Says Swans frontman and head of Young God Records Michael Gira, James Jackson Toth’s “got that picaresque quality that Dylan had in his heyday, wherein the shambolic narrator undergoes various travails and epiphanies—harrowing, bleak and darkly comical—in the course of a narrative, then leaves you mystified, both smiling and sad.” They are collections of outtakes, demos and songs that never, for one reason or another, made it onto his other recording output.
Toth’s Law, Volume II
The response to the first volume of home recordings (Toth’s Law Vol. I, now deleted) was really positive, so here’s a second batch, with a third (and likely final) installment to come before the end of the year. All songs here written / recorded sometime between 2008 and 2016.
This time I thought I’d provide a little context by offering a few brief notes on the songs:
“Drug Sniffing Dogs”
About conflicts of interest and cognitive dissonance. I was probably also thinking about Fugazi’s “Great Cop.”
“Paralyzed”
Considered (but not recorded) for the upcoming One Eleven Heavy project (shhhhhh!). This song has been kicking around, in various forms, since at least 1998. Can’t seem to get it exactly right.
“You Could Have a Job”
Self-explanatory.
“Hall of Mirrors”
The first of two songs re-recorded for the Carlos The Second album, Regal Beast (available elsewhere on Bandcamp).
“Art of War”
Written after being challenged to write a jingle about a work of literature. After the first few lines it went somewhere else.
“Rockabye Kid”
Recorded with the Briarwood Virgins band around the time of the Briarwood LP, left off the record for reasons I no longer remember. Full band version will be released on limited edition single later this year; this demo version originally appeared on a scandalously limited lathe cut 7” released on the Sonido Polifonico label.
“Don’t Let Love Make a Liar Out of You”
Eventually re-recorded for the album Regal Beast by Carlos The Second, a band I co-founded with good friend and collaborator Ryan “Coupler’ Norris, and featuring guest vocals by old pal Langhorne Slim. This is the original, previously unreleased demo version, exclusive to this release.
“One Can’t Only Love”
A sort of ‘answer song’ to the similarly titled “One Can Only Love,” found on the most recent Wooden Wand album, Clipper Ship (Three Lobed Records, 2017). Still not sure which side I’m on.
“Fuzzy’s Smokehouse”
A tribute to the operator of said smokehouse, and a very dear friend.
“Everything I’ve Lost”
A sequel to my own song “Collateral Damage,” also about a dog. Dogs pop up in a lot of my songs.
As always, I reserve the right to delete this release without notice (and probably will) so grab it while you can.
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