#James Jackson Toth

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

INTERVIEWS ETC 2023

I sometimes talk to people! Going back over the last year, I had some nice conversations with some very cool people. I like doing interviews, but they definitely stress me out a little bit. I suppose it's good to get out of your comfort zone from time to time, though ... So yeah, here are a few of those interviews, in case you missed 'em the first time around.

HEAD VOICE (James Jackson Toth, Ben Chasny, Donovan Quinn)

Donovan Quinn: There’s one aspect of process which is like a user manual. You know, turning on a machine, how you control the bass or whatever. But then there’s a part of process which is more of our terrain, where it’s kind of a story. An artist or a group of artists is interacting with all these elements — each other, gear, inspiration. With each of our pieces in Head Voice, we’re getting little bits of that story.

ILYAS AHMED

With my record, I’ve seen people reference Loren Connors, which is great — I’m a huge fan of Loren Connors. But I’m always comparing it to something like Bill Fay, maybe in an emotional sense. Or like, Neil Young — how do I make “Cortez The Killer” … but not just copy it. One of my favorite Coltrane tunes is “Alabama.” Those eternal favorites you always come back to. How can I make something that feels like that without just doing that, right? I’m not interested in copying it, I’m interested in transmuting it, making it fit into my weird perspective of the world. 

WILL HERMES

As an artist, [Lou] was a “transformer,” and everybody has their own version of who he was. What they want him to be, what aspect of his character they wanted to take in. I tried to show them all. I don’t know if they all morph into a single, intelligible human being. But maybe that is part of what was endlessly fascinating about him. He was all of these things simultaneously and they didn’t all necessarily add up.

M. SAGE

I think it’s radical to have fun. And to be silly. It’s not meant as escapism or denial, but the world is dark and weird. And it keeps getting darker and weirder. It’s radical for an artist to afford an audience joy or pleasure. I mean, I love a lot of that solemn, serious, foreboding electro-acoustic music. There’s incredible stuff, obviously. But I wanted to make something that felt fun. And accessible! That’s radical, too, I think.

HORSE LORDS

Andrew Bernstein: We’re trying to make things that sound interesting to us, first and foremost. But we’re also hoping that the music and the way we operate spurs the listener to think differently. Every act is political, and our decisions might make someone reconsider how they make music or how they go about their lives.

BRENDA SAUTER

“The Obedient Atom” at White Eagle Hall was really special. That was one of the original Willies songs and it never got recorded. It was one of those songs that was always left behind for one reason or another. To finally play it out just felt incredible … and then the fire alarm went off and everyone had to evacuate [laughter]. There’s something about that song! Surreal. The atom wasn’t so obedient that night.

Further reading: Bill Million on the Feelies' live tribute to an Underground legend

GUIDING LIGHT: A TOM VERLAINE APPRECIATION

Alasdair MacLean: I also think of some of Stephan Mallarme’s phrases – “the musician of empty nothingness.” Verlaine seemed to be working in parallel: “Watching the corners turn corners;” “Lightning struck itself.” The language turns in on itself, like the guitar solos. He obviously knew those poets back to front. I imagine lots of other people have tried to do this since, but all of them have made fools of themselves. Verlaine never did.

Further reading: Tom Verlaine - 20 Great Tracks

SPIRAL STAIRS

When we first started talking about rehearsing, I was like, “We’re probably going to be playing the same 20 songs. Let’s just pick another 15 songs that we know we can bust out.” Eventually, we finally came to that point…but then in rehearsals we ended up playing probably like 60 songs [laughs]. I’m like, “Oh my god!” That was just for the two Primavera shows, so it was like “Come on!” It took a while to re-learn all of that stuff. 

#pavement #television #m. sage #the feelies #lou reed #will hermes #ilyas ahmed #the wild carnation #the velvet underground #tom verlaine #horse lords #six organs of admittance #donovan quinn #aquarium drunkard #james jackson toth #head voice

[dustedmagazine]

Wet Tuna/DUNZA — In the Running 3 (I Heart Noise)

A pair of acid folk mainstays pay each other homage in this brief but somehow also expansive excursion into spun out psychedelia. Wet Tuna is, of course, the latest iteration of Matt Valentine’s home-grown trippery, an uneasy intoxication of drone, folk, funk and electronics. DUNZA is James Jackson Toth’s pandemic outlet, conceived in about 2019 as a distraction during uncertain times. To this you can add the input of one Gabe Walsh, who records as Earthly Forms and Solilans; his short, Afro-percussion pocked “Trailer,” which picks up bits of both covers, kicks off the album in a dreamy slow-jammed shimmer.

Still, intriguing as Walsh’s entry is, it’s probably not what you’re here for. The main attraction here the cover-trading, which highlights points of agreement—and divergence—between two out folk innovators. Wet Tuna goes first, with “Wand Arise,” a cut Valentine first tackled for the Lagniappe Super Session project celebrating Toth’s birthday in 2022 (we reviewed it here.) It’s a relatively early Wooden Wand cut, still well within Toth’s oddball freak folk period, and it meshes well with Wet Tuna’s echo sheathed, slow-moving, trance-state aesthetic. If you didn’t know it was a cover, you wouldn’t necessarily guess it. It haunts its space rather than inhabiting it, sketching funk and rock ideas in transitory bursts of electric keys and electric guitars, but letting them slouch off into the margins.

DUNZA takes on “Sweet Chump Change,” a slyly propulsive groove of epic length that you might have heard at a Wet Tuna live gig if you go to such things. Toth, who has evolved into a more song-structured, lyrically focused writer over time (check out his James and the Giants S-T from last year, one of my favorites), here reaches for wordless gnosis. The cut is anchored by its serpentine beat, which sidles up to the twos and fours and then pops them hard. Lucid, silvery keyboards reinforce the afro-funk aura, though the picture slips in and out of focus. Toth and a woman (maybe Leah?) murmurs the title phrase repeatedly, and that’s pretty much all you get for lyrics. It’s a shifting, elusive alternative reality, not too different from the original but very different from what Toth has been up to lately.

The three cuts share a good deal, and indeed, in a longer recording, the cohesiveness might shade into tedium. However, with three tracks (or really two plus a mash up), the format works, as both artists find much common ground in their respective bodies of work.

Jennifer Kelly

#wet tuna #dunza #in the running 3 #i heart noise #jennifer kelly #albumreview #dusted magazine #covers #matt valentine #james jackson toth #wooden wand #psych #drone #acid folk

[puddingonthewrist]

Pudding On The Wrist: Ep 169

Join your host and psychic friend, Frozen Lazuras, for an evening of your favorite kind of music.  Tasty treats (of the sonic variety), including Lord Sitar, Love Child, Wooden Wand and the Sky High Band, The Velvet Underground, Kraftwerk, and so many more.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pudding-on-the-wrist/id1500520666?i=1000652365313

#diy podcast #free form radio #Velvet Underground #Crate Digging #Wooden Wand #James Jackson Toth #Lord Sitar #Obscure Music #Love Child

[heywasistdas]

Josh Doss - Distant Memories

(just updated the label page, though we do still have a few copies left)

We have been quite in awe of Mr.Doss ever since getting the connection via James Jackson Toth. Josh is a exceptionally talented song writer and when he gets together with a band of cohorts, the sparks fly in a classic low-fi rock n roll way. “Distant Memories” continues that same basement echo, outsider rock n roll session feel of his previous album for Was Ist Das? “Don’t Let Your Time Pass You…

View On WordPress

#Josh Doss

[soundpatterns]

Playlist (01/13/23)

1. James Jackson Toth- Waiting In Vain

[tonimining]

Crazy | Doechii from Field Trip on Vimeo.

‘Crazy’ by Doechii

Director - C. Prinz EP - Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith EP - Anthony “Moosa” Tiffith EP - Eli Raskin EP - Nance Messineo Post Producer - Cole Santiago Producer - Nabeer Khan Choreo - Tyrik Patterson DP - Mika Altskan Production Designer - Brielle Hubert Casting - Esprit Casting Stunt Coordinator - Rob Brown Editor - Armen Harootun VFX Studio - v01 Studio Color - Dante Pasquinelli Sound - Christian Stropko Label - Top Dawg Ent. & Capitol Records TDE - Keaton Smith, James Mackel, Dann Gilbuena, Saj Motley

Dancers - Latonya Swann, Kyla Chaney, Briana Williams, Tydryn Scott, Kelsey L Richardson, Divinity Gaines, Sasha Rivero, Calei Marie, Kryss Hicks, Maile Makaafi, Sasha Mallory, Taya Lee

Models - Patricia Leggett, Raven Schexnayder, Mercy Odima, Khayla Obey, Nicole Caceres

Production Manager - Paul Lee Production Coordinator - Ariel Hutchins-Fuhr Intimacy Coordinator - Jazlyn Lewis 1st AD - Joy Hubbard 2nd AD - Emily Lavengood 2nd 2nd AD - Jibriel Rabinowitz AD PA - Josephine Lewis Stunt Asst. – Bri Marie Korin

1st AC - Noah Ramos 1st AC - Adam Marquez 1st AC - Anthony Goodman 2nd AC - Jenny Roh 2nd AC - Anthony Hwang Steadicam - Parker Brooks DIT - Keith Pratt VFX Supervisor - Matt Kemper

Gaffer - Mathias Peralta BBE - Fred Palluzzi SLT - Hayden Klemes SLT - Alex Gracie SLT - Alec Alvarez SLT - Clay Pacatte SLT - Steve Hodges

Key Grip - Luke Poole BBG - Jon Coyne Grip - Loren Jones Grip - Kip Edwards Grip - Nick Herman Grip - Jason Gray Grip - Myles Evenson Grip - Edward Rodriguez

Art Director - Matt Toth Leadperson - Ed Lee Prop Master - Paul McCaffrey Set Dresser - Elio Martinez Set Dresser - Helena Morales Set Dresser - Luke Sirimonkhon SFX Coordinator - Alan Roberts SFX Asst. - Darrel Burgess Animal Wrangler - Ted Shred

Stylist - Julio Delgado Suit Fabricator - Dragon Dronet Artist Makeup - Zaheer Sukhnandan Artist Hair - Anthony Martinez Talent Makeup - Laura Dudley SFX Makeup - Oasis Nguyen Talent Hair - Nina J. Potts Hair Sculptures - Chatwaka Jackson Jewelry - Chris Habana Seamstress - Kate Broadrick Suit Fabricator Assist - Wanda Piety Suit Fabricator Assist - Dirk Okumoto Stylist Asst. - Adrian Flores Stylist Asst. - Ashley Pineda Stylist Asst. - Salina Hernandez Makeup Asst. - Emiko Smith Makeup Asst. - Adriana Gonzalez Hair Asst. - Alex Thao Hair Sculpture Asst. - Haley Stevenson

VFX Producer - Amit Grant CGI - Yoni Shahar, Ben Artzi, Amit Bensangi VFX Artists - Daniel Gerber, Amit Bensangi, Artur Tut, Rahul Gidd, Alexandr Dysenko, Stas Ravskyi, Imri Agmon, David Nahari, Yogesh Sharma

[bourbonmetalhead]

64 Bourbons Bracket Round 2, Matchup 13: Woodford D.O. Until the Cops Show Up vs. Town Branch Barrel Proof Store Pick

Songs of matchup:

Celtic Frost: “The Wings of Solitude” vs. Lynyrd Skynyrd: “Simple Man”

Song advancing to the Sweet 16 of 64 Bourbons Bracket is “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd

#headbanger #bourbon #bourbon bracket #bourbon metalhead #whiskey #bourbon tasting #kentucky bourbon #64 bourbons bracket #kentucky straight bourbon #whisky #ronnie van zant #lynyrd skynyrd #southern rock #simple man #james jackson toth #Jacksonville #duval #spotify #playlist #metallica #deftones

[nofatclips]

Warrior Woman by Jex Thoth from the album Jex Thoth

#music #jex thoth #zodiac (jex thoth) #jessica toth #clay ruby #mike schultz #silas paine #glenn donaldson #john danielson #johnny dee (jex thoth) #grim jim #jackson james toth #artwork #sami hynninen #sami albert hynninen

[sweetblahg]

Wooden Wand: Subterranean 2017

This was only the second time James Jackson Toth has come through Chicago in the years he’s been on my radar, but was my first time seeing him perform Wooden Wand material. Last year’s set with William Fowler Collins (and Ryan Norris/Jim Backer) was a long-form, soundy affair that I loved...but I’ve been itching to see him play *songs*, especially since the release of this spring’s most excellent Clipper Ship (out NOW on Three Lobed). Toth’s music can be hard to define, even within the confines of the large chunk that lives under the Wooden Wand moniker, but his storytelling was front and center in this stripped-down duo format. James’s acoustic picking and voice laid the foundation upon which (the aforementioned) Ryan Norris added flourishes of color and melody, bringing the already-vibrant songs to life. The mutual admiration between the two was tangible leading to such strong chemistry that you’d never guess this duo wasn’t a regular thing. Wooden Wand 8.8.2017 @ Subterranean Chicago, IL School’s Out Sacrificial The Mountain Overpass Outsider Blues Shaving Cold Mother Midnight Mexican Coke Mallow T'ward the River James Jackson Toth: acoustic guitar & vocals Ryan Norris: electric guitar & Moog download

#james jackson toth #wooden wand #coupler #ryan norris #chicago #three lobed recordings #Three Lobed

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Head Voice :: Ben Chasny, Donovan Quinn & James Jackson Toth

You probably know the names Ben Chasny, Donovan Quinn and James Jackson Toth. The latest venture for these brilliant underground musicians is Head Voice. This is not a new band, however. It’s an old-school zine. 

“Head Voice is dedicated to the spirit of inquiry and transparency; to asking, not telling, and dispelling certain myths about the ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to create art and music,” Toth writes in the inaugural issue’s introduction. “We hope that this shared knowledge provides both resources and inspiration.”

The first issue of Head Voice is jam-packed with great stuff, from Chasny’s chat with the esoteric sound artist Kristen Gallerneaux to Toth’s in-depth conversation with Matt Valentine to Quinn’s piece on artist/producer Jason Quever. Every page is guaranteed to spark your imagination, whether you’re a musician or fan (or both). 

Recently, I hopped on Zoom for a roundtable ramble on Head Voice’s origins and where the publication is, er, headed, among other sundry topics.

Need a soundtrack? How about this sneak peek of Winter Band, a new trio featuring Chasny, Quinn and Ethan Miller (Comets on Fire, Howlin Rain, etc). Short, but oh-so-sweet.

#head voice #six organs of admittance #donovan quinn #james jackson toth #wooden wand #aquarium drunkard

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: James and the Giants

James and the Giants is the latest project from James Jackson Toth, who got his start in the freakiest edges of aughts folk as Wooden Wand, releasing a slew of albums under that and his own name. More recently, Toth has convened another band, James and the Giants, which shares personnel with Woods (Jarvis Tavernier, Kyle Forester and Jeremy Earl). In her review of their self-titled debut, Jennifer Kelly wrote, “Who’d have guessed from James Jackson Toth’s early forays into noisy, freak folk experiments that he’d shape up as such an elegant craftsman? This latest collection of songs attests to the artist formerly known as Wooden Wand’s deep connection to and understanding of foundational American popular music forms: blues, folk, gospel, R&B, Beatles-esque psych and Brill Building pop.”

Below is some music I really love. I have omitted music created by friends and people with whom I am acquainted in “real life.”

Oiro Pena

Studio overdubs are a bit of a rarity in jazz music; even less common is jazz created by a single musician overdubbing themselves. While recent Oiro Pena albums have expanded to include several other members, band founder Antti Vauhkonen’s earliest work under the name was created by Vauhkonen alone accompanying himself performing all of the instruments. The result is like a cross between the space exotica of Sun Ra’s Chicago period and the homespun psychedelic clatter of No Neck Blues Band. As much as I enjoy the band’s recent work, it is the early Oiro Pena records that I find most compelling, the composite parts of a single brain improvising with itself to create a beautiful illusion.

B-52s — “Ain’t It A Shame”

The B-52s’ 1986 album Bouncing Off The Satellites is what is often referred to in rock crit speak as a “transitional record.” It preceded a 3-year hiatus, after which the B-52s enjoyed a tremendously successful comeback with 1989’s 4x platinum Cosmic Thing, thanks in no small part to chart-topping singles “Love Shack” and “Roam.” Bouncing Off The Satellites found the increasingly fractious band moving away from their taut, artsy new wave origins and embracing the potential of nascent studio technology, namely the Fairlight CMI. Most crucially, the album was released less than a year after the AIDS-related death of founding member and guitar player Ricky Wilson, who was silently and secretly struggling with the virus during the recording of the album. As a result, the band did not promote nor tour in support of the album, which is really too bad, because it’s a great group of songs, the highlight of which being the melancholy “Ain’t It A Shame” (later covered by Sinead O’Connor). The song does not deal directly with Ricky’s illness—it was written before the diagnosis was revealed to anyone in the band—but seems to foreshadow some of the band’s personal difficulties in that prophetic way that songs often do. A gorgeous, flawless song.

Eyvind Kang — “Binah”

Tucked inconspicuously into the center of polymath / genius Eyvind Kang’s 2002 CD-only release, Live Low To The Earth, In The Iron Age, is this mesmeric masterpiece, somewhere between a post-rock Bill Frisell and a more pastoral Henry Flynt. Over 27 minutes, “Binah” slowly blossoms, changing almost imperceptibly. To an impatient listener, it will be like watching paint dry; to me it’s like watching a flower bloom. My wife Leah and I have listened to this album on a loop for hours, and I’m not typically a “listen to a song on a loop for hours” kinda guy.

Omar S

For over two decades, fiercely independent producer Omar S has been upholding the tradition of Detroit techno, his best music fusing the black sonic fantasias of Drexciya with the supple house-funk of Theo Parrish. On his own records and on his own label, FXHE, on which the vast majority of his 12”s and albums are released, the former Ford Motor Factory employee works exclusively with analog gear. Omar’s releases on FXHE are pressed in small quantities, often with crude, handwritten labels; if you order direct from FXHE, it’s very likely the box you receive will have been assembled and shipped by the man himself. While using techno and Chicago house as its base, the music Omar S produces is eclectic and unpredictable, untethered to any signature sound or approach; he’s just as likely to release an irresistible summer jam (see the Diana Ross-sampling “Day,” a track so infectious it makes Daft Punk sound like The New Blockaders) as darked-edged minimal house tracks like “Nite’s Over Compton,” on which Omar S masterfully evokes a mood using the barest essentials and tools.

Frank Zappa — “Chunga Basement”

I’ve given up trying to convert friends to the cult of Frank Zappa. I’m a big fan, especially of his guitar playing, but I sympathize with those who might have an aversion to Zappa’s prurient and mean-spirited sense of humor. In fact, if Frank Zappa’s particular sense of humor could be said to have an exact diametric opposite, it is my own. I love Zappa’s music in spite of — not because of — its scatological / puerile aspects. With that preamble in mind, I encourage all you private press-obsessed guitar loners to consider this embryonic, uncharacteristically laid-back version of future live staple “Chunga’s Revenge,” recorded during a casual jam session in early 1970 and featuring a rhythm section of Ian Underwood on keys, Max Bennett on bass, and Aynsley Dunbar on drums. “Chunga’s Revenge” was historically one of several signature vehicles for Zappa the Guitarist (as opposed to Zappa the Social Theorist, Zappa the Comedian-Provocateur, Zappa the Serious Composer, et al) and this early take finds our mustachioed man sounding uncharacteristically mellow and un-caffeinated, exploring the endless possibilities of his guitar in a way that isn’t remotely wacky or wanky.

Barre Phillips — Three Day Moon

There was a brief period in the mid-to-late 1970s when artists on ECM — my all-time favorite label after Three Lobed — were experimenting with synthesizers, approaching this relatively new technology with an omnivorous artistic fervor common to the ECM roster. Legendary bassist Barre Phillips’ pair of albums in the late 1970s are, to me, the distillation of this meeting of the earthy and the synthetic, locating in the process what might be considered ground zero for “ambient jazz.” While jazz groups incorporating elements of ambient and drone have become increasingly common as of late, there was little precedent in 1976 for the experimental marriage of saxes and circuitry. Mountainscapes (1976) and Three Day Moon (1978) both feature the mysterious and under-recorded synthesist Dieter Feichtner, about whom little is known — anyone know what became of him?

The Knife — Silent Shout

In 2006, I was in an electronic music rut. Everything being produced suddenly felt like a retread or a facsimile of things I already liked, a malady common to older, more established genres like rock and jazz, but not, as far as I was concerned, electronic music. My slump ended upon hearing Silent Shout, the third album by Swedish sibling duo The Knife. Though I avidly continue to keep up with the uniformly excellent solo projects of both members of The Knife — Karin Dreijer Andersson’s Fever Ray and Olof Dreijer’s Oni Ayhun — Silent Shout remains a pivotal record in my listening life. The album’s gothic austerity and phantasmal reimagining of dance music is clearly the work of visionary minds. Silent Shout is music of physicality, of intimacy and bodies, rendered icy and alien in part by the deployment of pitch-shifted vocals that suggest multiple menacing personas, giving the album the dissociative sense of having many different vocalists embodying different characters. Dreijer Andersson’s voice is an incredible instrument, capable of evoking dread, fear, loneliness, and antagonism. Incredible artist.

Ulver — Blood Inside

Ulver is predictable only in its unpredictability. The band radically reinvents its sound from album to album in a way that makes the Norwegian group’s music impossible to pigeonhole (see also: Boris, Circle). The group’s early albums are exciting, if fairly traditional black metal. But since then, Ulver has experimented with symphonic neo-classical, synth pop, art rock, trip hop, and folk music. 2005’s Blood Inside is their masterpiece — one of the most engrossing, relentless and overwhelming albums I’ve ever heard. Sometimes the album sounds like King Crimson covering The Cure’s Pornography, sometimes it sounds like Swans trying to evacuate a city being blasted by bombs. A grower if ever there was one, Blood Inside will worm its way into your psyche with its manic, brute ferocity and decadent maximalism. I’m loath to resort to the cliché of comparing a piece of music to an acid trip, so let’s instead call Blood Inside the sonic equivalent of an anxiety attack — inside a kaleidoscope.

Tolerance — Divin

The late music journalist Yuzuru Agi founded the Osaka-based Vanity label in 1978, releasing 11 LPs alongside a handful of 7” singles, flexis, compilations, and cassettes by mostly Japanese artists before dissolving the label in 1982. My favorite Vanity release is 1981’s Divin, the second album by the Osaka duo Tolerance. Led by the enigmatic and mysterious Junko Tange and aided by guitarist Masami Yoshikawa, Tolerance used drum machines and mixers alongside guitars and keyboards to create a different sort of early electronic music, one that was as far away from Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream as Captain Beefheart was from the Rolling Stones. As the album’s most enthusiastic boosters love to acknowledge, listening to Divin is like listening to the future: the mechanized cracked electronics of Wolf Eyes and Nautical Almanac can be heard here, no wave’s dissonant skronk and grave incantations, and certainly what is now referred to as “minimal wave.” But the record’s prescience as a precursor to techno may be a tad overstated; by 1981, we already had “Being Boiled,” Louis and Bebe Barron’s soundtrack for Forbidden Planet, and Throbbing Gristle’s “Hot On The Heels On Love” (the latter of which does sound like a clear precursor to Tolerance’s “Sacrifice”), to name a few. Whether or not the members of Tolerance were aware of any of these things is impossible to know, as no one has seen or heard from either band member since shortly after Divin’s release. I’d speculate that most if not all of these resemblances are purely coincidental and not an indication of any direct influence. The coincidences, however, are fascinating. “Misa (Gig’s Tapes in ‘C’), presented here backwards, sounds a bit like a dry run for My Bloody Valentine’s “Touched;” “Sound Round” could quite easily pass as a sixth-generation cassette dub of some lost Skam or Rephlex 12,” while “Bok Wa Zurui Robot (Stolen from Kad)” does indeed sound like a blueprint for Detroit techno. There is something beguiling and uncanny about the entire presentation of Tolerance in general and Divin in particular. Though it is unlikely that the future architects of electronic music as we know it were aware of this record upon its limited release in 1981, it is a testimony to the notion of collective unconscious that Divin unwittingly presages so much of what was to come while still sounding like nothing else.

#dusted magazine #listed #james and the giants #James Jackson Toth #Oiro Pena #B-52s #Eyvind Kang #Omar S #frank zappa #Barre Phillips #the knife #ulver #tolerance #Youtube

[i-am-rosie-b]

Jonathan Groff presents a masterclass in experiencing, and demonstrating, emotion through song:

1. “Now” by Scott Alan, at Birdland, January 2008. It seems to me that the emotion here almost gets too much for Jonathan at one point (understandably, perhaps, given the context that Scott provided at the link shown below). If you would like to listen to a version of this beautiful, sad song with better quality audio, it is also on Spotify.

https://jonathangroffappreciation.tumblr.com/post/642083594637049856/scott-alan-on-tiktok

2. I’d Rather Be Sailing from A New Brain, December 2008. There are several videos on YouTube of Jonathan singing this song, but this is the earliest one I’ve found, and seems to contain a lot of genuine emotion. He has said that this song, which is a love song by a man about a man, meant a lot to him when he was young, knowing that he was gay but feeling that he had to keep it secret, and I believe it was one of his audition songs as a teenager. This performance is from before he publicly came out of the closet in October 2009.

https://youtu.be/OUoW54hVUeY

3. Not While I’m Around from Sweeney Todd, 2009 (with Lea Michele). This is another video where his emotions appear to take him - and Lea! - by surprise. https://youtu.be/J2lIbfUAMks

4. You Don’t Know My Name by Alicia Keys, at Joe’s Pub, 2010. A classic of the "acting through song" genre. Jonathan acts out the entire song on stage, including use of borrowed props and the most blatant flirtation with a microphone stand - and the audience! - that you’ve ever seen. Unmissable.

https://youtu.be/RyuNZTWIZc8

5. A Case of You by Joni Mitchell, at Joe’s Pub, 2010. The same show as above, but a very different tone, as he’s making himself - and us - cry here, rather than laugh.

https://youtu.be/iM02l_xLgRc

6. Being In The Dark With You by Ben Toth, 2012 (with Cheyenne Jackson). I had to include this one, of course, as it is my all-time favourite. Not the clearest camera angle, but the intense eye contact comes across, and Jonathan’s slightly submissive posture in this (partially due to the height difference; I’m not used to seeing him look so small!) fits perfectly with the lyrics.

https://youtu.be/bkXDzOv535w

7. Lost in his Arms by Irving Berlin, from Annie Get Your Gun, 2014. Jonathan has said that this song has a lot of meaning to him, as it is from the first musical that he ever saw, when he was in fourth grade, and also because it is one that is usually sung by a woman, but which takes on new meaning when sung by Jonathan without flipping the pronouns. He has performed it a number of times, but this is my favourite version.

https://nyti.ms/3fjlgPk

8. Ham4Ham The Schuyler Georges, 2015 (with Renee Elise Goldsberry, Andrew Rannells and Brian D’Arcy James). One of the things I love most about Jonathan is his ability to completely change his physicality to fit a particular character, and he certainly achieves that here.

https://youtu.be/yhUFZZ5sVrc

9. You’ll Be Back from Hamilton, 2015. Well, of course, I had to include the ultimate example of “acting through song”.

- Stage directions: Create a memorable, unmistakable character, in three and a half minutes, while standing perfectly still and using only your voice, eyes and shoulders.

- Jonathan/KGIII: Nailed it!

https://youtu.be/Ti8xeyaSwCI

10. BONUS: Reacting to Ellen Winter’s debut album, Every Feeling I’ve Ever Felt. I’m cheating slightly here, as this isn’t a video of Jonathan singing (much), but instead of him reacting to his friend’s songs and “feeling every feeling he’s ever felt”.

(For more “Jonathan can’t help displaying every emotion on his face while listening to music” footage, see the video on YouTube of him reacting to Sia’s cover of Satisfied.)

#Youtube #jonathan groff #groffsauce #hamilton #lea michele #ellen winter

[heywasistdas]

Dunza - Star Client

Dunza – Star Client

Dunza is actually the man himself James Jackson Toth [aka Wooden Wand also a prime part of One Eleven Heavy]. The songs you hear on “Star Client” started out as regular songs of his but he made these special versions and came to love them so much, he deleted the originals. Having rinsed this album non-stop for two months, I think he was totally justified. I don’t have any idea how many times…

View On WordPress

[artwalktv]

‘Crazy’ by Doechii Director - C. Prinz EP - Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith EP - Anthony “Moosa” Tiffith EP - Eli Raskin EP - Nance Messineo Post Producer - Cole Santiago Producer - Nabeer Kahn Choreo - Tyrik Patterson DP - Mika Altskan Production Designer - Brielle Hubert Casting - Esprit Casting Stunt Coordinator - Rob Brown Editor - Armen Harootun VFX Studio - v01 Studio Color - Dante Pasquinelli Sound - Christian Stropko Label - Top Dawg Ent. & Capitol Records TDE - Keaton Smith, James Mackel, Dann Gilbuena, Saj Motley Dancers - Latonya Swann, Kyla Chaney, Briana Williams, Tydryn Scott, Kelsey L Richardson, Divinity Gaines, Sasha Rivero, Calei Marie, Kryss Hicks, Maile Makaafi, Sasha Mallory, Taya Lee Models - Patricia Leggett, Raven Schexnayder, Mercy Odima, Khayla Obey, Nicole Caceres Production Manager - Paul Lee Production Coordinator - Ariel Hutchins-Fuhr Intimacy Coordinator - Jazlyn Lewis 1st AD - Joy Hubbard 2nd AD - Emily Lavengood 2nd 2nd AD - Jibriel Rabinowitz AD PA - Josephine Lewis Stunt Asst. – Bri Marie Korin 1st AC - Noah Ramos 1st AC - Adam Marquez 1st AC - Anthony Goodman 2nd AC - Jenny Roh 2nd AC - Anthony Hwang Steadicam - Parker Brooks DIT - Keith Pratt VFX Supervisor - Matt Kemper Gaffer - Mathias Peralta BBE - Fred Palluzzi SLT - Hayden Klemes SLT - Alex Gracie SLT - Alec Alvarez SLT - Clay Pacatte SLT - Steve Hodges Key Grip - Luke Poole BBG - Jon Coyne Grip - Loren Jones Grip - Kip Edwards Grip - Nick Herman Grip - Jason Gray Grip - Myles Evenson Grip - Edward Rodriguez Art Director - Matt Toth Leadperson - Ed Lee Prop Master - Paul McCaffrey Set Dresser - Elio Martinez Set Dresser - Helena Morales Set Dresser - Luke Sirimonkhon SFX Coordinator - Alan Roberts SFX Asst. - Darrel Burgess Animal Wrangler - Ted Shred Stylist - Julio Delgado Suit Fabricator - Dragon Dronet Artist Makeup - Zaheer Sukhnandan Artist Hair - Anthony Martinez Talent Makeup - Laura Dudley SFX Makeup - Oasis Nguyen Talent Hair - Nina J. Potts Hair Sculptures - Chatwaka Jackson Jewelry - Chris Habana Seamstress - Kate Broadrick Suit Fabricator Assist - Wanda Piety Suit Fabricator Assist - Dirk Okumoto Stylist Asst. - Adrian Flores Stylist Asst. - Ashley Pineda Stylist Asst. - Salina Hernandez Makeup Asst. - Emiko Smith Makeup Asst. - Adriana Gonzalez Hair Asst. - Alex Thao Hair Sculpture Asst. - Haley Stevenson VFX Producer - Amit Grant CGI - Yoni Shahar, Ben Artzi, Amit Bensangi VFX Artists - Daniel Gerber, Amit Bensangi, Artur Tut, Rahul Gidd, Alexandr Dysenko, Stas Ravskyi, Imri Agmon, David Nahari, Yogesh Sharma

#Videos & Films

[bourbonmetalhead]

64 Bourbons Bracket: Round 1 (Matchup 32):

Knob Creek SB SP vs. Evan Williams Bottled in Bond

Song - Ulver: “Apocalypse 1993”

Nose:

Knob Creek SP 7308:

Funk. Ethanol. Chicken wings. Roast beef. Yeast.

Evan Williams Bottled in Bond:

Powdered sugar. Wedding cake. Fried Corn bread with honey butter. Funnel cakes.

Taste:

Knob Creek SP 7308:

Cherry. Oak. Brown sugar. Cherries. Some rhubarb. Kentucky chew: Oak fire! I literally spewed a fire alarm sprinkler’s worth of KC SP a ross my mancave. Laughing as J espoused about the wooden assault of the KC.

Evan Williams Bottled in Bond:

Carmel pudding. Oak. Banana pudding with whipped cream. Wedding cake. Super sugary and sweet. Kentucky chew: glazed glaze. Bananas basted wood.

Feel / Finish:

Knob Creek SP 7308:

Thick: yeast, drying tannic. Oak city. Made me cough on finish. Brought a few tiny tears to eyes. Amaretto. Subtle Kentucky Hug. Doesn’t slip below thorax, but has slight yo yo effect. Kentucky chew: super tannic, dries out planet Earth. It kinda pulls your chest in. Then a soft Kentucky hug. And raw walnuts, glazed with almond oil.

Evan Williams Bottled in Bond:

Slightly tannic. Medium mouthfeel. Lots of oak. A bit tannic. Sticks to tongue. Dries out teeth. Kentucky chew: yeast, about it with a touch of twigs. Fairly tannic.

#headbanger #bourbon #bourbon bracket #bourbon metalhead #whiskey #bourbon tasting #kentucky bourbon #64 bourbons bracket #kentucky straight bourbon #whisky #bobblehead #knob creek #baseball #ulver #norway #norweigian #one eleven heavy #wooden wand #james jackson toth #evan williams bottled in bond #led zeppelin #vinyl #cassette #cassetes #mercyful fate #king diamond #david koresh #waco #records #dram

[nofatclips]

Separated at Birth share by Jex Thoth from their debut album (thanks @samuli666!!!)

#somethingneweveryday #music #jex thoth #grim jim #jackson james toth #jessica toth #silas paine #glenn donaldson #zodiac (jex thoth) #clay ruby #johnny dee (jex thoth) #john danielson #mike schultz #johnny dee (tex thoth)