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: Loscil‘s “The Making Of Grief Point” is my favorite song of 2010. Writing about the song itself will only cheapen it, so I’ll just say that I count Dan Bejar among only a handful of contemporaries—Neil Michael Hagerty leaps to mind—as a truly uncompromising artist in the most basic and pure sense of the word. He is a lyricist worthy of anyone’s envy, an astute student and color commentator of the muse. His work continues to befuddle, spellbind and excite me. I’ve listened to this an unhealthy amount of times.
Video after the jump.
