Ryko Greenhouse Showcase

Rykodisc is proud to present the Ryko Greenhouse showcase featuring up and coming Ryko artists Matt Duke, James Jackson Toth, The Takeover UK, and Throw The Fight. Tickets are only $5 and all proceeds from this special show will directly benefit New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity. 

In teaming with Habitat For Humanity, Ryko hopes to continue to draw attention to the still growing need for affordable housing in the New Orleans area. “We are very excited to partner with the New Orleans Area Habitat For Humanity. Commented Ms. Tallman upon the announcement: “Over our 25 year history, Rykodisc has developed very strong ties within the New Orleans community and we are glad that this showcase will allow us to entertain and give back at the same time.”

Participating artists include singer/songwriter Matt Duke, performing tracks from his upcoming album, Kingdom Underground, the critically-acclaimed James Jackson Toth ( solo debut Waiting In Vain, out now), Pittsburgh rock/pop quartet The Takeover UK and Minneapolis rockers Throw The Fight.

In celebration of Rykodisc’s “25 years and still growing” anniversary please register at www.rykodisc.com for free downloads on the 25th of each month.

Matt Duke
Matt Duke’s Rykodisc debut album “Kingdom Underground” is due for release on September 23rd, and nothing but great things are expected from this promising South Jersey native. At just 23 years old, Matt Duke penned “Kingdom Underground” with a delightfully sweet and bitter confection of instantly gratifying tunes, smartly written with a wise-beyond-his-years introspect.

For fans of Josh Ritter, M. Ward, Cary Brothers, Damien Rice, Kevin Devine and Tegan and Sara, Matt Duke’s sound remains fresh throughout and full of earnest, youthful exuberance. His debut album, “Winter Child,” was released through Drexel University's student-run record label, MAD Dragon Records on September 12, 2006 and was co-produced by big talents Stewart Lerman (Loudon Wainwright, Dar Williams) and Steuart Smith (The Eagles, Shawn Colvin).

James Jackson Toth
For his solo debut, Tennessee-based James Jackson Toth has conjured a mysterious, alluring world peopled by characters that could have been pulled from the pages of a Faulkner novel or from one of photographer William Eggleston’s stark portraits of Memphis barflies. Toth’s scenarios are intriguingly tawdry, his sounds tantalizing, with layered, almost-dreamlike harmonies; touches of blues, country and soul; the occasional flash of punk swagger; and even some sweet Fleetwood Mac-inspired pop. Toth assumes the role of storyteller, maybe even confessor, spinning inter-linked tales of hope and misfortune, romantic trials and spiritual yearning. Toth has impressive, vinyl-era ambition; he’s fashioned a disc that works as a cohesive whole, sequenced with such old-school care it could practically be called a concept album.

Toth admits there’s a theme to Waiting In Vain, though it’s more insinuated than announced: “Waiting In Vain is kind of about temptation and redemption, and the varying ways you can view these things.” On “Look In On Me,” an almost uplifting, gospel-tinged arrangement contrasts with the words of a dissolute character savoring his every vice: “Cocaine and bourbon/pinball and pool.” Toth renders each line as if he were channeling the decadent, blues-besotted Jagger of the early-seventies Stones. On “Poison Oak,” a woozy ballad, he flips the script; the narrator, drunk with conviction, harshly appraises someone else’s indiscretions – a lover, a sister, a friend? -- before offering half-hearted comfort. The hushed duet between Toth and wife Jexie Lynn that follows, “Midnight Watchman,” has a gentler country-rock feel and hints at a kind of self-willed deliverance from unnamed troubles. “The Park,” says Toth, is the metaphorical “settling for all kinds of nebulous misdeeds,” filled with errant dreamers “waiting in vain for easy living to start.”

Though Toth enjoys acknowledging his influences, managing to mention artists as disparate as Tanya Tucker, Robyn Hitchcock and the Violent Femmes in the course of a conversation, his work sustains a seductive mood all its own. The character of Faust pops up more than once, a reference to the guy who made a pact with the devil long before Robert Johnson reached those infamous crossroads. (“Becoming Faust” was an early contender for album title.) Contributing mightily to the atmosphere are the vocal arrangements Jexie has created; Toth admits, “We don’t really collaborate so much as she takes over the song at a certain point.” She’s particularly inspired on “Beulah The Good,” a “ranty, post-Dylan kind of song” in which Jexie adds an improbably sunny pop feel to the dark, exhilarating rush of words.

Waiting In Vain is the first album that Toth, long a cult figure, has chosen to release as a solo artist, and it marks a new beginning for him. For several years, he and Jexie experimented with a folk-psychedelic rock hybrid, putting out numerous discs in many different formats under many different names and pseudonyms, including variations of the name Wooden Wand. Toth didn’t always follow a traditional release schedule; he issued extremely limited CD-Rs whenever inspiration struck, over 100 in all.

For his last Wooden Wand release, James and the Quiet (2007), Toth stated that he was deliberately trying to make an “un-weird” album, and he set aside the psychedelic ramblings for more concise song-forms, taking a giant step toward the sound he’s realized on Waiting In Vain. Despite his solo billing, Toth, who plays some electric guitar, doesn’t completely go it alone. He calls upon a small circle of musician friends, most of them San Francisco-based, including guitarists John Dietrich (Deerhoof), Nels Cline (Wilco) and Andy Cabic (Vetiver); alt-country multi-instrumentalist Carla Bozulich (Geraldine Fibbers); bassist Shayde Sartin (Giant Sunflower Band) and drummer Otto Hauser (Vetiver/Devendra Banhart). Toth credits Sartin as liaison to these players and right-hand man on the Waiting in Vain sessions: “If I’m the Beefheart, then Shayde’s the Zappa.” Toth brought in well-known Pacific Northwest indie-rock figure Steve Fisk (Nirvana, Soul Coughing, Soundgarden) as producer. Says Toth, “He comes from a great place because he’s inherently an experimental dude, a risk taker, but he has a real appreciation for the classics. He’s a huge Beatles guy. He came with the perfect arsenal of rock-history knowledge, but he knows we’re into twisted psychedelic stuff, so he was the perfect producer.”

Toth’s evolution continues when he, Jexie and friends hit the road: “We’re looking forward to doing it right this time. Some of this is going to be hard to recreate live, so we may try to change and adapt it, maybe do ‘Midnight Watchman’ loud and fast, then slow another number down. The idea that people merely want to hear a record recreated in a crowded, smoky room and pay seven dollars for drinks – I never understood that.” You’ll know how to find Toth: his name will be on the marquee. And this strange and compelling world he’s brought to life will be waiting for you.

The Takeover UK
There are not very many young bands that can tactfully borrow from the past and melt themselves across genres. But The Takeover UK successfully take the pop sensibility of the '60s and marry it with Class of '77 punk rock. Unabashedly pop, with a punk attitude shining through thick power chords and vocals that teeter between sugar and snarl...this IS exciting pop music.

Huge hooks and smashing choruses flirt with one another in songs such as "Ah La La," while the band's inherent charm shines through in tracks, "Evelyn" and "The Lonely Ones." The Takeover UK are as charismatic on record as they are live, with an astonishing ability to craft scores of classic songs that make people move. Having two prolific singer/songwriters, a band like this doesn't come around that often.

Out now, just in time for summer, is the EP It's All Happening, to be followed by the debut full-length, Running With The Wasters - both out on Rykodisc.

Throw The Fight
It is obvious by their aptly named full-length debut, In Pursuit of Tomorrow, that Throw The Fight have made the single-minded sacrifice to put it all on the line. It is a D.I.Y., take-no-prisoners, gritty plea to be heard, and a passionate pitch for massive audiences, all of which Throw The Fight utterly deserve.

In Pursuit of Tomorrow is an immense listen that keeps its audience unexpectedly off balance, wrung out and satisfied. Taking square aim with their big rock hooks and searing metal riffs, Throw the Fight demands to be heard loud and clear.