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INFORMATION ABOUT HUSSALONIA

WHAT IS NEFARICO™?

Nefarico™ is an international soap company that purchased Hussalonia in 2011. One of the stipulations of this ruthless, corporate buyout was that the Hussalonia Founder was disavowed use of their birth name in association with Hussalonia. Nefarico™ regularly interferes with the creative output of Hussalonia, imposing its corporate will upon The Hussalonia Founder. As such, Hussalonia has released two albums of soap jingles (see here and here) and Nefarico™ Soap Operas, an EP of radio dramas, all thinly-veiled commercials for Nefarico™ soap products. Click here to visit the Nefarico™ Website.

WHY DOES HUSSALONIA CALL ITSELF A CULT?

It is a matter of semantics. People often use the term "band," or simply "group" to refer to a conglomerate of musicians who write music together. But in the traditional sense, Hussalonia is neither a band nor a group; Hussalonia is mostly the work of one person – The Hussalonia Founder.

 

In the early 2000s, as the music industry struggled to compete with illegal downloading, The Founder became somewhat disillusioned with the increasingly crass commercialism of music. Bands, desperate to market themselves without the aid of record labels, began using social-networking websites to promote themselves. This created a culture of desperation, as thousands of bands struggled to get noticed in an increasingly vast sea of unknown musicians. The Founder's decision to begin using the word "cult" was made in an effort to be distanced from this somewhat sad and pathetic culture of music marketing. This coincided with The Founder's decision to cease active promotion of their music.

 

Hussalonia's music is not easily defined by one genre. The Founder has released acoustic-based albums, electronic-influenced albums, power-pop-influenced albums, a metal album, albums with robot singers, albums of soap commericials, and an album of experimental sound collage. Using the word "cult" is an act of liberation from the confining restrictions that the word "band" can be burdened with. Though the word "cult" is a somewhat exotic (if not humorous) way to describe a musical project, it is really no different than the modern day concept of a "band" or "group." Think of your favorite band and reconsider them a cult. Like a cult, every band has a "founder" as well as loyal followers. One can argue that the idol worship of pop stars and/or bands sometimes exceeds the fanaticism one might expect from a cult. The only difference between the two words in relation to their meanings is the negative connotation "cult" has when compared to the rather benign word "band." It is the founder's love for words and their complex relationship to our lives that finally confirmed his status as a cult founder.

 

Finally, phrases like "cult following," "cult status," or "cult success" are often used to describe artists who enjoy levels of success below the radar of mainstream culture. The Founder has historically been most fond of artists who enjoy this type of underground success. And so it is with a certain sense of self-deprecation that the term "cult" was embraced. Hussalonia, with its esoteric projects and unpredictable trajectory, has been preordained for a type of cult-status success ordinarily relegated to the world's most misunderstood artists.

HOW MANY ALBUMS DOES HUSSALONIA HAVE?

This is a tricky question to answer, as a number of early titles have been deleted from the catalog, while early singles and EPs were absorbed into the Miscellonia series of compilation albums. Further, because of short song lengths, what one calls an album, another might call an EP. An easier way to answer this question is that Hussalonia has over 500 songs registered with BMI and over 50 unique titles available for download on Bandcamp. You should visit our DISCOGRAPHY page for more information.

DOES HUSSALONIA TOUR OR PLAY LIVE SHOWS?

No. Over the years, The Hussalonia Founder has sporadically played a small number of live shows in their hometown of Buffalo, New York, but they do not enjoy performing the way they enjoy writing and recording.

WHY DOES HUSSALONIA HAVE SO MANY SHORT SONGS?

 Answer by The Hussalonia Founder:

  1. As a listener, I love what a too-short song does to me. There's this feeling of, "What just happened?" It's exciting and also a little confusing, like an amusement park ride. And isn't that entertainment? People will stand in line for hours just to experience 45 seconds of pleasure. The engineers who design these thrilling devices know this: it is better to be unsatisfied than it is to be dissatisfied.

  2. To me, there is no greater experience than wanting more of something. Again, 'tis better to be unsatisfied than dissatisfied! It is what propels us forward in our lives. In the larger picture, there are so few moments that we wish we could prolong. So in these treasured moments, there is also a note of sadness. Desire and sadness. I want to capture that in my music.

  3. The shorter the song, the more mysterious it can be. It's gone before you can truly get a chance to know it. And no matter how many times you play a short song, it seems (at least to me) to retain its mystery.

  4. Short songs add a sense of urgency. I want the listener to get the feeling that my songs have some important business to attend to and there just isn't time to dilly dally around with long intros or choruses senselessly repeating.

  5. Finally, there is the old showbiz adage, leave 'em wanting more. Of course this doesn't account for the sheer volume of my short songs. Whatever.

CAN I USE A HUSSALONIA SONG IN MY INDEPENDENT FILM/ART PROJECT/YOUTUBE VIDEO?

Probably. Just contact us and ask. Most releases are published under a non-commercial Creative Commons license. Please note that remixes will not be possible as The Hussalonia Founder erases all masters once they are mixed.

WHAT DOES THE NAME HUSSALONIA MEAN?

The name was taken from a series of stories written in Polish by the Founder's grandfather. It is a country, a family, and a cult. The name significantly implies the word "alone" in the center, yet the "onia" suffix suggests a republic of people. The stories were intentionally burned by his grandfather just before his passing.

Yes, and here they are.

 

POP DOES NOT MEAN POPULAR:
The phrase "pop does not mean popular" refers to the etymology of the phrase “pop music” and its discordance with our contemporary perceptions of the word. “Pop” was initially an abbreviation for “popular,” distinguishing the lowbrow music of commoners from the respected, highbrow music of the wealthy, such as classical or sacred music. From the 1940s to the 1960s, the term “pop music” became increasingly linked with the music of teenagers – beginning with crooners like Frank Sinatra and then eventually rock and roll, beat music, R&B, and the music written by the Brill Building songwriters. Today, people often link the term “pop music” with the fabricated, overly-produced sounds of top 40 singers. Historically, the term “pop music” denoted popularity, but it also connoted lowbrow, mainstream tastes. An enthusiastic appreciator of popular culture, The Hussalonia Founder resents this division between high and low culture. The fact of the matter is this: hundreds of thousands of bands/songwriters who make what we call “pop music” will forever toil in complete obscurity. They will never be popular, and in this sense the term “pop music” can be a misnomer; it has nothing to do with popularity. In fact, pop music may even display an inverse relationship with mainstream tastes. It is with this rich meaning that The Founder embraces the term “pop music” to describe what they do.

 

BALANCE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION:
We live in an era of heightened consumer culture, an era in which we are constantly subjected to advertisements. Even our most intimate interactions with friends and family on social media are mottled with sponsored posts and brash messages revealing which of your friends have “liked” some department store or chain restaurant. Greater consumption of goods, services, and content seems to be everyone’s ultimate goal. But what of production? There was a time when people built instead of bought. There was a time when, if you wanted to hear music, you had to play it on an instrument yourself. Today, so much has been prepared for us, and made so readily accessible, that it can seem outright foolish to do-it-yourself. But imagine filling your car’s gas tank, only to let it idle in your driveway, awaiting its next fueling. This is how most people live: consuming movies and songs and print content, only to leave their minds idle, awaiting more content. Embrace the DIY ethic! Don’t just take — make! Contribute to the ageless ecosystem of ideas! In order to make worthwhile art, one must study (or consume) the art of others. But to only consume others’ ideas, and not generate your own, is a kind of intellectual gluttony. The Hussalonia Founder lives his life actively trying to balance production and consumption. They consume books and movies and music to stimulate the production of their own music, hoping that it will, in turn, inspire others to produce their own works of art. It’s a beautiful reciprocal cycle, one that you, too, can join!

 

 

FOLLOW THE MUSE BLINDLY:
The Hussalonia Founder recognizes that they have created something unwieldy, something somewhat difficult to explain to the newcomer: the cult, the soap company, the countless albums of jingles and robots and metal and folk and lo-fi pop and sound collage. In this way, he’s guaranteed himself a life of artistic obscurity. What of it? For them, art is a form of therapy, a way to cope with stress and anxiety and depression, a way to sort through memory and tell stories, a way to have fun and preserve one’s inner child. It’s a personal journey, not a marketing strategy. To confine this journey to something palatable for mass-consumption is a kind of artistic suicide. The Founder believes in seeing artistic whims to their logical conclusion, no matter how unfavorable or alienating the result may be to the outsider. Like a person walking around with a divining rod, they will go wherever their artistic impulses take them, for art will reveal the truth, if you will only let it.

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What else do you want to know?

IF HUSSALONIA IS A CULT, DOES IT HAVE ANY GUIDING BELIEFS?

Hussalonia is largely the work of one, prolific, multi-instrumentalist, home-recording artist known only as The Hussalonia Founder. Sometimes they create concise, literate, art-pop in the spirit of ‘60s beat and record-store-clerk-indie-post-punk-singer-songwriter-whatever-ness. Other times, they create conceptual art. Rarer still, they create visual art. The Founder was born on the seventh of June in 1976. They live in Buffalo, New York with their partner, author Janet McNally, and their three daughters.

 

Here is a list of instruments that The Hussalonia Founder has played on Hussalonia recordings (some better than others): voice, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, baritone guitar, banjo, ukulele, bass, drums, percussion, piano, synthesizer, accordion, harmonica, clarinet, flute, violin. 

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Below is a list of musicians who have graciously contributed to Hussalonia recordings:

 

DRUMMERS

  • Rob Lynch (Deep in a Donut Dream, My Dead Tooth, Hussalonia Versus Time, Public Domain EP, Phil, Miscellonia, Live in Allen Hall, NONDUM IN AUGE)

  • Matt Barber (Matt Barber Hussalonia, Miscellonia, Steely Danielle)

  • Erik Wild (Beautiful Dry Cleaning By)

  • Naryan Padmanabha (Miscellonia)

  • Rich McCarthy (Marsupial Garamond Hussalonia, Glass Houses)

  • Brett Essler (Miscellonia)

  • John Anderson (Nefarico™ Chalet)

  • Brandon Delmont (Hussalonia Feels Bad)

  • Fen Ikner (Catton Condy)

BASSISTS

  • Jonathan Hughes (Deep in a Donut Dream, My Dead Tooth, Date with Death, Phil, Hussalonia Versus Time, Public Domain EP, Miscellonia, Steely Danielle, Live in Allen Hall, NONDUM IN AUGE)

  • Joe Rozler: (Nefarico™ Chalet)

  • George Skaros (Miscellonia)

GUITARISTS

  • Joe Rozler (Miscellonia)

  • Mark Norris (Miscellonia)

  • Eric M. (Home Taping Is Killing Me)

  • Vic Lazar (Live in Allen Hall)

KEYBOARDISTS

  • Joe Rozler (Nefarico™ Chalet, My Dead Tooth, Nefarico™ Soap Operas, Hussalonia Versus Time)

SAXOPHONISTS

  • Dr. Michael DiGiacomo (Date with Death, Phil)

  • Aurora Bouvier (Mail Order Hussalonia, LABOR OMNIA VINCIT)

  • Tommy Stanford The Public Domain EP

TRUMPETERS

  • Don Jones (Public Domain EP)

VOCALISTS

  • Aurora Bouvier (Mail Order Hussalonia, Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Zoe Maya Kerflugidy (Nefarico™ Soap Operas, Phil)

  • Alex Armstrong-Skorma (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 1 & 2)

  • Mark Norris (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 1 & 2)

  • Samantha Cochrane (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 1 & 2)

  • Edreys Wajed (Nefarico™ Soap Operas)

  • Terra Bialy (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 1 & 2)

  • Toby Berg (Nefarico™ Soap Operas)

  • Eloïse Kimberley (Nefarico™ Soap Operas)

  • Peter Hurst (Nefarico™ Soap Operas)

  • Juno Grey (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Dr. Michael DiGiacomo (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Charlie Crane (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Greg Beaton (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2, Make Like a Tree and Appear to Die)

  • Jessica Collins (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • SwagLordOwW (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Little Cake (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Marlene Bellissimo (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Eric Schuman (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Fen Ikner (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Steph Brown (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Fred Ikner (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Desmond Shaggs (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Rob Milton (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • @angailthegreat (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Alice Himora (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Maritza Rodriguez  (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Will Bjorndal (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Peter Bjorndal (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Tim Alexander (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Gerald Thomas (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Dee Pumford (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Monica Davis (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Lunafreyava (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Mark Longolucco (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Scott Kellerman (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Stephen Knowles (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Dr. Graham Stowe (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Angela Mi Young Hur (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Crowjane (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Dr. Mick Cochrane (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • The Hussalonia Founder's Three Children (Nefarico™ Soap Operas 2)

  • Janet McNally (Public Domain EP, Nefarico™ Soap Operas 1 & 2)

  • Jonathan Hughes (Know Your Eastern European Anthems)

  • Rob Lynch (Know Your Eastern European Anthems)

  • George Skaros (The Public Domain EP)

WHO IS HUSSALONIA?

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