03/11/2011

Profile: Toffeetronic

And now for something completely different...(as they say): Here lieth a whole box of frogs of great electronica from Toffeetronic, aka Mr Matt Gunn.


"Empty one bag of sugar into a large bowl, stir in some moog acid and blend with The Orb, Sky Sunlight Saxon, Lemmy’s liver and FSOL. Crack half a dozen 80's synth pop bands and sprinkle with a hint of Conny Plank. Agitate with New Waves, cut into slices of 4 to the floor and bake under very hot intelligent lighting systems. Serve with 808 State, cool rok bass & Cola on ice."


So, seeing as how the Halloween/Creepytimes have just been upon us I thought it pertinent to feature something involving those icons of All Things Scary in the 21st century - and no, not Vampires (I bloody hate Vampires, even attractive teenage ones, they are still emo), but Zombies .. Everyone loves a good Zombie right?.



Toffeetronic/Matt has been making bleeping and thumping noises since he fell into this world, initially through the delights of Casio (those little machines have so much to answer for...) and later (early 90s) behind a bass in 'indiedelica' 3-piece World, where I first crossed paths with the guy - me being a quietish stalker-type chap. In more recent years however Matt has once again reverted to tech-fuelled electro and as Toffeetronic, has been knocking out EPs and mini-albums on a regular basis.


There have been a slew of releases on Toffeetones and White Label Records, iTunes and latterly BandCamp (see relevant linkage below), showcasing a host of influences from Old School (Kraftwerk, Numan), umm .. 'Middle School?' (Pop WIll Eat Itself, The Beloved) and onwards into the Nu-Skool (Daft Punk, The XX). But you can only say so much by listing 'soundalikes', the point is that Toffetronic's sounds are superbly put together, don't take themselves too seriously and have been known to frequently induce unsuspecting listeners to do that strange rhythmic arm/leg/body movement thing that young people do nowadays .. What IS that called again?


The most recent offering is this 4-tracker available via BandCamp ... Epic Bounce. As much as I would love to add in preview widgets galore, I've had to rein myself back and just pick the one - And that was not an easy task let me mention...



I heartily suggest taking some time to have a rummage through the plethora of sites showcasing Toffeetronic's tunes (there are quite a few!) and if you find yourself cracking a smile or tapping a foot, do the decent thing and include a visit to iTunes as part of the exercise - aside from the freebies there's 2 fantastic EPs there that really ought to be made a part of anyone's music collection. And look out for the name on flyers - I'm sure a live gig would be well worth experiencing - Bring Fizzy Pop!


toffeetronic links
iTunes | BandCamp | SoundCloud | Toffeetones | White Label | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | ReverbNation