Mind Spiders
When we initially started writing this month's rendition of 3 Songs, we felt as if we had something to prove, what with Central Track's post from last week declaring, "...things aren't going too great in the Denton music scene," but then two minutes passed by and we stopped caring. Things are always better in hindsight, Mr. Blackburn. Stuff's pretty good right now, and we have three songs to prove it. Read on to hear 'em.
Shag - Everyday
A few weeks ago, a WDDI contributor suggested that October’s 3 Songs column be all Dirtnap Records bands (i.e. Bad Sports, Radioactivity, Mind Spiders, etc…) and while that would be awesome, it would also have us agreeing with local longhair, Dave Koen, which is something we just can’t do. So, we went out searching for what Denton had to offer again and - just like last month - were pleasantly surprised. Producer Shag, also known as Ben Garside, has been putting out wonderful instrumentals for a while now. The fact that something so great could be happening right under our noses without us even knowing about it is just plain crazy. We’re the people who know about that secret tunnel that goes from Ravelin to the UNT Environmental Science building, but forget we even mentioned that. Yes, it’s full of free chocolate-almond croissants, paved by freemasons, and will let you shave about ten minutes off of your walk to class, but that’s as much as we’re going to say about it. Anyway, Shag’s production shines throughout this track. It’s bouncy, happy and just the cure for the rainy blueness that has been this week. The entire album is actually pretty darned great. A look at Shag’s Facebook page drops the info of the release of a collaboration dubbed “All for the Sunny” featuring California’s Coss adding some vocals to a select 9 tracks from Null, the same album “Everyday” is pulled from. In fact you can check out one of those tracks here. Maybe we can get some Denton-Denton collaboration going on here, too. Hey AV the Great, you hear us?
Mind Spiders - Electric Things
We took a jab at Dirtnap-pusher, Dave Koen, in the paragraph above, but he was right. The new Mind Spiders and Radioactivity albums are both excellent (we talked about Bad Sports’ new stuff in a previous 3 Songs). Both are getting wonderful PR on spots such as All Things Considered and Vice. These incestuous bands share members that span most of the metroplex (if not further) and have been putting out records that mine a similar sound for over a decade (for some of the older members) in bands such as The Marked Men - who, if we can ever get our Past Denton Music Column started, we promise to talk about more. Mind Spiders found their sweet spot on their first album three years ago, and have continued to only get better with each new release (three albums in three years is impressive, no?). “Electric Things” finds the band working that trademark thin, fast sound, albeit with bits of Devo-esque sounds thrown in for good measure. If fact, the band has gone on record as to describe this album being influenced by many 80's-tastic things - the H.P. Lovecraft-inspired From Beyond movie being one. Oh, and while we're at it, both Mind Spiders and Radioactivity are playing Rubber Gloves on Friday, but you already knew that because you read the Den10.
Bashe - Splitter
We did really wanna include a song off of Radioactivity’s upcoming album (read above for more info), but Vice seems to have them on lock at the moment (no embed for us), so we’ve decided to go with the new single, "Splitter," from poppy math-rockers Bashe. We highlighted another song of theirs back in May. I guess we like Bashe. This new song finds the band's sound growing a great deal. While they may have lost the slight disco feel they had earlier, "Splitter" embraces hook-filled, happy tunes that definitely had our toes tapping. We hope there’s more where this came from.