Campaign Stops by TOY PIANO

This CD contains all of the lofi/chillhop songs, plus one jazz hip-hop instrumental (YANCEY, DAVIS AND BRAXTON) and one synthwave track (I-76 AT NIGHT) that were recorded and released between the time the final master of TOY PIANO I was finished and sent to the pressing plant and digital distributor and the time the final master of TOY PIANO’S SECOND ALBUM (aka TPSA) was completed and sent to the digital distributor. I have also added two of the three ambient singles that I released during August of 2023 as a bit of a bonus to further incorporate all of the directions I have taken the Toy Piano project in so far. It is called CAMPAIGN STOPS because all of these songs (other than the ambient ones) were part of a major creative and promotional undertaking called The Campaign To Mid-July 2023, where I composed and recorded constantly and released new material every Friday between the first weekend of May and the time before TPSA was scheduled to drop. There are also four new chillhop songs, two of which are outtakes from the TPSA sessions that were finished in October 2023, and the other two of which are recorded exclusively for this compilation.

With the exception of TARA’S BELLS, SOFT CARAMEL ON A WARM SUMMER EVENING, CHAELIN’S PENTHOUSE, ANGEL SONG, and THE SEDUCTION OF KANAKO URAI, none of the previously released tracks appeared in a long-playing album sequence or on physical media until now. The four new chillhop tracks are the first lofi/chillhop tracks I recorded since I wrapped production on TPSA, as I found myself doing more ambient material with the singles COTTON, CRYSTAL, and THEY FITTED HER WITH A HALO and the albums LOONA and STARGAZING WITH CRYSTAL almost immediately afterward. This compilation is being released simultaneously with STARGAZING WITH CRYSTAL and will be followed ASAP with the overdue physical releases of TPSA and LOONA. That fact is also why CRYSTAL is not on this compilation, as the song already appears on STARGAZING WITH CRYSTAL. (It also wouldn't fit on the CD)

All of the songs are my own compositions save for THEY FITTED HER WITH A HALO which was co-written by Mike Watt and OHM SWEET OHM which is a Kraftwerk cover.

All of the instrumentation on these songs (and the rest of Toy Piano catalog to date) was played by myself on various keyboards and drum machines (plus guitar on two tracks here and one on TPSA), except for THEY FITTED HER WITH A HALO which features Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE, Stooges, MSSV, and many more projects) on bass and Dale Nixon on live drums.

Please note that in keeping with the general audial aesthetic of lofi hiphop music, several of the tracks will have simulated tape hiss or surface noise. This is especially predominant on ESCITALOPRAM DEFICIENCY where it sounds like something was sampled from a vinyl record that’s been played almost into dust. (If you recall the Ice-T deep cut “Fried Chicken” from his finest solo LP O.G. ORIGINAL GANGSTER, you know what I mean.) There is nothing wrong with any equipment on your end of the equation or mine. Also please note that all of the previously released tracks have been specifically remastered for this compilation from the original lossless files that were created at the final mix stage.

While I have the floor I’d like to point out that TARA’S BELLS is for my wife Tara, SOFT CARAMEL… is for Teresa Taylor-Williams, THEY FITTED HER WITH A HALO is for Shannon Spruill, ANGEL SONG is a new version of a song I first released on my 2002 EDM album WMX8 EP, DECEASED IN MY SIGHT is for a certain former employer, SOMEONE’S IN THE HOTTUB WITH YEULE is for Nat Ćmiel, and if you know who Kanako Urai is, you win the award. OHM SWEET OHM was originally recorded by Kraftwerk on their 1975 album RADIO-ACTIVITY (Capitol/EMI Records). Kraftwerk are one of my all time favourite bands and a huge influence on what Toy Piano does.

Special thanks go out to my wife Tara, Tim “Napalm” Stegall, Teresa Taylor-Williams, Mike Watt, Hiyori Minato, Riggz Miller, Bryan Morgan, Yadira Cortes, Ed McDonough, Leo Kelly, Steve Welsh, Hugh Baker, Mike Naydock, and Francine Meeks.

Four studio albums, eleven singles and now one compilation album spanning most of those releases, all recorded and released in less than a year’s time (plus a Marsicano’s Arc single, a fifth ambient album already in work, and a bunch of other ideas in first draft stage in my DAW), and yet some people think I’m a lazy sod… If you averaged four hours of sleep because of all the activity you packed into an average day between both day job and musical duties, you’d get that false accusation, too. Just sayin’…

Any musician with something to share can make a record like this. Now get off your ass, stop wasting your time learning other people’s songs (especially ones twenty other shitty bar bands in a 100-mile radius are phoning in to play in dive bars for free beer and gas money) and write, record and release your own music!

— CJ Marsicano, October 2023

Toy Piano is the electronic music project of musician, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist CJ Marsicano, embracing lofi hiphop, synth wave, ambient/space music/new age, and more.

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