The concept behind his albums is amazing, and what he creates out of that toy piano is highly enjoyable!

Internet Music Radio, "Gone Fishing for Blue Skies", loves the world of Twink.

To call this cute would not be inaccurate. To clarify, it is cute on such a sophisticated level- both technically and emotionally. The cute Aphex Twin. Listen and love. You will be sent to your happy place.

Toy piano music for the 00s! So much more than a mere CD, Boston musician Mike Langlie and friends, known collectively as Twink, have put together a truly fabulous package with this 25 song self-titled release on the locally run Dyspepsidisc label. Remember the old storybook and record sets that had a sleeve on the back cover where the 45 fit? Twink catapults you back to those days with their inclusion of a 32 page illustrated tale along with the music. The disc itself is even designed to appear as those vinyl discs of yore once did. The rabbit featured in the wonderfully wrought story is a charming adventurer whose travels would be remarkable even without musical accompaniment. Parlaying the whimsical charm of children's musical instruments like pianos, giggle sticks, and speak 'n spells into delightful yet complex and compelling compositions cannot be as easy as Langlie makes it seem. Diverse and eclectic additional instruments such as a hurdy-gurdy, theremin, water glasses, musical saw, and so much more add a surreal and carnival flavor to the entire proceedings that is simultaneously endearing and vaguely unsettling. "Hoppity Jones" opens the CD with an especially upbeat and innocent gait that corresponds nicely with the personality of the book's cartoon bunny. The gobble of a See'n Say turkey heard in "Do You Hear The Frog?" will no doubt sound familiar. However, not all the songs portray innocent childlike enthusiasm. Indeed, there is a level of sophistication in tracks like "Sand and Fire" and "Whoop-de-doodle" that belies the relative simplicity of the instruments. Songs like "Moongirl" even take on the air of straight up parodies of the often pretentious and overblown "new age" genre. Things even turn decidedly dark in the last handful of songs, beginning with the transitional "Cloud Watcher" and moving into the genuinely ominous "The Edge of Darkness" and beyond. The appeal of this rag-tag thrift store toy bin orchestra is undeniable. Don't even try.