Music For Toys

Some albums sound as though they were recorded in somebody’s bedroom because they’re crap. Music For Toys, the debut from Dubliner’s Deputy Fuzz, sounds like it was recorded in somebody’s bedroom because it probably was.

An album of eight tracks put straight down onto eight track, it’s an extremely lo-fi record – with all that that entails. The song writing is what you might want to call ‘quirky’ (ie. there are no real tunes) and, at it’s worst (‘A Tale of Sam Jones’, ‘Beatnik Beat’), just plain annoying.

Most of the time, however, Music For Toys is a refreshing, invigorating experience. The more obscure end of the Pixies’ canon is a clear influence, but Deputy Fuzz are more than capable of pulling their own tricks out of the hat. ‘Rockstar Jacket’ is a distant cousin to Thin Lizzy’s ‘Dancing In The Moonlight’, right down to the sax solo (OK, it’s a kazoo but the effect is the same). ‘Front Porch Eccentric’ has an elegant sweep to it, particularly Bee’s female vocal, while ‘Quean’ is a two and a half minute tumble into an almost poppy melody.

Twelve months ago the fairly piss poor Moldy Peaches were being lauded for producing a far more inferior version of this sort of stuff but in Music For Toys we have a genuinely impressive attempt to subvert from within.