Month: November 2010

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GUEST EDITOR

Wooden Wand’s James Jackson Toth Must Also Love: The Roches’ “Speak”

Even James Jackson Toth’s most rabid fans probably can’t keep track of the prolific singer/songwriter’s output. The Lexington, Ky.-based Toth has issued numerous solo and group efforts (including cassettes, CD-Rs, limited-edition vinyl, etc.) under his own name as well as such monikers as WAND, Wooden Wand And The Vanishing Voice, H.P. Witchcraft, the Jescos and the Blood Group. His latest release is Wooden Wand‘s Death Seat (Young God), an impressive 12-track album produced by YG label head and Swans frontman Michael Gira and featuring musical contributions from members of bands such as Lambchop, Silver Jews, Mercury Rev, Glossary and Fire On Fire. Toth is heading out on European and North American tours in the new year, but in the meantime, he will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our Q&A with him.

Toth: I love the Roches. Why doesn’t everyone love the Roches? I don’t know that many fans. This divisive album came out in 1989 and largely dispenses with their well-worn acoustic sound for uncharacteristic synthesizers and drums, and the results are sensational. Hopelessly unimaginative so-called traditionalists consider this album blasphemy, but they’re the same folks who say the same thing about Leonard Cohen’s brilliant I’m Your Man, so, you know, consider the source. If you are not moved by “In The World,” you have ice water in your veins, my friend.

Video after the jump.

Continue reading “Wooden Wand’s James Jackson Toth Must Also Love: The Roches’ “Speak””
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FREE MP3s

MP3 At 3PM: Action!

Action! is the husband-and-wife duo of Dan and Robyn Burns, whose self-released debut LP, Friend Weakend, has been quietly holding court with Nashville tastemakers at the Scene, We Own This Town, WRVU and elsewhere since it became available in June. Engineered and mixed by venerable Music City producer Jeremy Ferguson (Be Your Own Pet, Forget Cassettes, Turbo Fruits), the 11-song collection is a blithe and endearing affair, at times recalling the austere dexterity of Deerhoof and at others the reflective pop of Seldom. Through and through, it succeeds by inhabiting that quaint perch of your brain that craves solace, but not at the expense of, well, action. Indeed, like Pinback’s Blue Screen Life, Friend Weakend is unmistakeably filled with accomplished playing, though it’s to the Burns’ credit that we’re drawn more to its overarching wistfulness than its performed particulars. “Sandpiper” exhibits this effect well, playfully articulating the mindstream of a sea bird while a plodding, reverb-heavy backdrop builds into a jangly, near-raucous coda. Friend Weakend is available as a digital download, as well as on CD and fan-funded vinyl.

“Sandpiper” (download):
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/Sandpiper.mp3

Categories
DAVID LESTER ART

Normal History Vol. 88: The Art Of David Lester

Every Saturday, we’ll be posting a new illustration by David Lester. The Mecca Normal guitarist is visually documenting people, places and events from his band’s 26-year run, with text by vocalist Jean Smith.

Veronica tells Lesley she’s writing a fable using jungle animals who have a problem that there appears to be no way to solve.

“It’s a trap,” says Veronica. “The animals are posited opposite each other, and yet trapped together in the problem. Parting ways won’t solve the problem. The problem would remain and parting would cause another problem, so they have to understand the problem completely and figure out a solution. The jungle animals discuss these things and they agree that the problem feels like a puzzle piece with nice clean edges. They tell stories about other jungle animals, species different from themselves, and they make the problem slightly different—more extreme—to see it from other angles. They superimpose variations of the problem onto the other animals to see what they do. They try to understand themselves, inventing possible ways to approach a solution.”

“Where does the fable part come in?” asks Lesley.

“I’m not sure how a fable works,” Veronica says. “But I think maybe all these critters could be in the Trench, the Home Front Tent and the Parisian Cafe eating pies, which could have various symbolic attributes—metaphorically filled pies. Sort of like the story I told you about the alligator with the paper cuts on its lips and how its blood turned the river red and how the elephant wanted to be like the giraffe, but knew better than to vote for the giraffe when the guy in the Speedo twisted his moustache and tapped the clipboard with his stubby consensus pencil.”

“I recall the story, but it used to have a lion and a baboon in it.”

“The elephant curled his trunk up and under,” Veronica continues. “And the guy in the Speedo throws his briefcase over his shoulder, which results in the alligator getting the paper cuts on his lips, the blood from the cuts that turn the river red.”

“I’m still not sure this adds up to an official fable, though,” Lesley says.

“Well, the thing is,” says Veronica. “This happened on the same day as the story about the man who, carrying his girlfriend’s groceries to the car, made the comment about not being able to open the trunk of the car with his penis, and his girlfriend didn’t get it because, well, who would?”

“Not me,” says Lesley, laughing. “I do not see any connection between a penis and the trunk of a car. At all.”

“Right, she didn’t get it either, but she wondered if it had something to do with the part in the story about the elephant; the elephant had a trunk, and a penis is a sort of a trunk.”

“Um, that’s a bit of a stretch,” says Lesley.

Categories
GUEST EDITOR

Wooden Wand’s James Jackson Toth Must Also Love: Going To The Grocery Store

Even James Jackson Toth’s most rabid fans probably can’t keep track of the prolific singer/songwriter’s output. The Lexington, Ky.-based Toth has issued numerous solo and group efforts (including cassettes, CD-Rs, limited-edition vinyl, etc.) under his own name as well as such monikers as WAND, Wooden Wand And The Vanishing Voice, H.P. Witchcraft, the Jescos and the Blood Group. His latest release is Wooden Wand‘s Death Seat (Young God), an impressive 12-track album produced by YG label head and Swans frontman Michael Gira and featuring musical contributions from members of bands such as Lambchop, Silver Jews, Mercury Rev, Glossary and Fire On Fire. Toth is heading out on European and North American tours in the new year, but in the meantime, he will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our Q&A with him.

Toth: I enjoy this ritual immensely. I try to go late at night, when you don’t have to worry about other shoppers standing in front of the shelves you need to access or long lines at the checkout counter. I have a very strict grocery shopping regiment—left to right, always, with a separate trip along the back wall for meat and dairy—which usually alienates anyone intrepid enough to accompany me to the grocery store. These days, my wife comes along more as a “handler” than a companion, as I’ve been known to spend upwards of $400 at a time, which wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t enjoy going several times a week.

Video after the jump.

Continue reading “Wooden Wand’s James Jackson Toth Must Also Love: Going To The Grocery Store”
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LIVE REVIEWS

Live Review: Pretty Lights, Oakland, CA, Nov. 24, 2010

At the ritzy Fox Theater in downtown Oakland, Calif., the glow-stick-festooned crowd was on a collision course with a Mack truck of pot smoke, rib-cracking bass and, yes, pretty lights. On the eve of Thanksgiving, a day of wholesome family gatherings and pilgrim-hat centerpieces, the ravers were out in full force, replete with tiny backpacks, glitter, leather vests, a plethora of phosphorescent jewelry and plenty of E. They came to see Pretty Lights, a.k.a. Derek Vincent Smith, the product of a thriving DJ music scene in Denver, Colo.

Rhythmically bouncing behind his table of laptops and sound boards in a white hoodie, flat-rimmed baseball cap and aviator sunglasses, Smith was the DJ who is too engrossed in his beats to notice the 67 women in the audience throwing themselves at him. That focus has brought him from college-dropout record-scratcher to Red Rocks headliner and music-festival draw. He emerged from the lush electronic-music environment of the Mile High City, and the influence of DJ Shadow and RJD2 can be heard in Pretty Lights’ deft blend of vintage soul crooning over spacey bell chimes and glitchy hip-hop beats.

Modern music is becoming both more fractured and universal, due to the internet and iTunes and MySpace. We’ve heard it all before, so we are more particular about what we waste our ear quota on. Artists like Pretty Lights have risen to the occasion, cherry picking the best of what’s available, then chopping and sorting and mixing to craft something completely fresh and pneumatic. It’s not unlike pop artists of the prior century—Andy Warhol with his soup cans or Roy Lichtenstein with his Ben-Day dots—wielding them as sharp statements on culture and art as we know it. In Oakland, Pretty Lights wielded his beats like a carving knife, serving up a slightly pink and tasty concert experience.

The venue itself was classy and well designed, with strategically placed bars, a multi-tiered dance area and a lofty ceiling with walls adorned like an art museum’s cultures-of-the-world wing. It has an old-theater feel without the elbows in your face.

Pretty Lights lived up to its name. The light show in tandem with tracks like “Gold Coast Hustle” and “Hot Like Dimes” was like taking grandma’s warm apple pie and plopping a scoop of homemade ice cream on top. It didn’t just enhance it; it shot it into another dimension. Strobe lights, multi-colored lights, psychedelic swirling lights, clouds, fire and bubbles all pulsed with the blippy synthetic loops and drum cadence.

The set went on for more than two hours, but no one slowed down. Girls in furry animal hats were still grinding against the banisters, sweating out Four Loko as Pretty Lights wrapped up and sent them off to face their families the next day. Concert-goers can take comfort in the fact that Light therapy helps with depression.

—Maureen Coulter