Even though Brighton‘s psychedelic pop collective TOY (2012-2021)
were once on the brink of hitting the indie top; unfortunately, it did
happen. Maybe because it was a pretty dark act, maybe too dark for
many.
They released 5 LPs and were overwhelming on stage,
which I experienced 3 times, taking my breath away.
I frequently go back to their masterpiece track/single DEATH & GONE from their 2012 debut longplayer. It’s
a jaw-dropping psych stunner. Really mindblowing.
This live version is triple ACE!
They blow your mind with a
bone-chilling finale.
Yesterday lost album TOY by the late genius DAVID BOWIE was released
and today The Thin White Duke would have turned 75 (born 8 January 1947).
Happy B. Bowie!
TOY was a record Bowie wanted to release in 2001, but didn’t see the
day of light at the time. The LP leaked in 2011, but wasn’t followed by
an official release until yesterday.
The late hero recorded the LP after Glastonbury 2000 with his live band at
the time, featuring songs he originally had put on tape between 1964-1971
The idea was to capture a live-in-the-studio feel and drop the album by surprise.
But for technological problems, it didn’t happen and Bowie started working on
the 2002 Heathen album.
Mark Plati (musician/producer/songwriter) who produced Toy together with Bowie: “Toy is like a moment in time captured in an amber of joy, fire and energy. It’s the sound
of people happy to be playing music. David revisited and re-examined his work from decades prior through prisms of experience and fresh perspective — a parallel not lost on me as I now revisit it twenty years later. From time to time, he used to say “Mark, this is our album” — I think because he knew I was so deeply in the trenches with him on that journey. I’m happy to finally be able to say it now belongs to all of us.”
In addition to the standalone Toy release, also an expanded edition called Toy: Box featuring all sorts of alternate takes and mixes plus B-sides, is
available. More info here.
The Daily Mail (English newspaper): “The most striking thing is the sheer verve of the performances. Toy was made in the weeks before Bowie’s wife, Iman, gave birth to their daughter, Lexi, and the singer, on a roll, is the energetic hub of a band featuring Garson, guitarists Earl Slick and Mark Plati, bassist Gail Ann Dorsey and drummer Sterling Campbell.” Full review here. Score: 4/5.
A record Bowie wanted to release in 2001 but stayed in a box on a shelf.
Although it leaked already in 2011, an official release is now planned for 7th January 2022, the day after the Thin White Duke‘s birthday.
The late hero recorded the LP after Glastonbury 2000 with his live band at
the time, featuring songs he originally had put on tape between 1964-1971
along with the then-new closing track ‘Toy (Your Turn To Drive).’ The idea was
to capture a live-in-the-studio feel and drop the record by surprise. But for
technological problems, it didn’t happen and Bowie started working on the
2002 Heathen album.
Mark Plati (musician/producer/songwriter) who produced Toy together with Bowie: “Toy is like a moment in time captured in an amber of joy, fire and energy. It’s the sound
of people happy to be playing music. David revisited and re-examined his work from decades prior through prisms of experience and fresh perspective — a parallel not lost on me as I now revisit it twenty years later. From time to time, he used to say “Mark, this is our album” — I think because he knew I was so deeply in the trenches with him on that journey. I’m happy to finally be able to say it now belongs to all of us.”
In addition to the standalone Toy release, also an expanded edition called Toy: Box featuring all sorts of alternate takes and mixes plus B-sides, will
be available. More info here.
Ahead of the release comes this taster. A radio edit of the
track You’ve Got A Habit Of Leaving. An upbeat Bowie swinger.
Hands up if you like these ten stunning tracks as much as I do. Ten standout performances that send shivers down my spine, ten goosebumps crackers I can listen to any moment of the day, ten stunners I heard for about 1 million times, and will countless times again in the future.
Here’s why…
1. Dead & Gone’ by TOY (UK)
Smashing psychedelia with a mind-blowing finale…
2. ‘I Am Mark E Smith by FAT WHITE FAMILY (UK)
One of the best live bands of the past 10 years…
3. ‘Chlorine’ by THE DISTRICTS (Philadelphia, PA)
Overwhelming passion, towering intensity…
4. ‘Despair’ by YEAH YEAH YEAHS (US)
Gorgeous pop queen Karen O at her very best…
5. ‘Baby I Call Hell’ by DEAP VALLY (California, US)
Kick-ass blues rock frenzy by two utterly cool ladies…
6. ‘Common People‘ by PULP (UK) Jarvis Cocker‘s orgiastic performance leads to spectacular euphoria…
7. ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony by THE VERVE (UK)
Fist-pumping anthem…
8. ‘Laid’ by James (UK)
No festivals this year, but this is my ecstatic alternative…
9. ‘Fried My Little Brains’ by THE KILLS (UK/US)
I’m in love with Alison Mosshart, she does my brains in…
10. ‘Rocks’ by PRIMAL SCREAM (Scotland)
The steamy ripper The Rolling Stones never wrote…
Album: ‘SONGS OF CONSUMPTION‘ – a collection of eight covers of amazing songs by legendary artists such as The Stooges, Soft Cell, The Troggs, Serge & Charlotte Gainsbourg
and Pet Shop Boys
Released: 15 November 2019
What the band says: ” ‘Songs of Consumption’ sonically is a continuation and development
of the themes conceived on ‘Happy In The Hollow‘ (note: Toy’s fourth proper LP released last January) and it will show people where we are going towards musically. The DIY approach was explored further utilizing more of the electronic elements that we touched upon before. Drum machines, stripped down arrangements and rudimentary production give a primitive sound that we thought suited the choice of songs. Some of the songs have very big sounding production, so we wanted to experiment with them by going in a different direction.
What TUTV! says: The imposing splendor of this covers LP lays in the airy, spot-on, no special effects balance of the sound showing the real heart and soul of each and every track. The pristine instrumentation, Tom Dougall‘s wistful and fragile vocals, the dismantled orchestration and untarnished production give the songs a scintillating tone that causes spine-tingling and glowing joy.
Last January Brighton‘s psych-rockers released their fourth, highly praised album ‘Happy
In The Hollow‘ and the band will return soon – on 15 November – with an LP of covers, titled ‘SONGS OF CONSUMPTION‘. It’s an 8-song collection of unique interpretations of tracks which have inspired the band, then and now. All details on Bandcamp.
The band says about the new record: “‘Songs of Consumption’ sonically is a continuation and development of the themes conceived on ‘Happy In The Hollow’ and it will show people where we are going towards musically. The DIY approach was explored further utilising more of the electronic elements that we touched upon before. Drum machines, stripped down arrangements and rudimentary production give a primitive sound that we thought suited the choice of songs. Some of the songs have very big sounding production, so we wanted to experiment with them by going in a different direction.”
So far the group shared two tracks of the upcoming record…
– DOWN THE STREET –
(The opener of The Stooges 1970 album ‘Funhouse’)
TOY – Witlof Bar (Botanique), Brussels – 22 February 2019
Last month Brighton‘s psychedelic pop collective TOY released their glowing, critically acclaimed, 4th LP HAPPY IN THE HOLLOW. Their most engrossing achievement so far. The amazing thing about this band is that you can enjoy them in two truly different ways. On record, their songs have an overall atmospheric, bluesy and mind-exploring resonance and are best experienced on your headphones, late at night with the lights out and the world asleep. On stage the whole Toy dynamic changes drastically. The decibels go up
(way up actually), the intensity rises to an overwhelming level, the motorik drum/bass beats speed up your bloodstream and the intoxicating streams of hallucinatory waves touch you really physically.
Yes, every nerve and every muscle in your whole body moves in overdrive, especially when they switch to exhilarating jam modus on their classic oldies ‘Join The Dots’, ‘Motoring’ and most of all the monumental ‘Dead And Gone’, but the trance-like treatment works perfectly too for the steamy rippers ‘Jolt Awake‘, ‘Mechanism’ and ‘Energy’ off the new LP. During their more relaxed twilight meditations (‘Mistake A Stranger‘, ‘The Willo‘ and ‘Last Warmth Of The Day‘) you could catch your breath again but to be honest, every time they slowed down
I (and the crowd) couldn’t hardly wait to get the next electro Krautrock shock, to absorb the next guitars charged crescendo extravaganza and to lose ourself in the next glorious cacophony. Third time I saw TOY! Third time they nailed it and my ears still buzzing 15 hours later are proof of that! Memorable performance!
Brighton-based psych dreamers TOY have a follow-up LP ready for their notable 2016 album Clear Shot. The new one, titled HAPPY IN THE HOLLOW, will be out at the end of the month. Here, ahead of it, is fresh single MECHANISM. A sprightly pop crackerjack build around a repetitive electro beat that gets under your skin, slowly but surely. Addictively rhythmic and highly tantalizing. Drift away right here…
Brighton-based psychedelia explorers TOY are finally back, three years after their energizing, second, album ‘Join The Dots’. On new excellent LP CLEAR SHOT the band sounds bluesier, more introspective and contemplative than before. Floating, melodic journeys echoing late 80s shoegaze atmospherics, but still regularly injected with the band’s by now characteristic, haunting Krautrock trips. Last Saturday in Antwerp they proved (again), with glowing flare, why they are one of the most cutting live bands on the buzzing underground scene. On stage they create a trance like fantasy world colored with a mesmeric mix of gloomy pop reveries and extended, motorik psych jams that increase the flow of your body’s adrenaline spectacularly. They shift tempo and emotion in a truly overwhelming and hypnotizing way. I am completely addicted to their swelling escapades growing heavier and nastier with every second. Amplified, soul exploring electricity to get completely lost in. One word: breathtaking!…
