CD: Twink - Itsy Bits & Bubbles | reviews, news & interviews
CD: Twink - Itsy Bits & Bubbles
CD: Twink - Itsy Bits & Bubbles
Massachusetts titan of toytronica returns
![](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/mast_image_landscape/public/mastimages/twink.jpg?itok=fZytXggu)
I’m a fan of a child-like musical sub-genre which some call toytronica. It’s the sound of retro-futuristic electronic music mashing into playroom sounds, sometimes using actual gimmicky children’s toy instruments.
Langlie’s material has actually been used by Nickelodeon, the US children’s TV channel, but much of it is a little too weird for that. Yes, of course it’s self-consciously juvenile but it’s also out there, funny and cute – cute in a raw, stupid way rather than in the schmaltzy, syrupy sense. Small children really do enjoy this stuff but, at the same time, much of it is utterly psychedelic, music that sends altered minds round the twist. The fried thinking behind the farmyard animal noises and bass parps of “Lollidropper”, the deranged xylophonic attack on Harold Faltermeyer’s “Axel F” and the madcap Disney military waltz-stomp meets pretend-dubstep of “Flibberty Gibbet” are the most immediately and noticeably off-the-wall aspects, but the whole album is full of loony tunes that have cartoonish zest and madcap energy.
I first came across Twink – no relation to the drummer from The Pretty Things and The Pink Fairies – when I heard his 2005 album Broken Record which, aptly, came out on Seeland, the label owned by Californian sonic subversives and seminal cut-up innovators Negativland. Broken Record took old children’s records, added beats then sent the whole thing up. Itsy Bits & Bubbles ditches satire and may be Twink’s most approachable album, at least for those who like their electronic music distinctly offbeat. It will terrify Adele fans, floor spliff-heads and entertain toddlers in equal measure – surely high recommendation.
Watch the video for 'Flibberty Gibbet' which pilfers wholesale and amusingly from the Van Beuren Studios' wonderful old Aesop's Fables cartoons
rating
Explore topics
Share this article
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
more New music
![The Upsetters in 1968, with Lee Perry (centre back)](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/People%20Funny%20Boy%20The%20Upsetter%20Singles%201968-1969_the%20upsetters_1000_header_0.jpg?itok=15BC7gt4)
![DJs Moneyshot and Rackabeat](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Allergies.jpg?itok=Wp6QF9eA)
!['As comebacks go, this takes some beating'](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/204330-ll-cool-j-the-force.jpg?itok=GxKlX6Ff)
![Beth Ditto led from the front for the reformed Gossip](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Gossip.jpeg?itok=FJ4bFB1N)
![Bark and bite](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/fat%20dog.png?itok=DB6xPmqO)
![](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/jpeg.jpeg?itok=7yjBWSjK)
![Girl in Red was given a rapturous reception](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/GIR2.jpg?itok=TMdDYw35)
![Melt Banana: blowing minds and blowing hearing](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/TAD%20Melt%20Banana%20Robert%20Barrett.jpg?itok=4YBwUI21)
![Disappearing Amelia](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Amelia.jpg?itok=fYYEzwDd)
![Peter Baumann in 1976, as he was on the cover of his first solo album 'Romance ’76' - before he left Tangerine Dream](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Peter%20Baumann%20-%20Phase%20By%20Phase%20The%20Virgin%20Albums_header_1000.jpg?itok=EzsjhNAs)
![Scratch goes into space for the last time](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Lee%20Scratch%20Perry%20and%20Youth%20-%20Spaceship%20To%20Mars%20TAD.jpg?itok=s5kEO00o)
![Mercury Rev's 'Born Horses': mind-blowing](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/mercury%20rev%20born%20horses.jpg?itok=NjxK8lkR)
Add comment