modified toy orchestra

Brian Duffy, award winning sound artist and creator of the Modified Toy Orchestra, has been at the forefront of a world wide underground movement called circuit bending which involves rescuing childrens electronic toys from car boot sales, and converting them into new strange and wonderfully sophisticated musical instruments. Taking them apart, he finds new connections hidden within each toys circuits that reveal new sounds, exposing the surplus value of redundant technology. The toys are then reassembled including switches and dials with which to control this surplus value. The results of this process can be shockingly beautiful, funny and extreme and have led to Brian being labelled a genius, a madman, and a national treasure.



Toygopop has been five years in the making - two years building the toy instruments and learning how to play them, and three years discovering and collaging combinations of sounds and musical phrases (Brian calls this process collaborating with the third mind of the machine ) to create a strange yet accessible album that is unlike anything else you are ever likely to hear - sometimes funny, sometimes moving, sometimes dark and disturbing.