Criminal Birds play Dan's Silverleaf on Friday.
Alright, we get it. It's hot. Summer is almost over. Getting back to school/work is hard. Well, we've got some good news for you: all your pain and suffering will come to an end now that the long awaited Barley & Board is open on the corner of Locust and Oak Streets. Prepare yourselves for a full rundown of all the glory you can expect from the newest and hottest place on the square. Hashtag your stuff #WDDI and keep doing you.
For more tips and tricks, email glen@wedentondoit.com.
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Mind Spiders play 35 Denton's Main Stage on Saturday afternoon.
After 24 months, the 35 Denton music festival is back this year. There are signs all around - the new mural at Oak St. Draft House, the marquee at Dan's Silverleaf, heck even your Facebook event invites are probably blowing up right now. We're pretty pumped for this weekend. There's more than just music, too, several panels, exhibitions, photography walks, and and more are planned. Below, are several #WDDI-approved local bands that we've written about before in our monthly Three Songs column that will be playing the festival. Check out a tune (or video) of theirs, the times they'll be planing and read some of our thoughts below.
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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.
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.