Toytronica

[strawberry daiquiri]

toytronica; a form of electronica made with toys and toy instruments

all the cool cats are crazy 'bout it
popping up all over the place... it seems i can't go to a gig without a box of colourful kids' things being pulled out with the amps.

probably the best examples of this are on Psapp's gorgeous albums [www.psapp.net].

Cocorosie [cocorosieland.com] are also experts at this.

It's also been done well by Tunng [tunng.co.uk] 'who here have balanced the bricolage of glitchy clicks, electronic tones, typewriter taps and sampled sounds with a phantasmagorical, fairy-tale songwriting approach that accentuates the music's folksy roots'

just a few examples of something that might take over the world when you least suspect!

 

[jennifer~]

...

ARC (Art Revolution Culture magazine Bianca plays the percussion parts on the album, including toys and other unconventional rhythmic objects. How were those sounds selected?
SC (Sierra Casady, of CocoRosie We actually found a lot of the toys in our neighborhood in Paris. At other moments we were doing the field recording. For example, we woke up and there was this incredible rainstorm. I was on the sixth floor of a tiny apartment that had a tin roof. You could hear the rain like crazy. "Tahiti Rain Song" was kind of built under that rainstorm, inspired by it. The weird rain sounds and wild beats were from holding different instruments out the window under the rain and recording them. So a lot of the sounds were based on our natural environment and the incidental sounds in our neighborhood.

ARC: Throughout the album there is a contrast of beautiful melodies and simple instrumentation with found percussion and sometimes noisy, seemingly random sounds. How did the experimental aspect of your songs develop?
SC: I think it's descriptive of the way our personalities and aesthetics are very contrasting. I come from a more traditional, classical background in some senses. Bianca has been a little more part of really progressive art forms, all different kinds of mediums, but really on the cutting edge, experimental side of things. I happen to adore experimental new classical music. It's been an inspiration to me. But what happened really was without thought and without intention and was simply based on pleasure.

...

ARC: If someone came to see one of your shows, what could they expect? Do you try to recreate the percussion and toy sounds?
SC: Yeah, all the same toys and the original percussion from Paris that we used. Bianca sings a lot more live. The other thing that's really different is that I sing opera from time to time. I'll have these strange, melancholic, gothic breakdowns where I rephrase the song in this kind of ethereal, operatic moment. I use my harp more live too. It's really fun and we're having a great time with it.

...

artrevcult.com

 

[strawberry daiquiri]

thanks for contributing... one in fifty thousand... i don't think those odds suggest a revolution any time soon.

 

[jennifer~]

thanks for contributing... one in fifty thousand... i don't think those odds suggest a revolution any time soon.

If you post it, I will come! You're welcome, and besides, what matters most to me is reaffirming my regard for CocoRosie...