Label Focus: Toy Tonics
Don’t let the name fool you, this lot are not playing around…
Berlin’s Toy Tonics are one of the main forces behind the last decade’s resurging interest in house music. An international powerhouse, their repertoire boasts artists from city after city after city from Coeo, Cody Currie and Joel Holmes to Sam Ruffillo, Athlete Whippet, Felipe Gordon and Demuja….
Unlike most labels, what makes Toy Tonics stand out isn’t just their prolific release schedule, but their strong brand consistency and unique look too. Every release is marked with their distinctive blacksmith logo, which – like Rhythm Section’s ‘atlas’ figure or Moving Shadow’s ‘raver’ – is a surefire indicator of quality.
True heads will gladly know TT’s sound, lying somewhere on the intersection between Italo, house and broken beat, and with strong regional influences from London to Munich. On top of this, they’ve just launched their new sublabel Kryptox, focusing on international neo-jazz and ambient oddballs. We checked in with label boss Mathias Modica, aka. Kapote, for the lowdown…
WHAT’S THE NAME OF YOUR LABEL, AND WHO RUNS IT?
Toy Tonics. Mathias Modica aka. Kapote is the label’s A&R and creative mind, while three friends help run it: Max, Manuel Kim and Lilly de la Shop.
WHEN & WHY DID THE LABEL START?
We used to run another label, Gomma Records, a small label through which we released indie dance and experimental electronica. We did records with James Murphy and Nancy Whang of LCD Soundsystem, Who Made Who, The Rammellzee, Peaches… then in 2013 we felt it was time to move on. Toy Tonics is only for DJs, and is based on our love for American house music, Italian disco and UK broken beat. We started it as a sublabel, but quickly decided to stop the Gomma thing and concentrate on Toy Tonics solely.
GIVE US A BRIEF SUMMARY OF WHAT YOU’VE RELEASED SINCE THEN….
We put out the first records and developed the careers of COEO, Kapote, Cody Currie, Rhode & Brown and Mangabey. We did one-off EPs with Felipe Gordon, Demuja, Delfonic, Joel Holmes, FYI Chris, and Adesse Versions, as well as two EPs by Luke Solomun of Classic Records. We’ve also released an EP compilation series of cosmic disco and balearic dance tracks called Mushroom House, with contributions by artists like Baldelli, Red Axes, Joe Claussell, and Munk.
Besides music we also release t-shirt collabs with visual artists and designers from the Berlin scene, organise big parties (Toy Tonics Jams), and release a little poster fanzine: The Toy Tonics Pocket Poster Magazine.
WHAT QUALITIES ARE YOU LOOKING FOR IN THE MUSIC YOU RELEASE?
We don’t do formalistic DJ tool music. Instead we look for tracks that have great musical ideas besides working well on the dancefloor, are individualistic and fresh, and can also be listened to at home. They often tend to be influenced by disco, jazz, funk and italo.
Most of our releases have interesting chord progressions and syncopated, rolling, extremely groovy beat structures, as well as interesting melodic elements. Most of our producers play instruments and know lot about music playing, bands, different styles of music-making… so there’s often a very organic, analog, live-played element to Toy Tonics releases. That’s why our records sound a bit different.
We also prefer to find artists at an early stage, so as to help them to develop their sound and artistic personality. So the whole label gets a certain basic sound and vibe, but still shows off many different shades. Some artists are more jazzy and broken beat oriented, others are more into the Italo world. Some do live dance stuff, and others are complete DJ nerds with huge collections and knowledge.
WHAT KIND OF VISUAL IDENTITY DOES THE LABEL HAVE (ARTWORK, VIDEOS ETC) ?
Art and graphic design are essential for us. Besides music we’ve been organising exhibitions with young visual artists in cities around the world. We also publish a little Toy Tonics poster magazine that comes out twice a year and gets sent to people who buy vinyl or shirts from our Bandcamp (the mag goes out to 100 vinyl shops worldwide via our distributor as well).
We also do a lot of t-shirts and designed merch. We are very connected to the new Berlin underground art and graphic design scene (our Berlin Toy Tonics parties are somewhat of a meeting point for the art scene too), so we make collage shirts with artists. Artists like Will Sweenety, Why Ebay, Leonard Laupichler, and Miruel have all done t-shirts.
WHAT’S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST SELLING RELEASE TO DATE? TELL US A BIT ABOUT IT AND WHY YOU THINK IT WAS SO POPULAR.
Its probably COEO’s Native Riddim EP. COEO are two friends of mine from Munich. They started their career on Toy Tonics six years ago, and since then, they’ve become one of our leading acts. Besides several EPs and edits on Toy Tonics, they’ve also done some killer EPs on Razor N Tape. Their music is a mix of New York classic house vibes and Munich disco. And you can feel the Munich disco influence in their music. (Moroder, Faltermeyer, Donna Summer… they all came up in Munich’s golden disco days).
NAME ONE RELEASE THAT YOU THINK DESERVED TO GET MORE ATTENTION THAN IT DID
Coeo – Flesh World (Kapote’s Drum Ja Version). A 10-minute long percussion jam on a Coeo loop. Works great on the dancefloor.
IF YOU COULD SIGN ANY ARTIST, ALIVE OR DEAD, WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
In the end, it’s always Prince.
WHICH OTHER LABELS DO YOU ADMIRE AND WHY?
Mainly labels that have created their own sonic universe and style, and also have a strong visual component. Labels like Blue Note, ECM, Factory, Mo’Wax, and Warp.
WHAT CAN WE LOOK TO FROM YOUR LABEL NEXT?
An EP by Digital Ivan, a new artist on Toy Tonics. Ivan is just 20 years old and is already a little star in Moskau’s new underground house scene. His first EP is a mix of high energy disco and industrial disco-funk.
Also, be sure to watch out for an EP by Parisian DJ and producer talent Nathalie Duchene, with remixes by Yuksek and Boombass from Cassius. Very French house, of course. Big vibe record.
In 2022 there’ll also be new stuff by Cody Currie, Coeo, Mangabey, and Athlete Whippet.