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Apr 7, 2011While it's hardly the feel-good record of the moment, Toth has a gift with an engaging delivery for his scenarios of rough times and fringe living.
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Jan 4, 2011Young God's version is rattled and haunted, with guitars and voices that sound damaged and weary.
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MojoDec 23, 2010James Jackson Toth aka Wooden Wand is at home on Michael Gira's label. [Jan. 2011, p. 94]
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The WireDec 22, 2010Wooden Wand's contemporary contributions to songwriting tradition have produced some great work, but on Death Seat he has excelled himself. [Nov 2010, p.64]
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Dec 20, 2010In a less skilled writer's hands, this sort of thing might be off-putting, but with Toth behind the wheel, Death Seat makes for a weirdly wonderful ride.
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Nov 15, 2010This may be Toth's strongest and most immediately engaging work so far. As ever with an artist as untamed as Toth, it's far from a complete picture.
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Nov 15, 2010Death Seat leaves nothing unsaid, and through this purge, Wooden Wand is absolved from past sins, ready to face a new life with a new resolve. The fiery mess of mangled metal and flesh looks much better from atop the cliff than from the wreckage.
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Nov 15, 2010His characters are round and puzzling, not just sour. He uses bitterness not just as a good look but as a method of getting inside his characters.
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Nov 15, 2010Despite his slow but sure move to more straightforward song structures, Toth's still as smartly elusive as ever on Death Seat, and the tone recalls his best work on the 2005 record Harem of the Sundrum and the Witness Figg.
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Nov 15, 2010As a self-consciously serious singer-songwriter, Toth consistently underwhelms. As with Waiting In Vain, Death Seat showcases Toth's evocative, starkly poetic lyrics....But neither his voice nor his music effectively convey any of those bleak, morbidly witty themes.