Two great tastes that don’t taste so great together, right? Wrong. The Qualia’s Lars Casteen is a synthesizer geek to be sure, but judging by his debut album, he’s also got more than a little Wild West romance in his heart. Opening track “Nevada’s Greatest Man” kicks off with a twang of Ennio Morricone-inspired guitar before launching into a mid-tempo electro-pop ballad about a robot cowboy, but don’t mistake Casteen’s Wild West fascination for mere quirk; the songwriting on this album is too solid for a novelty act, and the lyrical themes of hard deserts and harder men are sincere, if unexpected from an electronic artist. “Better” is a grim tale of betrayal and revenge set to a deceptively upbeat drum pattern, and the quietly determined “Center of the Solar System” is a subtle meditation on the homesteader’s loyalty to community (and, by extension, the distrust of outsiders). It’s not until the final track, the edgier and harder-hitting “Stakes,” that Casteen plainly spells out his fascination with the Wild West romanticism – warts and all – that informs the rest of the album: “People had it easy in the days of wind and dust / Although there were some incidents that some might call unjust.” Despite the tumbleweed and whiskey imagery throughout Nevada’s Greatest!, The Qualia’s music is more suited to ’80s dance club than ’50s honky-tonk, and once the initial shock of Spaghetti Western flourishes wears off, it becomes apparent that whatever else The Qualia may be, it’s also a solid electro-pop outfit. “Just a Thimble More” pans sampled guitar tones across the stereo channels under Casteen’s wistful vocals, and “I Feel Sick” pulses electronic drumbeats beneath classically-inspired pianos. There’s a warmth in Casteen’s music that sets The Qualia apart from the crowd though, thanks to pop-flavored guitar strums on such offerings as “Two Complaints” and instrumental “The Waste,” and then there’s “Motorcar,” an unlikely and seemingly unwieldy seven-minute pop epic that draws on everyone from They Might Be Giants to Brian Wilson. Even without the cowboy metaphors, Nevada’s Greatest! is an endlessly fascinating blend of pop influences, unpredictable and unexpected, yet somehow familiar at the same time.

I really have to learn to not judge an album by its cover. For the longest time now I have put off reviewing this album because of two things: a.) The main sentence on the promo slip says “The Best Pop Record Ever”. For an underground webzine, seeing the phrase “best pop record” [...]]]> From heathenharvest.com -

I really have to learn to not judge an album by its cover. For the longest time now I have put off reviewing this album because of two things: a.) The main sentence on the promo slip says “The Best Pop Record Ever”. For an underground webzine, seeing the phrase “best pop record” can be a nightmare, if not nearly traumatizing. One always forgets that there are different styles of pop music though, and not all of them are something you’ll hear on MTV. b.) The front cover. To me it resembles something a hardcore band would put out. I’m not sure why the album cover came off to me this way, but I know i’ve seen a number of odd covered hardcore albums since starting here and they’ve all had a similarity to this one. However, despite these two reasons, I am an idiot. The Qualia’s debut, “Nevada’s Greatest!” was actually a fairly interesting and mellow trip through a strange style of synthpop.

As the name suggests, the album has an oddly “Western” appeal to the sound. Not Western as in country-based, but as in cowboy western. Solo artist Lars Casteen began his music career in the EBM / Industrial scene. After a few low budget demo releases, he decided to take a direction towards more overall soundwriting while still keeping his synth-esque roots incorporated into the music, which has created a very new sound. Its probably the nearest that you can come to true pop music while still having a dancey atmosphere. I applaud this greatly because thruthfully I felt EBM had long overstayed its welcome and didn’t have many more places to go with its music in a tasteful manner. The only two bands to impress me in the last year or so with this sound were in fact The Qualia and Psyclon 9, both being on very opposite ends of the genre.

For those not familiar with what a qualia is (as I know I had never previously heard the term until receiving this release), wikipedia states: “Qualia” (IPA: [?kw??li?]) is “an unfamiliar term for something that could not be more familiar to each of us: the ways things seem to us”[1]. They can be defined as qualities or feelings, like redness or pain, as considered independently of their effects on behavior and from whatever physical circumstances give rise to them. In more philosophical terms, qualia are properties of sensory experiences.

Whether qualia exist is a hotly debated topic in contemporary philosophy of mind. The importance of qualia in philosophy of mind comes largely from the fact that they are often seen as being a possible refutation of physicalism. Much of the debate over their existence, however, hinges on the debate over the precise definition of the term, as various philosophers emphasize or deny the existence of certain properties.”

A very interesting philosophy indeed, and it does suit the ethereal atmosphere that is created within. It also needs to be said that nearly every song on this album is a radio hit waiting to happen. There isn’t a song that isn’t incredibly catchy and unique in its own way. The lyrics and thought structures are all inventive as well as the overall atmosphere that Lars seeks. Even the album artwork, as previously mentioned, is a tribute to Lars’ creative genius. So I guess the slogan on the press sheet was true…”Greatest Pop Album Ever” would probably indeed be a fact for many underground journalists considering its the only side of pop we can stand, and it has taken synthpop into an entirely different level. For lovers of VNV Nation and the like, if you’re looking for something a bit more laid back with a new style of atmosphere, give this one a shot.

The world of the electronic pop has not known any big revolutionary bands for quite some time. We even thought that this genre would remain like that until this day, when a group came out of nowhere to inject a new influence, a new idea; marry the e-pop with the country music and [...]]]> From side-line.com -

The world of the electronic pop has not known any big revolutionary bands for quite some time. We even thought that this genre would remain like that until this day, when a group came out of nowhere to inject a new influence, a new idea; marry the e-pop with the country music and the entire concept surrounding it. Lars Casteen, the man behind this project, was influenced as well by Front 242, Wolfsheim, Snog (not a surprise) and Erasure but also Johnny Cash, Hoyt Axton or Lyle Lovett. The result is this first album, “Nevada?s Greatest!?, which far from having pleased me, confirms that it was still possible to invent, to recycle a musical genre. http://www.thequalia.com/ (CX:6)CX.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again; one of the joys of Jewelboxing is getting to hear from artists, musicians, and filmmakers, and learning about their projects. This week, we had that experience when we received the debut record by The Qualia and got a chance to talk with band [...]]]> From Jewelboxing.com –

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again; one of the joys of Jewelboxing is getting to hear from artists, musicians, and filmmakers, and learning about their projects. This week, we had that experience when we received the debut record by The Qualia and got a chance to talk with band member, Lars Casteen and Max Fenton, who designed the album using our Standard cases. The music is fantastic, an eclectic mix somewhere between electro-pop and an Ennio Morricone score (fans of The Decemberists might also like to know that we think Lars sounds a lot like Colin Meloy). On the design side, the case follows the themes in the album, with terrific, worn illustrations and familiar woodtype. Here’s the whole scoop. First from Lars:

“We really wanted to make a record that worked conceptually without being terribly rigid, so we decided a good middle ground would be to give the record a setting; the desert. And to connect the songs’ styles, we integrated elements of country and pop. The record flows gradually from over-the-top stories of the old west to the more banal accounts of everyday life. One of our goals was to have each song have a distinctive feel that matched its subject matter, while letting the whole album feel cohesive. For example, ‘Nevada’s Greatest Man,’ is about a tall-tale-style cowboy who also happens to be a robot. It feels fairly big, dramatic, and aggressive. ‘Center of the Solar System’ is about the immoral, selfish conclusions about suburban living and feels like a radio-friendly, guitar-pop single.”

“People might be interested in the record if they like 80’s and 90’s synth pop, but wanted a greater sense of purpose from the music. The songs are hopefully fun to listen to, and if we’ve done our job, don’t feel fraught with pretension. But we aren’t really interested in making overly ironic or emotional dishonest music, either. When we’re recording a song about a home-built sports car that the protagonist drives into space to meet with angels, our tongues are certainly a bit in cheek, but hopefully we’re getting at something real too.”

And from Max:

“Lars and I collaborated to create a plastic, European design to both support the electronic nature of the music and make the most of printing inkjet onto matte paper. Bold colors, vectored drawings, and a narrative created by the movement of the sun from panel to panel. With that in mind, I treated each panel as a painting. Nevada’s state flag provided the banner and an abundant source of abstract shapes to color with. I chose Clarendon becuase it’s what my buddy Andrew uses for The Believer, a magazine as smart and meticulous as The Qualia’s album. All the rest was conversation, experimentation, and an openness to making changes.”

“Design work always has the possibility of going sour, but when you’re working with your best friend, you make sure that doesn’t happen. We live in different states and keeping our conversation open through phone and e-mail let us stay close, realize his vision, and make a demo that will have a serious shot at being heard. The Jewelboxing templates definitely gave me a running start and let me put my effort into design instead of those printing details that always go wrong.”

We know it’s only a matter of time before Lars gets this terrific album into the hands of a big label, and we’re glad to have been a part of their future success. Same applies to all those in Cincinnati, Laguna Niguel, Mayaguez, Pasadena, Atlanta, Brooklyn, Studio City, Oakland, Toronto, Dallas, Wilton, Thornhill, Chatham, Houston, Desert Hot Springs, Muncie, South Charleston, Shawnee, Madison, Castle Rock, New York, San Diego, Sicklerville, Ann Arbor, St. Augustine, Culver City, Bozeman, and Berlin.

April 24, 2006 03:11 PM

I friggin’ hate MySpace. But, it does have its upsides–as a means of getting my music Out There for the enjoyment of others, it’s quite convenient. And, conversely, it also allows me to discover a great variety of new, unsigned or independent, acts…some of which have proven to be so good [...]]]> From That’s My Motherfucking Jam!

I friggin’ hate MySpace. But, it does have its upsides–as a means of getting my music Out There for the enjoyment of others, it’s quite convenient. And, conversely, it also allows me to discover a great variety of new, unsigned or independent, acts…some of which have proven to be so good that it astonishes me they’re not more well-known.

A perfect example is The Qualia (official homepage), a unique outfit consisting of multi-instrumentalist L. Casteen and assorted others. Their music is a catchy combination of synthpop rhythms, folky acoustic guitars, spaghetti-western reverb, and witty lyrics. Their first album, Nevada’s Greatest, is self-described as “The best pop record about robotic cowboys, advanced physics, revenge, drinking, desert battles, automobiles, narcissism, suburban sprawl, and hope EVER”–and, truly, it does live up to that description! The tunes are evocative of bare Nevadan landscapes of the near future, prowled by cyborg gunslingers and gigantic sentient trucks running supplies from one walled desert oasis to another. Songs vary from lush to spare, danceable to mournful, and display a lot of diversity and talent. The only arist/album that comes close to this kind of electropop experimentalism is NASA’s masterful Remembering the Future (from which The Spacing Guild Guide to Good Music takes its slogan), and, like NASA, The Qualia have managed to perfectly capture that essence of “music of the future from the past.” Many of the songs are evocative of “futuristic music” from the early 1980s, like Gary Numan, Kraftwerk, and Afrika Bambataa–yet they’re still very fresh and the production is exquisitely modern. I can’t recommend them highly enough.

The Qualia are signed to indie electronic label WTII Records, home of such awesome synth stars as Beborn Beton, Stromkern, and La Floa Maldita. You can order Nevada’s Greatest and listen to some further samples of their music here.

friggin’ hate MySpace. But, it does have its upsides–as a means of getting my music Out There for the enjoyment of others, it’s quite convenient. And, conversely, it also allows me to discover a great variety of new, unsigned or independent, acts…some of which have proven to be so good that it astonishes me they’re not more well-known.

A perfect example is The Qualia (official homepage), a unique outfit consisting of multi-instrumentalist L. Casteen and assorted others. Their music is a catchy combination of synthpop rhythms, folky acoustic guitars, spaghetti-western reverb, and witty lyrics. Their first album, Nevada’s Greatest, is self-described as “The best pop record about robotic cowboys, advanced physics, revenge, drinking, desert battles, automobiles, narcissism, suburban sprawl, and hope EVER”–and, truly, it does live up to that description! The tunes are evocative of bare Nevadan landscapes of the near future, prowled by cyborg gunslingers and gigantic sentient trucks running supplies from one walled desert oasis to another. Songs vary from lush to spare, danceable to mournful, and display a lot of diversity and talent. The only arist/album that comes close to this kind of electropop experimentalism is NASA’s masterful Remembering the Future (from which The Spacing Guild Guide to Good Music takes its slogan), and, like NASA, The Qualia have managed to perfectly capture that essence of “music of the future from the past.” Many of the songs are evocative of “futuristic music” from the early 1980s, like Gary Numan, Kraftwerk, and Afrika Bambataa–yet they’re still very fresh and the production is exquisitely modern. I can’t recommend them highly enough.

The Qualia are signed to indie electronic label WTII Records, home of such awesome synth stars as Beborn Beton, Stromkern, and La Floa Maldita. You can order Nevada’s Greatest and listen to some further samples of their music here.