Gizmodgery is the fourth studio album by the American pop rock band Self, released on September 5, 2000, by Spongebath Records. Recorded entirely with toy instruments, its music was written and composed by lead member Matt Mahaffey, with the band's other members contributing to select songs. The album's sole single, "Trunk Fulla Amps", received a music video and television commercial, whilst the song "Dead Man" became a sleeper hit in the early 2020s.

Gizmodgery received generally positive reviews upon its release, discussing its unique production and playful energy, with Self's cover of "What a Fool Believes" (originally by Kenny Loggins and popularized by the Doobie Brothers) receiving consistent praise. Commercially, Gizmodgery sold over 13,000 copies in its first week and peaked near the top of multiple CMJ charts. The album was distributed in Japan by Avex Records in 2001, and on vinyl through El Camino Media in 2015. Various cut songs and b-sides were later released on their second compilation album, Selfafornia (2001).

In 1995, Self was given the cover page of an issue of Virtually Alternative after the release of the project's debut album Subliminal Plastic Motives. Within the magazine, lead member Matt Mahaffey spoke about wanting to create an album solely with toy instruments, a concept last attempted by Pianosaurus in their 1987 album Groovy Neighborhood. He was additionally inspired by The Moog Cookbook (1996) and At Home with the Groovebox (1999). Matt's older brother, Mike Mahaffey, later bought musical toys for his children, which sparked Matt to purchase more through eBay and begin developing the toy album. He chose to do the project independently, feeling less constrained with his label Spongebath Records compared to prior major label albums, although DreamWorks Records expressed interest in publishing the album.

Toy instruments such as the one-string Mattel star guitar made chord assembly arduous, requiring each note to be played one at a time. On the back of physical copies, Mahaffey compiled a list of all toys used for Gizmodgery, including a Schoenhut toy piano. Cheryl Botchick of CMJ noted of these that the listed six-string electric guitar produced by Vox "could be construed as a rule bender". Mahaffey recorded the album with a condenser microphone, equalizing the audio with Pro Tools to fix abundant mid-range frequencies. "5 Alive", "Pattycake", and "Hi, My Name's Cindy" additionally used Logic Pro, which required Mahaffey to manually rearrange hundreds of separate stems from Pro Tools to mix the songs. The latter's files were lost during this process, resulting in its final version being a rough mix. "Trunk Fulla Amps" and "Ordinaire" required multiple takes due to recording errors involving their bass guitar and drums, respectively. Alongside "I Love to Love Your Love My Love" and "Suzie Q Sailaway", these four songs were written together in one day.

Self additionally worked on Breakfast with Girls (1999), an album planned to be released through DreamWorks, while making Gizmodgery. Mahaffey wrote and recorded "Suzie Q Sailaway" for inclusion on the latter, but was requested by the label to put it on the former. He re-recorded the song with a full band, wishing to contain toy songs to Gizmodgery. This process delayed the release of Breakfast with Girls, which, combined with the track's shift in style, led to a retroactive dissatisfaction. Self was proposed by Count Bass D to record a cover of the Doobie Brothers' song "What a Fool Believes" during the album's creation, but the collaboration never came to fruition. Mahaffey later recorded the cover independently, drawn to creating large chords with small instruments. The song was constructed in a non-C major key to add variation to the album.

Gizmodgery uses a power pop/rock soundscape with elements of new wave. In addition to being an early representation of soft grunge, it also takes influence from artists such as Prince, Lenny Kravitz, and Queen. Lead band member Matt Mahaffey consistently labeled Gizmodgery as an "exercise in recording", and called the album a "lot of fun" to make. The majority of the vocals in Gizmodgery are performed in a feminine manner, characterized by a high level of energy.

"5 Alive" consists of an intro featuring a cacophony of background noises, later complemented by aesthetically pleasing vocals, all while incorporating an element of pop music. "Chameleon" is predominantly made up of a repeating drum loop accompanied by distorted sounds. The publication The O'Colly described "Chameleon" as "surprisingly dark," while Alex Steininger from In Music We Trust referred to it "as close as anyone will ever get to creating pop-industrial-electronica." "Pattycake" is sung in a falsetto reminiscent of soul music. "Ordinaire" incorporates unconventional and eccentric rhythms, alongside alarm sounds similar to that of the American new wave band Devo. "9 Lives" is presented in the style of a punk song and evokes elements of psychedelic music. While "I Love To Love Your Love My Love" is a parody of popular doo-wop songs, and features a piano ballad.

The opening track, "I Am A Little Explosion", begins with a toy doll stating "Let’s play some music!", before the song starts. "Chameleon" is characterized by a recurring vocal verse, which also incorporates a sample of a drunken man speaking nonsensically. "Dead Man", is written from the perspective of a man dealing with mortality issues, coping with the stress of everyday life by using black comedy as a relief method. Following, "Trunk Fulla Amps" was written humorously, as the band considered it ironic that a song created solely with toy instruments could contain significant profanity. The lyrics repeatedly state, "Got a trunk fulla amps, motherfucker", and reference several artists by name, including Freddie Mercury and the Electric Light Orchestra. Mahaffey remarked that after writing the first verse of the song: "—the flood gate opened and the 'f' word flew freely."