V01-T10 Bubblegum Music

.....So many years later I can't remember exactly if this song, with its opening line about "the B-Splits on the TV" was chosen to follow the Dickies cover in the previous post, or if the cover was chosen to lead into this:

Volume 1: THE PITCHFORK APPROACH, track 10

• 03:03 "BUBBLEGUM MUSIC" (Alex Garvin)
• Performed by Pianosaurus
• original source: CD GROOVY NEIGHBORHOOD Rounder CD9010 (US) 1987
• and my source: the same

.....Yes, they are toys. Pianosaurus is a band that plays exclusively instruments that were manufactured to be children's toys. What has made this one album endure for as long as it has is that the idea of playing toys is treated as any other operating parameter for a band. If the intention had been to garner attention using the novelty of toy instruments and had always been a gimmick, it would have grabbed some attention briefly and then faded when the novelty wore off. Instead they set ground rules as one would for any experiment. They used functional instruments. They could not custom design anything-- it must be mass-produced and marketed to children, something that any kid or their parent might buy for purposes of unstructured play. They could not used "child-sized" professional quality instruments (such as quarter-size violins). Also, they could not simply make horrific, arhythmic noise and try to convince people it was "jazz". They had to create recognizable, hummable pop songs. The album is actually full of them.

.....Before posting just now I did a term search for the band and came up with numerous listings, nearly all for the above album. A Facebook page lists two homemade live cassettes preceding it, this debut album and a second title which remains unreleased. There are several references to Garvin disappearing just before it was completed and vague speculations about "mental exhaustion" and being "M.I.A.", with open inquiries to his whereabouts. "If you have seen this man..." sort of things. They couldn't have been looking too hard. He's listed on the faculty of the Peekskill Extension Center of Westchester (NY) Community College. It's part of the state university system.