April 19, 2002

6:41 AM

A little plastic toy piano discovered at a flea market becomes the focus of Twink, the whimsical all toy band. Listen to or download the slightly surreal, sugary and surprisingly complex mp3s to hear the piano and the accompanying toys; hurdy-gurdies, musical saws, busy boxes, speak 'n spells, squeaky toys and giggle sticks. The happy-go-lucky yet vaguely sinister "Hoppity Jones" is a personal favorite. Twink is the brainchild of Mike Langlie, icon maker extraordinaire at Yipyop.
posted by iconomy (16 comments total)

That music is so cool!
posted by prototype_octavius at 7:06 AM on April 19, 2002

Also check out Pianosaurus "Groovy Neighborhood" available at finer used record stores eveywhere.

Amazon claims to have the CD and does have tracks to sample.
posted by donpardo at 8:00 AM on April 19, 2002

Hm. I expected twink.com to be something else entirely.

Cool music, though.
posted by crunchland at 8:06 AM on April 19, 2002

if you want to listen to real music played on all toy instruments, check out Self's album, Gizmodgery. Here's a link to amazon
posted by AaRdVarK at 8:53 AM on April 19, 2002

Freaky Deaky!! I love it. I used to have a Fisher-Price xylophone as a tot that I loved to bang on and drive everyone crazy with.

If you dig music on toy instruments you should check out Austin, Texas' resident savant Daniel Johnston who has been known to record toy piano as well.
posted by jonmc at 9:50 AM on April 19, 2002

I gotta trunk fulla amps mother-
like Glen Danzig :
"Muthaaaaaa!"

The Self song that made me laugh for a good two months straight.
posted by dong_resin at 9:53 AM on April 19, 2002

and if you want to get back to the roots check out the latest copy of the wire for an article on steve beresford, who's been rocking the all-toy band concept since the 70's.
posted by afro at 10:00 AM on April 19, 2002

like freddy mercury :
mother

a third for Self.
posted by carsonb at 10:12 AM on April 19, 2002

For LA MeFi'ers... Jon Brion makes some beautiful music... occasionally on a toy piano... when he plays at Largo. Good stuff. Good times.
posted by thebigpoop at 10:39 AM on April 19, 2002

Also of interest are John Cage's Works for Piano, Toy Piano, and Prepared Piano. Margaret Leng Tan is well known for being a Toy Pianist, as evidenced from her CD, The Art of the Toy Piano.
posted by panopticon at 10:55 AM on April 19, 2002

Still can't beat Mr. Pinback Rob Crow's bizarre sideproject Optiganally Yours. Of course, Optiganally Yours has nothing on Pinback, so I guess this was really just a promotion for Pinback.

Sorry
posted by saladin at 1:05 PM on April 19, 2002

Orchestral Manoevres in the Dark used toy piano (albeit sampled) and a speak and spell on Genetic Engineering in 1983. It's from Dazzle Ships, a fine, rather experimental (for a pop group) album from well before they had any lousy American hits. ()
posted by dmo at 3:56 PM on April 19, 2002

Forgot to mention that Optiganally Yours covered Genetic Engineering!
posted by dmo at 4:05 PM on April 19, 2002

Upon rereading this thread I noticed mention of the "musical saw." It made me remember that one of the best alt-country albums ever More A Legend than A Band by the Flatlanders makes copious use of the musical saw(straight-faced) throughout.

Just thought you'd like to know.
posted by jonmc at 4:07 PM on April 19, 2002

What the hell is a 'giggle stick'?
posted by obiwanwasabi at 6:24 PM on April 21, 2002

It's a plastic tube with a small cyinder that slides up and down in it that contains what is in effect a toy larynx. It makes a groaning sound as it slides down and air is pushed through the "larynx", or a kind of gigling or chuckling sound if you wiggle it back and forth. They're cool annoying.
posted by rodii at 6:54 PM on April 21, 2002