The cover of Daniel Markham's upcoming record, Daniel Markham Ruined My Life
Every month, we like to take a quick look into the Denton music scene and highlight three recent songs from current Denton bands. Last month, we heard from Terminator 2, Skagg Phillips and Chambers. This month, our three entries are slightly less disparate from one another, but are a great cross-section of what Dan's Silverleaf might be like any day of the week. Read on to hear music from the likes of Daniel Markham, Biographies and Bashe.
Denton transplant via Lubbock, Daniel Markham, has quickly found his territory in the Denton music scene. During his short time here, he’s been prolific enough to put out two releases. Last year’s Hexagons EP found Markham layering fuzzy guitar over simple drum loops, sounding something not unlike Jesu. His latest, however, is a different beast, altogether. In "My Favorite Band" (track four out of Daniel Markham first full-length solo record entitled Daniel Markham Ruined My Life), we find Markham exhuming a very specific portion of the sounds heard on Hexagons. Anything resembling a distortion pedal has been done away with in favor of pedal steel guitar, honest-to-goodness drums and honest-to-goodness earnesty. The sound evokes Cardinals-era Ryan Adams or Denton’s late Current Leaves, both of which should leave you with anticipation. While the subject matter at hand still remains a “bummer,” this tune is sure to be great company to that bourbon and porch night you had planned.
Biographies represents what we’re going to call the post-Seryn folk scene in Denton. Large, coed bands with vocals coming from every possible angle, and choruses that build until your eyes bulge. Biographies, however, is thankfully a bit different. These young twenty somethings have reached further back than their memories can reach and harken sounds not unlike Sunny Day Real Estate and other mid-90’s emotional hardcore. On Looking Inward is the centerpiece of their recently-released self-titled EP. The track manages to jam pack all of the different themes represented on the album into a quick seven minutes. The song climaxes about three-quarters of the way through with unintelligible screams and a gigantic wall of sound and then saunters it’s way out with a slinky bass line and a haunting female voice that washes away all the screaming. This is very promising for a band so young. Catch these kids live if you get the chance, too. They put on a great show.
Bashe features an ex-member of Peopleodeon. If you thought Denton was missing a good math rock band, Bashe is the solution to your problem. Seapunk is the first single Bashe has released and is also featured on the recently-released DFW compilation No Metro. While some may be put off by the term math rock, let it be known that Seapunk is poppy and disco-y enough to get even the un-bounciest of butts a-shakin’ and is catchy enough to leave with you a bad earworm for hours after listening.