Hussalonia is a benevolent pop music cult owned by Nefarico™, a soap company. Founded in 1997, and with well over 400 original compositions available, Hussalonia operates under the following beliefs: balance production and consumption, follow the muse blindly, and pop does not mean popular.
EVENTS THAT HAPPENED OR WILL HAPPEN
HUSSALONIA RELEASES FREE ALBUM AVAILABLE BY MAIL ONLY
23 May 2018
Harkening back to the days when most business and correspondence was conducted through the postal service, Hussalonia has released an album of ten new songs that will be available exclusively through mail order. To get the album, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope (S.A.S.E.) to Hussalonia, P.O. Box 504, Buffalo, New York 14217. No payment is required. In 2-4 weeks, your S.A.S.E. will be returned with a signed letter from The Hussalonia Founder and an official Hussalonia membership card with a download code for the new album — Mail Order Hussalonia, featuring saxophone and backing vocals by Aurora Bouvier.
Listen to a single from the album here or at most digital retailers (Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay etc...).
HUSSALONIA INSTRUMENTALS APPEAR IN THE HYPHEN PROJECT
11 March 2017
Canadian filmmaker Gabriela Warrior Renaud used a number of Hussalonia instrumentals in "The Hyphen Project," a 2016 short film that follows her journey to making Hyphen, a forthcoming feature-length documentary which "explores cultural identity by sharing stories and experiences of mixed-race Canadians."
The short film uses instrumentals from the Hussalonia albums slefless [sic] and OMG LOL WTF.
"The Hyphen Project" was featured on CBC's Absolutely Ottawa program can be viewed by Canadians here. The rest of the world can view it here.
THIRD PARTY CLAIMS COPYRIGHT ON PUBLIC DOMAIN EP
22 July 2013
In 2006, Hussalonia released a 4-song EP called The Public Domain EP. While it is not legally possible to release an original work directly into the public domain (a work enters the public domain 70 years after the death of the author), the Hussalonia founder claimed to do so as glib commentary on the contemporary worries surrounding copyright law and artist royalties. The Hussalonia founder also wanted to encourage other artists to use his work royalty-free. The project was a sucess. Songs from The Public Domain EP regulary appear in student films and YouTube videos without fear of copyright infringement.
Until now.
A third-party company has recently placed a copyright on the songs and re-released the EP under the name Royalty Free Rock Music. The album makes no mention of Hussalonia anywhere in the liner notes, instead crediting the music to the "Roaylty Free Institute." Now when video artists wish to upload videos to YouTube containing songs from The Public Domain EP, YouTube's copyright algorithm tag the songs as owned by The Royalty Free Institute, forcing the user to take down their video or add a link to the Royalty Free Rock Music page on Amazon.This should come as no surprise, as Amazon's vanity label CreateSpace started selling the CD in 2009 for a mere $11.99 - not a cent of which will go to Hussalonia. (Please don't buy it!)
When contacted for comment, the Hussalonia founder said, "This is what happens when you try to say that no one can own something; someone says they own it."
The Public Domain EP remains a free download at Archive.org.
HUSSALONIA ALBUM AVAILABLE AS LIMITED EDITION CASSETTE
16 September 2013
Home Taping Is Killing Me is Hussalonia's latest collection of concise and raucous songs in a power pop/pop punk tradition. Hope for the Tape Deck is releasing a limited cassette edition of 100. The cassettes are professionally duplicated, high-bias, chrome cassettes. The J-card features liner notes not found online and a coupon for Nefarico™ washing goggles.
HUSSALONIA ON WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE
16 September 2013
We are thrilled to announce that "Never Be Famous" by Hussalonia appears as the "weather" in episode 31 of Welcome to Night Vale, a podcast that follows the spooky on-goings of a fictitious Arizona town via a faux-public radio broadcast. At this writing, Welcome to Night Vale is the most downloaded podcast in the US, Canada, Australia, and It's #3 in the UK. According to Wikipedia, each episode enjoys approximately 150,000 downloads. This will, without a doubt, be the largest audience Hussalonia has ever reached.
But what of it? The Founder has never been one to care about reaching the masses. No, he's excited beyond description because he's a huge fan of this highly literate, poetic, absurd, surreal, existential, and often hilarious ode to old-time radio drama.
Listen to and download the episode here or on iTunes.
THE HUSSALONIA FOUNDER APPEARS ON FLASH FORWARD
01 June 2016
The Hussalonia Founder was recently interviewed by Rose Eveleth, host and producer of the clever and impossibly smart podcast Flash Forward.
Each episode of Flash Forward speculates a hypothetical future in which science or technology has changed our way of life. The Hussalonia Founder was enlisted for episode 14, “Popnonymous,” to ponder a future in which all pop stars use avatars (robots, clones or holographic cartoons) to face the public. The Founder also discusses the existence of Nefarico™ and why he publishes his work somewhat anonymously.
Flash Forward is part of the Boing Boing podcast network. It can be downloaded on iTunes or streamed here.
THE HUSSALONIA FOUNDER PARTICIPATES IN THE ONLINE INDENTITY PROJECT
26 July 2016
The Hussalonia Founder was recently interviewed by Virginia Streit, creator of The Online Identity Project, an online not-for-profit project that explores the impact of digital cultures and online environments.
In the interview, The Founder discusses the fluidity of identity, the insidious prevalence advertisements and music’s relationship to digital technology. Among other things, he says, "The problem that the Internet creates is that we are forced to create a one-size-fits-all version of ourselves, a virtual 'you' that mingles with your friends, family, co-workers and — if you’re an artist — your audience. That can be difficult (or impossible) to do."
You can read the full interview here.
THE HUSSALONIA FOUNDER CONTRIBUTES MURAL TO ART ALLEY, NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK
22 October 2016
The Hussalonia Founder comes from a long line of art school drop-outs who have abandoned the visual arts for music. So when Niagara Falls artist (and occasional Hussalonia drummer) Rob Lynch asked The Founder if he’d be interested in contributing a 10’ x 6’ mural to a public arts project called Art Alley, he was thrilled to return to his painting roots. In the summer of 2016, the Hussalonia Founder painted the “Art Alley Cat,” a pugnacious feline that reflects art’s simultaneous drive to invite and confront its audience.
Art Alley, which is now open to the public, features 19 murals from area artists and can be found at 425 3rd Street, Niagara Falls, New York, 14301.
HUSSALONIA FOUNDER TO LEAD A SONGWRITING WORKSHOP
21 March 2019
The Just Buffalo Literary Center is now offering writing workshops for adults and has asked The Hussalonia Founder to lead one on songwriting. The workshop is titled "It’s Only a Paper Moon: a Songwriting Workshop for Everyone." With equal measure paid to lyrics and music, songwriters will leave with the analytical tools to better refine and focus their own writing, while the non-writing song lover will leave with a greater appreciation for the magic that makes songs work. Though the workshop will occasionally get a little technical, no songwriting experience or musical training is required. The workshop will culminate in the collaborative re-writing of a pre-existing pop song.
This one-time-only, two-hour workshop will happen on May 14th, 2019 from 6:30-8:30 PM at the Just Buffalo Literary Center, 468 Washington St, Buffalo, NY 14203. The cost is $40 for general admission and $30 for Just Buffalo members.
Click here for more information and to reserve a space in the workshop.
HUSSALONIA IS ARTIST OF THE MONTH ON STEREO HYSTERIA
02 February 2013
Stereo Hysteria is a fantastic podcast fashioned towards discerning music nerds like yourself. The current one-hour episode is entirely devoted to Hussalonia! Podcaster Charlie Crane conducted a telephone interview with the Hussalonia founder last week, portions of which appear throughout the episode. The Hussalonia founder gives this his stamp of approval — Nefarico™ be damned! Listen to the full episode for free here.
HUSSALONIA MUSIC IN "CHASING WOLVES IN TRANSYLVANIA"
05 April 2013
Have you ever wanted to hear a Hussalonia song in a short film about German punks looking for wolves in Transylvania? If so, then your dream has come true. Team Wolf, a group of German punks, won the Adidas "all Originals represent" contest and documented their quest to find wolves in the mountains of Transylvania. The result is the12-minute short film "Chasing Wolves in Transylvania."
Hussalonia's arrangement of Romania's national anthem Imnul de Stat from 2010's Know Your Eastern European Anthems can be heard about three-and-a-half-minutes into the film as the German punks commune with a Romanian farmer and his family.
View the film for free here.