Every Wednesday, the ugly hug shares a playlist personally curated by an artist/band that we have been enjoying. This week, we have a collection of songs put together by Chicago-based songwriter (Advance Base, Casiotone for the Painfully Alone) and founder of Orindal Records, Owen Ashworth.

Over the years, Ashworth has helped define various niche communities that have found the vivid intimacies of his work to be crucially important to phases of their lives. The incongruent desires from lonely post grads throwing on an old Casiotone record, a group of parents suffering from where-has-the-time-gone-ism to the foresight of Advance Base, or the deep and cultured love for the quiet weirdos curated by Orindal that have shaped indie scenes all over the country – Ashworth has always held an edge to those shared experiences that bring these groups together.

When asked to put together a collection of songs for the ugly hug, Ashworth shares;

I don’t make many playlists. I am mostly an albums person. I am also a Tidal person, which means that I don’t have many people I can conveniently share playlists with anyway. A little while ago, when I was on a tour with my buddy Jake, Jake suggested that we make a playlist of our favorite songs for venues to play as the house music at our shows. Most of the songs on this playlist I originally selected for that Jake & Owen tour playlist. I remember how good it felt to hear this music that I love come on in a room full of people. It made the shows feel like parties that Jake & I were throwing night after night. It was a joy to share these songs then & it’s a joy to share them with you now.

You can listen to Owen Ashworth’s playlist on Tidal

Featured Photo by Jeff Marini | Written by Shea Roney