Owen Ashworth began making music in San Francisco after dropping out of film school in 1997. Utilizing cheap keyboards, primitive electronic sounds, synths and frank, often spoken lyrics, Ashworth caught people's attention for his sheer audacity in creating a bedroom lo-fi style of music that few people were making at the time. Calling himself Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, Ashworth began performing and releasing albums to mixed acclaim. Though his blunt quirkiness was too much for many people, Ashworth amassed a cult following, and while considered one of the pioneers of the lo-fi movement and imitated many times, no one has ever managed to successfully recreate his style.
