Season 2 - Episode 4 :: "An Entry Into The Esoterica w/ James Toth (Wooden Wand)"

Depending on when you where born, most people know exactly where they were, who they were with, and if it was on a school night, or not when Fugazi's "Repeater" was released, or "Facelift" by Alice In Chains, "Goo" by Sonic Youth, "People's Instinctive Travels and The Paths Of Rhythm" by A Tribe Called Quest in 1991, and rightfully so. These are just a just a few academic artifacts of a decade that was shifting significantly from the underground into the mainstream, and there was nothing you could do to stop it. But do you remember where you were, who you were with, and if it was on a school night, or not when the Tempe/Arizona-based group the Sun City Girls released their mythical masterpiece "Torch of the Mystics"? This week's guest, James Toth (Wooden Wand), does, and he's here to tell all. Having been a sonic staple in the New Weird America movement from the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was here that this culturally captivating climate influenced several artists, who were undoubtedly touched but the Girls' metaphysical magic. Toth recently wrote the lucid liner notes for the archival release of Paris 1942's "Birds in Their Cages" on Superior Viaduct back in the November, and with Three Lobed Recordings graciously deciding to continue carrying the tonal torch that Eclipse Records left off with releasing the steady flow of SCG's cosmic Cloaven Tape series on vinyl in the early 2000s with "Famous Asthma / Tibetan Jazz 666", and "Extra-Sensory Defection / Graverobbing in the Future" back in July. Their spirit is more alive than ever, and Toth helps us catch up on a few missed calls from beyond the Rig Veda.