Made to be played: 7 musicians who built their own instruments

If Guitar Hero has taught us anything, it’s that any worthless hunk of plastic can pass for a musical instrument in the right context. Just ask Micachu And The Shapes leader Mica Levi, who’s used such unlikely components as a vacuum cleaner and a CD rack to create quirky, customized sounds for her Björk-leaning indie trash-pop. As Levi and her bandmates touch down in Minneapolis for a Sept. 23 gig at the Cedar Cultural Center, The A.V. Club offers a roundup of intrepid musicians—some innovative, some just plain scooters—who’ve skirted convention by building and playing their own unusual gear.

Mica Levi, Micachu And The Shapes
Creations: A modified guitar called a “Chu” is just one of the unorthodox tools Levi plies, both on stage and in the studio.
Materials: Broken bottles, CD racks, vacuum cleaners
Sum effect: The eclectic blend of lo-fi pop and grimy programming on Micachu’s recent Jewellery sometimes hints at the avant-garde, but sing-song pop hooks keep the overall mood light and inviting. Celebrity endorsements don’t hurt, either: Björk was spotted dancing at a Micachu show, and Kim Deal of The Breeders/Pixies has called the band one of her favorites of the year.

 
Harry Partch
Creations: The Chromelodeon, a retooled reed organ, remains one of Partch’s most famous inventions. The many instruments he built from scratch deserve as much credit for their names as for their capabilties, including the Mazda Marimba and Cloud Chamber Bowls.
Materials: Automobile light bulbs, artillery shell casings, tree branches, wood, and metal detritus
Sum effect: Partch was a pioneer in this type of experimentation. Just as curious as his material creations were his compositions, many of which were conceived using a heady 43-tone scale of Partch’s own invention. Since his death in 1974, his albums have become vital DIY documents, directly influencing Micachu among numerous other artists from across the musical spectrum.

Walter Kitundu
Creations: Kitundu’s primary innovation is the phonoharp, an adaptive device featuring a turntable and strings that can be played by hand.
Materials: Wood, metal, strings, turntable guts
Sum effect: Born in Tanzania, Kitundu spent some time living and playing in Minneapolis during the 1990s, performing as a DJ with groups such as MMF. His music veers toward the spooky, taking inspiration from hip-hop, ambient, African, and other diverse sources. Accordingly, his more esoteric work is more likely to be heard in a fine-arts auditorium than on FM radio. He was awarded a coveted MacArthur Foundation fellowship—a.k.a. the Genius Grant—in 2008.

That 1 Guy (a.k.a. Matthew Silverman)
Creations: His signature doodad is The Magic Pipe, a rhythmic and melodic thingamajig resembling a giant steel bong. There’s also The Magic Boot and The Magic Saw.
Materials: Steel pipes, orchestral bass strings, electrical circuitry
Sum effect: As looping technology has become a more familiar part of many musicians’ arsenals, Silverman’s one-man-band act seems less like a novelty than it used to. Still, willfully goofy tunes like “Buttmachine” and the spectacle of his Magic Pipe yield a carnivalesque effect.



Mr. Quintron (a.k.a. Robert Rolston)
Creation: He’s widely known in indie circles as the creator of the Drum Buddy, a low-tech, light-activated drum machine that’s roughly the size of a ’70s-era tabletop record player.
Materials: Wood, metal, light bulb, electrical wiring, knobs, switches
Sum Effect: Quintron and his wife, Pussycat Panacea, have been performing his signature brand of “swamp tech/noise rock” with musical theater-style vocals for over a decade. The sound of the Drum Buddy is a perfect companion to their act: kitschy, kooky, and oddly infectious. Quintron’s home venue, New Orleans’ Spellcaster Lodge, was recently renovated after suffering major damage during Hurricane Katrina.

Roy Wooten (a.k.a. Future Man)
Creations: His contributions to the canon include the Drumitar, an electronically mutated axe used to trigger samples and drum sounds, and the RoyEl, a piano that “employs the power and science of Mother Nature to attain the natural ratios of the Golden Means.”
Materials: Like the commercially available Zendrum, Wooten’s Drumitar combines a guitar body with piezo elements connected to various samplers and drum machines.
Sum Effect: Like his sometime bandmate Béla Fleck, the eccentric Future Man’s work is simultaneously weird, worldly, and refined. His new band, Black Mozart, takes on a more funk-and-soul-leaning sound. Wooten has said that Pythagorean numerology, largely regarded as pseudomathematics for its astrological basis, and the 19 sutras of the Vedic mathematic system influence his compositions. It could be this kind of funny math—along with his claim that living in Tennessee did not make him a resident of the United States—that landed him two years of probation for tax evasion in 2005.

Neptune
Creations: The Boston band’s various customized instruments are mutant versions of guitar, bass, drums, pedals, and other rock implements, seemingly supplied by a post-apocalyptic Mad Max flea market.
Materials: Old basses and guitars, VCR casing, scrap metal, machine parts, electronics
Sum effect: The band was originally conceived as a sculpture project, which should tell you plenty. Its raw, thunderous noise-punk isn’t for everyone, but even the most genteel ReadyMade subscriber can appreciate the build-it-yourself aesthetic behind its long discography and formidable underground rep.