MISRA

Biography

Flotation Toy Warning are a band shrouded in mystery. They claim to have formed in 2001 after enigmatic frontman Donald Drusky, a former flying machine test pilot, met drummer Don LeCannes at the unveiling of his latest invention, a new musical instrument called a Stair Horn, at L'Iononso d'Italia (Italian Institute for Innovation) in Venice. Soon after, LeCannes introduced Drusky to a rival inventor by the name of Magnesi Rich, who was at the time embarking on a project to notate and translate Chinese wind shapes with colleagues Benedict L. Maidsaver and Victoria W. Vest. Supposedly while discussing rare butterflies over dinner, the five discovered a common interest in astrophonics and decided to become a musical item.

While this might sound like a drummed up mythos concocted for the sake of being outlandish, it's as apt as any history for a musical enterprise that is rooted in creating a truly postmodern sound. Their ambitious debut album, Bluffer's Guide to the Flight Deck, cements this London five-piece as modern masters of their own brand of baroque, experimental pop. Earning rave reviews throughout the UK and Europe, including album of the month accolades by tastemaker record shop Rough Trade and a supporting slot for Air at the legendary Route De Rock Festival in France, Flotation Toy Warning are stirring up press and music fans alike.

With one foot in the eyebrow-raising pop experiments of Van Dyke Parks, Scott Walker, the Dreamies, and Curt Boettcher, and the other foot planted firmly alongside such modern-day avant-pop practitioners as the Flaming Lips, Divine Comedy or the Unicorns, Flotation Toy Warning blend found sounds, electronics, homemade and traditional instruments and lush production. Their dreamlike pop soundscapes are simultaneously classic and undeniably modern. Wonderfully warped and deranged, Bluffer's Guide to the Flight Deck is the rare masterwork that sounds equally skewed through a set of headphones or blasting at top volume.

Releases

Bluffer's Guide to the Flight Deck (2005)
CD - $12.00