Before he made a name for himself as the man behind Wooden Wand, a revolving member of Vanishing Voice, and one of the most prolific players in the so-called “New Weird America” movement, James Jackson Toth apparently instigated some pretty wild basement sessions while studying at Purchase College in the mid-’90s. Toth was only 18 years old at the time, and the project, Golden Calves, combined a cast of characters both real and imaginary, many a half-remembered night of non-stop jamming, and Toth’s own solo acoustic balladry, which he occasionally overdubbed onto the group sessions. The “band’s” first album, Golden Calves Money Band, caught the attention of underground heads like Thurston Moore and Matt Valentine, and resulted in a US tour with a line-up of Dave Seidel and Darren Methlie, who would go on to be a founding member of Vanishing Voice.
In the way of a retrospective, Woodsist is readying a collection of Golden Calves recordings that includes the original Money Band LP along with Century Band, a 12″ spotlighting the group’s contribution to a 3-way split they did with Thurston and John Olson’s old band, Dr Gretchen Musical Weightlifting Program, in 1999. Tending more toward the songwriterly side of Golden Calves– as opposed to the more free-form one– “Seraphim Radar Rallies” and “Hollow Earth Worship” jibe with Toth’s own characterization of them as “thinly veiled love letters to Siltbreeze” while possessing a rickety charm all their own.
“Seraphim Radar Rallies”
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“Hollow Earth Worship (The Oujja Machine)”
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Collection: Money Band LP+Century Band 12″ is out January 29th via Woodsist