vinyl

This New Release Plays on Fisher-Price Record Players ONLY | NOISEY

This New Release Plays on Fisher-Price Record Players ONLY | NOISEY.

It goes without saying that analog—à la vinyl and cassette—is totally en vogue right now. Encouraged by being able to touch your music rather than watch as you accidently vanquish it to the depths of the recycle bin, loads of labels are pressing releases that you can feel.

Well, it seems that Canadian label Kelp Records has combined this touchy-feely admiration with an admiration for childhood. You know: the time when playtime was actually a session on the monkey bars and not a euphemism for heavy-petting.

The Ottawa-based brand is issuing the music of local band Hilotrons exclusively for the Fisher-Price toy record player. This means that instead of raving hands aloft to “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” you can get down to “My Number” and “Not There Tonight” playing in some creepy glockenspiel tones. Unfortunately, you’ll only get roughly 25 seconds to drown in the euphoria, as the format can only carry about half a verse and half a chorus of each song.

The decision came after label founder Jon Bartlett, tracked down the Zeppelin disc’s creator in Surrey and arranged to have them produce the Hilotrons two-sider, taken from their recent LP At Least There’s Commotion. Being a boyhood fan of the 1970s kiddy jukebox, he thought this would be a rad idea for the novelty item shelf. Because of costs, however, the label was only able to make five of the records, which were sold as part of an exclusive package at last Saturday’s Toronto edition of the Independent Label Market.

Bear with us as we raid the aisles of Toys ‘R’ Us.