Toy Matinee had a short but celebrated career with their only album, the 1990 eponymous self-titled album. Their sound featured an array of influences, including progressive rock and pop. The band was founded by Patrick Leonard and Guy Pratt, who became friends after working on Madonna’s album True Blue. They added vocalist Kevin Gilbert, drummer Brian MacLeod and guitarist Tim Pierce to the band. The album was produced by Bill Bottrell, who also collaborated with Michael Jackson, Madonna and Electric Light Orchestra amongst others. The album was received well with the tracks “The Ballad Of Jenny Ledge” and “Last Plane Out” receiving wide play on rock radio stations.
Toy Matinee is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on blue coloured vinyl.
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Athlete Whippet return to Toy Tonics with an EP showcasing emotionally layered dance tracks and their refusal to stick to genre conventions. The duo are synonymous with sublime cuts that are just as suited to late nights and early mornings on the dancefloor, as they are to home-listening, this perfectly exhibited on the "Noguiera" EP.
The four-tracker is named after a remote place in the mountains around Rio de Janeiro where it was made on a creatively fruitful getaway in 2021. It's sentimental, joyful, bouncy, and futuristic, and showcases the duo’s musicality combining bass guitar and piano, with hardware synths, loops and fragmented vocal samples.
Robin explains - "Spending time in Brazil in recent years was a blessing. The nature, culture and musical heritage over there is beautiful. Mostly in solitude, as I ended up spending most of my time in a remote place in the mountains around Rio, music became the only real emotional outlet for a while. So in a way this is a record of dance music created as far away as we’ve ever been from the dance floor!"
Both from a live performance background, Robin and Avi met studying at Goldsmiths London and found their way to the dance floor via playing in bands, Robin a guitarist, Avi classically trained in trumpet and later on picking up the keys. Absorbing the community of South London, they eventually set up artist collective and record label Squareglass - a proudly established home for new artists coming out of the area. They’ve remixed for the likes of Rhythm Section, collaborated with Olugbenga, and their releases have come with reworks from Ross from Friends, Cameo Blush, Baltra and Seb Wildblood. In 2021, their hybrid sound found a new home with tastemaker German label Toy Tonics who released their "Vesta" EP in May, followed by a run of European tour dates including Funkhaus Berlin, Phonox London and Amsterdam Dance Event.
Billy Gee and the Whole Shabang provides what we today call 'Soul-Sockin'-Blue-Eyed Soul'. Both sides are equally great and definitely deserve to be heard by a wider audience.
This is a very special EP. As many might know Toy Tonics started as a sublabel of now sleeping German indie dance label Gomma records. Gomma, along with DFA, Output Records and a few other was knownn for a very ecclectic, different approach in dance music. On this LOST GOMMA MIXES EP you find 4 now lost tracks that came out ca 10 - 20 years ago on Gomma, but fit very well in today’s zeitgeist again. Pete Herbert, In Flagranti, Jacques Lu Cont are featured. Who knows about modern disco - knows these producers. And there is a very special name here too: Nicky Siano. The now legendary New York DJ used to be resident at Studio 54 and other legendary NYC venues of the 1970ies and 1980ies. One of his are remix works was for the Gomma rcords band The KDMS. Pure disco euphoria.
- A1: I Dig Everything
- A2: You've Got A Habit Of Leaving
- A3: The London Boys
- B1: Karma Man
- B2: Conversation Piece
- B3: Shadow Man
- C1: Let Me Sleep Beside You
- C2: Hole In The Ground
- C3: Baby Loves That Way
- D1: Can't Help Thinking About Me
- D2: Silly Boy Blue
- D3: Toy (Your Turn To Drive)
- E1: Liza Jane
- E2: You've Got A Habit Of Leaving (Alternative Mix)
- E3: Baby Loves That Way (Alternative Mix)
- F1: Can't Help Thinking About Me (Alternative Mix)
- F2: I Dig Everything (Alternative Mix)
- F3: The London Boys (Alternative Version)
- G1: Silly Boy Blue (Tibet Version)
- G2: Let Me Sleep Beside You(Alternative Mix)
- G3: In The Heat Of The Morning
- G4: Conversation Piece (Alternative Mix)
- H1: Hole In The Ground (Alternative Mix)
- H2: Shadow Man (Alternative Mix)
- J1: The London Boys (Unplugged & Somewhat Slightly Electric Mix)
- J2: Karma Man (Unplugged & Somewhat Slightly Electric Mix)
- J3: Conversation Piece(Unplugged & Somewhat Slightly Electric Mix)
- K1: Shadow Man (Unplugged & Somewhat Slightly Electric Mix)
- K2: Let Me Sleep Beside You (Unplugged & Somewhat Slightly Electric Mix)
- K3: Hole In The Ground (Unplugged & Somewhat Slightly Electric Mix)
- K4: Baby Loves That Way (Unplugged & Somewhat Slightly Electric Mix)
- L1: Can't Help Thinking About Me (Unplugged & Somewhat Slightly Electric Mix)
- L2: Silly Boy Blue (Unplugged & Somewhat Slightly Electric Mix)
- L3: Toy (Your Turn To Drive) (Unplugged & Somewhat Slightly Electric Mix)
- H3: Toy (Your Turn To Drive) (Alternative Mix)
- I1: In The Heat Of The Morning (Unplugged & Somewhat Slightly Electric Mix)
- I2: I Dig Everything (Unplugged & Somewhat Slightly Electric Mix)
- I3: You've Got A Habit Of Leaving (Unplugged & Somewhat Slightly Electric Mix)
Parlophone Records/ISO Records are proud to announce TOY:BOX. The previously unreleased TOY album will be released on 7th January 2022, the day before David Bowie’s birthday. Available in six 10” vinyl versions, TOY:BOX is a special edition of the TOY album. The ‘capture the moment’ approach of the recording sessions are extended to the sleeve artwork designed by Bowie featuring a photo of him as a baby with a contemporary face. The package also contains a 16-page full-colour book featuring previously unseen photographs by Frank Ockenfels 3.
TOY was recorded following David's triumphant Glastonbury 2000 performance. Bowie entered the studio with his band, Mark Plati, Sterling Campbell, Gail Ann Dorsey, Earl Slick, Mike Garson, Holly Palmer and Emm Gryner, to record new interpretations of songs he’d first recorded from 1964-1971. David planned to record the album ‘old school’ with the band playing live, choose the best takes and then release it as soon as humanly possible in a remarkably prescient manner. Unfortunately, in 2001 the concept of the ‘surprise drop’ album release and the technology to support it were still quite a few years off, making it impossible to release TOY, as the album was now named, out to fans as instantly as David wanted. In the interim, David did what he did best; he moved on to something new, which began with a handful of new songs from the same sessions and ultimately became the album HEATHEN, released in 2002 and now acknowledged as one of his finest moments.
Athlete Whippet join the Toy Tonics family! The London/Berlin-based duo make a sound that is based on futuristic breakbeats combined with deep, jazz chord progressions and a kind of funk that sounds more like it was made in 2100 then in a year behind us. Definitely not a retro record the Vesta EP is further proof that the connection between London and Berlin that has been build by several Toy Tonics artists (Cody Currie the latest in the gang) is becoming a strong one. The combination of the Berlin dancefloor sound and the UK jazz fusion soul is changing the scene and creating new moods. Neo soul and house, broken beats and disco.. there are lot of things happening in that new world and Athlete Whippet could be a strong player in that new sound.
The 2 guys already achieved great support by UK radio DJs such as Annie Mac and Jamz Supernova for their their first collaborative EP Touch (with Metronomy’s Olugbenga), followed by their 2020 solo EP 'Your Love Is Lifting Me', an ode to compassion and solidarity, and remixes for labels including Rhythm Section.
‘Vesta’ is not just the title track of the EP but also the name of the South London Road where they shared an apartment, built a studio in their living room, and put together the first ideas for this EP.
Both Robin and Avi come from a live performance background, played in bands since their early teenage years before they met studying music at Goldsmiths in London. You can hear a playful live quality throughout the EP. It’s not your average house productions with the usual formalistic patterns, but a very original, very fresh style - hard to copy (but easy to dance to).
Now based between Berlin and London, they collaborate with their friend, Athens-born, Berlin-based artist Aphty Khéa on Yesterday and Can’t Make My Mind Up.
Avi and Robin their label squareglass and a London-residency inviting guests such as Seb Wildblood, Will Saul, Asquith, Anu and also have a monthly show on Rinse FM.
- A1: Harry Wolfman - Upstream (2021 Version)
- A2: Kiwi - We Are Here
- A3: Jad & The - 232 (Raw Tool)
- B1: Karl Hector & Nicolas Tounga - Ngunga Yeti Fofa (The Joaquin Joe Claussell's Electric Afrika Version (2021 Version)
- B2: Vito & Druzzi - Night Masquerade
- C1: The Barking Dogs - Mamarracho Feat Marcelo Burlon (2021 Version)
- C2: Capablanca & T Keeler - No Hay Ritmo
- C3: Kapote - Besamo Fly
- D1: Hard Ton - Food Of Love (Dj Sprinkles Grub Dub (2021 Version)
- D2: Munk - The Bolero Bunuel (Red Axes Remix)
- D3: Art Alfie - Dance To The Conga (Edit)
The MUSHROOM HOUSE compilation is a collection of balearic, afro and cosmic disco tracks that have been released on several Toy Tonics EPs over the last 5 years. Toy Tonics now releases some of these EPs on a double vinyl together. This is the second part. Featuring eleven tracks. (Vol 1 was released in 2020.)
Original tracks and remixes by friends of the label: Kiwi, Red Axes, Karl Hector, Hugo Capablanca, Harry Wolfman. Very special contributions by New York's legendary Joe Claussell and fashion designer Marcelo Burlon, who contributed the vocals to a song by Milan’s Barking Dogs. Art Alfie from Studio Barnhus is featured also with an exclusive track and legendary DJ Sprinkles with a magic rework of a Hard Ton song.
A few of the tracks had been already released on Gomma records. The now sleeping indie-electronica label that was the „mother“ of Toy Tonics records. Some were made exclusively for Toy Tonics.
- Bare Faced Cheek
- Yul Brynner Was A Skinhead
- How Do You Deal With Neal?
- Howza Bouta Kiss Babe??!
- Fisticuffs In Frederick Street
- A. Diamond
- Quick To Quit The Quentin
- Nowt Can Compare To Sunderland Fine Fare
- Neville Is A Nerd
- Park Lane Punch Up
- The Ashbrooke Launderette..... .....You'll Stink, Your Clothes Shrink, Your Whites'll Be As Black As Ink
- Bare Faced Cheek
By the time Toy Doys issued Bare Faced Cheek as the inaugural LP of their own Nit Records
label, bassist Flip had been replaced by Dean Robson and drummer Happy Bob by Martin
Yule, with Olga still the vocal focal point. “Yul Brynner Was A Skinhead” is the best of the
bunch, “Neville Is A Nerd” and “Quick To Quit The Quentin” are typical Toy Dolls punk
piss-takes, and there are digs at a hotel and a local launderette too. Everything is delivered in
lightning-fast bursts of energy, poking fun at all and sundry, the Toy Dolls punk way.
- A1: Theme Tune
- A2: Dig That Groove Baby
- A3: Dougy Giro
- A4: Spiders In The Dressing Room
- A5: Glenda And The Test Tube Baby
- A6: Up The Garden Path
- A7: Nellie The Elephant
- B1: Poor Davey
- B2: Stay Mellow
- B3: Queen Alexandra Road Is Where She Said She'd Be, But Was She There To Meet Me... No Chance
- B4: Worse Things Happen At Sea
- B5: Blue Suede Shoes
- B6: Firey Jack
- B7: Theme Tune
Hailing from Sunderland in England’s industrial northeast, the Toy Dolls infused their take
on punk with ample doses of working-class humour, the three-chord format a launching pad
for witty originals and clever cover tunes. 1983 debut Dig That Groove Baby captures the
group at their finest, their twisted rendition of kiddies tune “Nellie The Elephant” topping the
indie charts; the title track is an infectious singalong, while “Spiders In The Dressing Room”
and “Glenda And The Test Tube Baby” are more irreverent tongue in cheek, all delivered in
the peculiar androgynous accent of frontman Michael “Olga” Algar. Essential!
- Florence Is Deaf (But There's No Need To Shout) 3:35
- Glenda And The Test Tube Baby 3:15
- Idle Gossip 2:30
- Carol Dodds Is Pregnant 3:25
- Tommy Kowey's Car 2:38
- Peter Practice's Practice Place 3:06
- Deidre's A Slag 3:18
- Blue Suede Shoes 2:09
- Dig That Groove Baby 2:51
- Lambrusco Kid 3:08
- Dougy Giro 3:13
- Bless You My Son 2:53
- My Girlfriend's Dad Is A Vicar 1:11
- She Goes To Finos 3:06
- Harry Cross (A Tribute To Edna) 3:33
- Fiery Jack 2:53
To celebrate their first decade of existence, Sunderland’s ironic punk trio, Toy Dolls, issued
retrospective Ten Years Of Toys, but rather than using the standard-issue “Greatest Hits”
formula, the group chose to re-cut nuggets from their career so far, using the then-current
line-up of frontman Olga, bassist Dean Robson and drummer Martin Yule. Thus, tracks like
“Dougy Giro,” “Fiery Jack” and “Glenda And The Test Tube Baby” are given new leases of
life with a brighter, fuller sound and the inclusion of hard-to-find tracks such as “I’ve Got
Asthma” and “Tommy Kowey’s Car” add to the appeal.
- A1: Ponty Mython - Slippin' Into Darkness (5 35)
- A2: Zhut & Kapote - Afro Rico (2020 Version) (5 24)
- A3: Whomadewho - Keep Me In My Plane (Dj Koze Remix) (7 03)
- B1: Munk - Nigerian Jam (6 20)
- B2: Jad & The - Gervinho (5 05)
- B3: Hyenah Feat Kissey – Fire (6 41)
- C1: The Deadstock 33S - The Circular Path (Asphodells Remix) (5 02)
- C2: Daniel Haaksman Ft Spoek Mathambo - Akabongi (Kapote Remix) (2020 Version) (5 07)
- C3: Daniel Avery & The Deadstock 33S - Eric Zann Revisited (6 06)
- C4: Baldelli - Phobos (2020 Version) (2 28)
- D1: Munk & Rebolledo - Surf Smurf (5 59)
- D2: Auntie Flo Feat Samuel Nalangirla - Kampala Boda Boda Ride (4 51)
- D3: Drrtyhaze - Hey Mama (5 57)
The MUSHROOM HOUSE compilation is a collection of balearic, afro and cosmic tracks that have been released on Toy Tonics EPs over the last 5 years. Original tracks and remixes by friends of the label: Auntie Flo, Rebolledo, Hyenah, Daniel Avery, WhoMadeWho & DJ Koze, Munk … and there is also legendary italian cosmic DJ Baldelli featured.
All these tracks are exclusively produced for Toy Tonics. A few had been already released before on Gomma records. The now sleeping indie-electronica label that was the „mother“ of Toy Tonics. It’s fun to see that these tracks seem not to get old. They sound still fresh and ace. Like the DJ Koze remix of WhoMadeWho or Munk’s Nigerian Jam. Now they all come together on double vinyl. Vinyl comes Including the new 60 page TOY TONICS MAGAZINE no 1.
AD and Worldline deliver Toy Opulent’s third release - and it’s first vinyl imprint.
Soft Serve Angel projects a clear and present sense of techno drive and a delightful symphony of melodic synths. The beginning is minimal and evolves into a full cacophony of beauty and craftsmanship, layered with the vocals of the mysterious Crisis Luxury. Here, meanderings of childhood tones echo from an East L.A. ice cream truck. From the hailed vehicle emerges the soft serve angel - with a vanilla cake cone prepared, just for you, on a sunny California day. This track is incredibly versatile.
A Soft Serve Angel remix is presented to us by a master of his art, Persuader. He shows us, once again, that minimal drive that we can all count on to provoke thought and movement with modern engineering skills and a familiar old school flair.
Bubble Gum Eyes is minimal perfectly pitched protocol of TR-909 love with a morphing bassline and epic-scale science-synth work. The track addresses both a question and an answer.
Rocket POP! I mean, who don’t love a good rocket pop? This dubby dub dub mix contains fragments of the entire release that sums it up, and finishes it off perfectly - the cherry on top of the soft-serve angel.
New York’s indie disco funk crew is back with a new album. And it’s the right moment: With new acts like Toro Y Moi, Sault, Parcels, The Internet around… the funky, disco, old school vibe is big in 2020. And The Phenomenal Handclap Band fits perfectly. Probably all these new artists are fans of the Phenomenals. Because The PHB popped up for the first time 10 years ago. Some top knotch musicians from NYC’s funk scene playing dirty discofunk. Some of the bandmembers played in Mark Ronson’s projects and in Amy Winehouse’s backing band. Head of the band: Daniel Collás. Their self-titled debut album on Gomma records 2010 made them many fans in the music scene. A nasty fusion of forward-thinking disco, psychedelic prog rock, and classic soul with a splash of yacht rock. Back then the band took the road, supporting Bryan Ferry and Franz Ferdinand, playing shows at Glastonbury, Wireless, and Latitude… as well as getting praise from Sir Paul McCartney about their album! After the album Collás began to produce other artists in Brooklyn. The band paused. Now they are back. With Daniel Collás in the centre, along with new members multi-instrumentalist Juliet Swango, and vocalist and synthesizer wizard Monika Heidemann. Their sound is still essentially analog dance music, with an emphasis on raw soul, vocal harmonies, African percussion, fuzzy guitars and analog synthesizers.
Coeo have been travelling in Japan and discovered the magic of City Pop: That Japanese Disco movement of the 1980ies. Back then there were amazing dance tracks coming out of Japan. Some with Japanese lyrics others with American vocals. Often so perfectly played and recorded that it was hard to tell if the music came out of NYC basement studios or for real Asiatic studio musicians. Coeo found a lot of rare jams and did edits for their DJ sets. As at the Toy Tonics office everybody is always searching for the rare and unknown the crew was totally excited. And so the decision was made quickly: Let’s put out a few of these rare jams & edits. Here they are.
New York's indie disco freaks Phenomenal Handclap Band is back with a second single on Toy Tonics: Jail. With remixes by Detroit's Waajeed and Marcel Vogel of Lumberjacks in Hell. Including a club edit by Toy Tonics head honcho Kapote. The band was responsible for one of Toy Tonics' biggest tracks in 2018: Judge Not: The Ray Mang version became a hit on open minded dancefloors around the globe: with support from DJ's like DJ Harvey, Cassius and Gilles Peterson (who put it int his - best track of the year' list) but also more house DJ's like Berlin's Keine Musik Crew, Soundstream or Superpitcher. The band's members are kind of heroes to many connoisseurs of the funk/ disco scene. The band leader Daniel Collas was playing keys in Amy Winehouse legendary backing band. Other members are connected to Mark Ronson's crew or San Francisco's Stones Throw universe.. just to give u the bigger picture. With The Phenomenal Handclap Band they blend the unique vibe of 1970ies Power-Soul in the traditon of Charles Stepney and Rotary Connection with today's new disco vibe. Parcels, Toro Y Moi, Roosevelt are not that far. Important fact: All played live, no samples. Mixed by the champs at DFA. The band is part of Toy Tonics's masterplan to expand their dancevibes into more live played scenarios.. stepping out of the strict DJ context. Fun fact Paul McCartney wrote the band a letter saying how much he loved their music when he first heard the band on BBC Radio 1.
- A1: Die Heteros - Monogamie, Kannibalismus Unserer Zeit (Kapote Rework)
- A2: Camilla Motor - Gefahr Im Tivoli (Kapote Rework)
- B1: Exkurs - Fakten Sind Terror (Kapote Rework)
- B2: Carmen - Schlaraffenland (Kapote Rework)
- C1: Explorer - Yellow Power (Kapote Rework)
- C2: Bbb - Alltag (Kapote Rework)
- D1: Roter Mund - Mit Dir Allein (Kapote Rework)
- D2: Die Chefs - Frauenkörper (Kapote Rework)
There have been millions of typical disco edits in the last years. But there is so much more interesting music from the late 1970s and early 80s yet to bubble its way to the surface. One of those lesser explored fields is the crazy funky side of Germany's underground disco and new wave from that period. At the time, many German bands were trying to make their own version of English and American styles. After Kraftwerk and Can had started to use the German language in a cool, new way, many bands that followed in their steps experimented with German new wave. Most of these bands didn't reach a bigger audience. Their records never got pressed to more than 300 - 500 copies as they were a number of years ahead of the huge commercial explosion of German pop in 1984: The NDW aka 'Neue Deutsche Welle", with Nena's humongous hit 99 Red Balloons. The bands featured on the compilation released their music before the NDW hype and later broke up. Plenty of these early bands are best forgotten but if you dig deeper you'll find the gems, bursting with style and attitude. And that's just what Toy Tonics heads Mathias Munk Modica & Kapote did. They hit gold.
- A1: L. A. Jones - Doing The Natural Thing
- A2: Ansley Fleetwood & The Surprises - Elvira
- A3: Dale Mason - She's My Baby
- A4: Gary Von - I Wanna Know
- A5: Leo Krokos - Kiss Of Fire
- A6: Wayne Richards - Seasons
- B1: Obrey Wilson - Headman
- B2: Chic Morrison - Talk About Love
- B3: Benchmark - Hold On I'm Coming
- B4: Denver Affair - Crawdad Hole
- B5: Randall Gray - They Call It The Soul
- B6: Oakbrook Trees - Mustang Sally




















