Gizmodgery

An album from the pop/rock group, Self.

Released in September of 2000, Gizmodgery is a considered by most to be a musical breakthrough. Using nothing but kid's toys, Gizmodgery moves from break-beat pop, to old-school alternative, to classic 50s rock-n-roll. Matt Mahaffey and Co. didn't waste a second in pulling off the insane task of melding over a hundred different toys into a musically pleasing arrangement. Using everything from Speak & Spells to toy cell phones, Matt brings it all to life with his wonderful production skills.

Track listing:

1. I Am A Little Explosion
2. 5 Alive
3. Chameleon
4. Dead Man
5. Trunk Fulla Amps
6. Pattycake
7. Ordinaire
8. Miracleworker
9. Hi, My Name Is Cindy
10. What A Fool Believes
11. 9 Lives
12. Ilovetoloveyourlovemylove
13. Trunk Fulla Amps (edit)
14. Resurrect (Japan Release Only)

If you happen to ever stumble upon this wonderful album, or any Self product for that matter, please purchase it... for your own safety.

Gizmodgery was, of course, recorded with toy instruments by Self as the above writeup states. However, this was not a "musical breakthrough". Pianosaurus is usually credited with the birth of composing pop rock music purely with toy instruments, and they did it in the late 1980’s without help from Pro Tools or any of the other crazy production techniques used on Gizmodgery.

This isn’t to say that Gizmodgery isn’t a great album, though, because it really is amazing. The melody and structure that Matt Mahaffey can get from the toys is incredible, even if it is heavily manipulated. He uses the following toy instruments on the recording:

• Little Tikes Xylophone
• Mattel Disney Piano
• V-Tech Phone Pal. 2000 Toy Phone
• Toy Antenna Twist
• Fun Rise Remote Control
• Little Smart Tiny Touch Phone
• 200 Toy Battery Operated Electronic Drum
• Playschool Busy Guitar
• Talking Whiz Kid Plus
• Mattel See & Say
• My First Football
• Kids 2
• Centipede
• Evenflow "Ball&Sphere"
• My 1st Years "Spinning Toy"
• Maple Toys "Toy"
• Schoenhut Toy Piano
• Suzuki Omnichord OM-27
• Suzuki Q-Chord
• The 1 Man Jam
• Hasbro Musi-link
• Mattel Star Guitar
• Groovy Tunes Guitar
• Yak-Bak
• My 1st Shaver
• Sysonic Drums
• Micro Jammer Drums
• Mini-Performer Keyboard
• "Talk To Me" Robot
• Hal Leonard Piano Fun
• Party Bros. Tamborine
• Assorted Talking Animals
• Assorted Toy Drum Kits & Toy Cymbals
• Assorted Generic Toy Cell Phones

Another form of making music with toy instruments is known as circuit bending. Circuit bending is the art of rewiring toy instruments and turning them into completely different (and noisy) instruments.