DOWNLOAD: Slaraffenland - Meet and Greet (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Akron/Family - River (MP3)

Akron/Family @ New Museum 3/27 (more by Leia Jospe)

Akron/Family will continue to tour behind their new disc, Set 'Em Wild, Set Em Free, into the fall, with tour dates supported by "Wooden" Wand, Jeffery Lewis & The Junkyard and Slaraffenland. On those shows, "the Slaraffenland horns will join the band on stage each night (a la The Dodos [who have shows coming up] or Megafaun before them) to form the Akron/Family big band."

NYCers can next catch Akron/Family at either All Points West or All Tomorrow's Parties. Slaraffenland are playing a NYC show on September 22nd at a venue that is still TBA.

Akron/Family is releasing a series of 7" singles through Dead Oceans. Those records will be available mainly on tour, and contain 'Em Wild a-sides and exclusive, unreleased b-sides. The first of those, featuring "Everyone is Guilty," is out now; the second in the series, "River," comes out in September. Details on those singles below.

Slaraffenland's new album, We're on Your Side, will be out September 15th on Hometapes. "Meet and Greet," that record's first single, is posted above. In addition to their dates with Akron/Family, the Danish group has a TBA NYC show penciled in for Tuesday, September 22nd. They also recently collaborated with filmmaker Vincent Moon (of The Take Away Shows) for a video filmed in their native Copenhagen.

Moon also recently taped Akron/Family's March 29th Union Pool show. That video, with all tour dates, album info, and some background on Slaraffenland, is below...

Continue reading "Akron/Family - new records & summer tour (w/ Wand, Jeffrey Lewis & Slaraffenland - who have a new album)"

DOWNLOAD: Wand - Arriving (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Wand - Saturday Delivery (MP3)

James Jackson Toth @ Pianos 8/23 (more)

Earlier this year, James Jackson Toth "aka Wooden Wand aka Wand" put out two albums (both as "Wand," which I think is what he's mainly going by now). One of those was a b-sides and demos release called Hard Knox on Ecstatic Peace. The other was a limited-edition release called Born Bad on People in a Position to Know and Toth's own Mad Monk imprint. Two songs off Hard Knox are posted above.

The People in a Position label has a few more Toth releases in the works, including the debut of his band the Jescos. He also has a record coming out on Michael Gira's Young God Records set for early next year.

Wand will be touring the east coast this summer. Those dates include supporting gigs for Michael Gira, Woods and Akron/Family. The first of his NYC stops will be a show with Gira at the Issue Project Room on Saturday, July 25th.

Then, he'll be playing the Studio at Webster Hall on Sunday, July 26th with Larkin Grimm (who is also on Young God Records and whose upcoming shows include the Musicka Mystica Maxima Fest at Santos in September). Tickets are on sale.

Toth teams up with Akron/Family in mid-August to open several dates on that band's extensive summer/early fall tour. All Wand and Larkin Grimm tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Wand (James Jackson Toth) - 2009 Tour Dates (includes a NYC show w/ Michael Gira, one w/ Larkin Grimm) "

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford, woods by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: WAND - Arriving (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: James Jackson Toth - Nothing Hides (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: James Jackson Toth - Doreen (MP3)

Last year, the axman known as Wooden Wand (a.k.a. James Jackson Toth) shed his moniker for the Rykodisc-released Waiting in Vain. Also as James Jackson Toth, he played last year's CMJ, with a stop at the Brooklyn Vegan day party at Pianos (that's where the pictures in this post come from).

Now, in early '09, he's back with two albums under the name of WAND: the first, Born Bad, will be co-released by People In A Position To Know Records and Wand's Mad Monk label on March 31st, in limited-edition, LP-only style - "Only 500 copies, repress unlikley."

Then, Hard Knox or, "Are You Sure Hank Jr. Done it This Way?", a disc of demos and home recordings, will come out on Ecstatic Peace, May 26th, 2009.

And all signs point to Toth's next offering, a just-recorded group album, introducing another name to the mix: new band The Jescos (feat. "Timothy Bracy, formerly of The Mendoza Line along with members of alt-country faves Glossary and We Were The States"). Read about the band's recording adventures on his Toth Tells the Truth blog.

Toth remarked about his January 25th Daytrotter session on his Myspace blog:

"[The session's] exclusive covers of tunes by Baptist Generals, Aerosmith, Charlie Walker and Roy Buchanan were recorded in the midst of tour on the occasion of my 30th birthday, aka the worst day of my entire life (so far). Dig you the dispatch from oblivion. And the cute cartoon of me looking all lean and clean. While you're there, check out some other Daytrotter sessions. The TK Webb and Damien Jurado ones are especially terrific."

Continue reading "Wooden Wand aka WAND aka James Jackson Toth - new albums, CMJ pics & The Jescoes"