James & The Quiet

If you weren't fortunate enough to find the Deluxe Edition of Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation today, you probably didn't have any more success in finding Wooden Wand's James & The Quiet. Double whammy, because on the Lee Ranaldo-produced James, James Toth, without the Vanishing Voice band, comes down from the clouds, and gets not so much down to earth as down in the earth. There's a dark, gritty, soulful feel, with hard-as-nails lyrics supported by SY's Ranaldo and Steve Shelly assisting with drums, guitar, piano, and vocals. The sound and feel are not unlike Nick Cave at his quieter, less macabre moments. In other words, a great success. If his previous work was airy and unbound, then this is contained fire.

Wooden Wand - The Pushers (Morning Version) (mp3)
Wooden Wand - Spitting At The Cameras (mp3)

Stream the entire album on the Wooden Wand E-Card.

Own James and the Quiet.