James Jackson Toth (better known by his nom de plume, Wooden Wand) and MAGNET go way back. We’ve been rabidly following his prolific, genre-eschewing career over the last decade: 100-plus records and counting, from short run seven-inches and handmade CD-Rs to major releases on some of the world’s most respected indie labels, including Kill Rock Stars, Ecstatic Peace and Young God, covering everything from the freakiest of folk to the most American rock ‘n’ roll money can buy. We’ve been lucky enough to have him as guest editor of magnetmagazine.com a couple of other times over the years, and he’s hooked us up with great mix tapes and been a constant source of great discussions about music. Toth will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new Q&A with him.
Toth: I love techno largely because it is one of the last remaining Great Musical Mysteries to me. Allow me to explain. While I may not be able to actually play you the bass part for Yes’ “Roundabout,” I can tell you what Chris Squire is doing and why it’s special, maybe even tell you what gear he’s using to do it. But listening to, say, Carl Craig while not knowing Cubase from Q Bert (even my grasp of ProTools is tenuous at best) makes the music that much more interesting and mysterious. I’m sure a lot of loop-based software is actually pretty simple to understand, and if I was less of a lazy cenophobe I might try to learn how to use it, but that might ruin all the fun. A lot of times, when I listen to a rock band, I don’t hear music so much as I hear musicians. I hear choices being made with regard to mics and gear. Making records, over time, does this to your ears. Techno, on the other hand, may as well be the result of a buncha bald dudes messing around with the Necronomicon or something as far as I can tell.
Video after the jump.
