If you walk into Dan's Silverleaf this Saturday night and find five musicians known as Mountain Song, on stage, you won't hear your typical beat-driven tracks. But rather expect to find soft harmonies and calm melodies floating through the air. Their dreamy-folk sound just may take you mentally to a different place, specifically into the north-west mountains, where Mountain Song's founder, Dave Weaver, a local carpenter, has his roots.
Read MoreNEW NON-PROFIT TO SUBSIDIZE HEALTHCARE FOR DENTON ARTISTS
Pursuing the music and arts as a career has never been known to be a financially easy or smooth path. Denton, a hot hub for budding artists and musicians is experiencing a population explosion says Nic Bagherpour. The problem this presents? Starving artists and musicians may find it more difficult to afford living here. Founders of the the new local nonprofit, the Denton Music and Arts Collaborative, have set out to combat that issue, starting with subsidizing health care for artists and musicians.
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DENTON MUSIC TOWN HALL
Last night there was a meeting of the music masses of Denton hosted by Christopher Cotter, a devoted DIY scene supporter. The town hall was set up to last for 4 hours. We went, we listened and nodded, and heard what people had to say. From that we've gathered a few of our favorite quotes and ideas from the evening. Read on to find out our biggest take aways from a evening of DIY venue talks.
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NEW MUSIC: STILL FORMS BY LEONCARLO
Denton musician, Leoncarlo Canlas, creates dazzling soundscapes with nothing but his violin and a loop pedal. His pieces are surprisingly dynamic and always beautiful in a cinematic way. He’s been creating music under his first name since 2008 playing at venues from Hannah’s to Harvest House and is now in the process of releasing his first solo album, Still Forms.
Read MoreSHOW PREVIEW: TRANSCEND
The weekend is here, you're ready for a few tacos and a margarita, and at least one of your friends is currently ranting about the demise of the Denton music scene, the death of Rubber Gloves, and the illuminati's money taking over our town. Escape that argument with a one night trip to some random dude's sweaty living room, where you and all your friends can get ready to rock those work week realities away. The Syndicate is hosting a free show at The Purple Palace, located at 521 Malone St, Denton, Tx, 76201, and featuring music from Donella Drive, Dome Dwellers, Children of Indigo, Class Action and Biscuit Head. Get this line up a snuggie and some flu medicine because it is sick!
Read MoreSly Stone was born Sylvester Stewart right here in Denton, but went on to become one of the most innovative African-American musicians of the 60s and 70s!
BACK IN THE DAY: DENTON'S AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC LEGENDS
If you’re a fan of Denton history like I am, then you know there’s no shortage of fascinating people and stories that have their red dirt roots in our groovy little city. Since it is Black History Month, I figured I’d dig out a few tales of legendary locals that are part of our internationally infamous musical heritage that maybe don’t get brought up in conversation often enough. We’ve already talked plenty about our Quakertown story and its lasting legacy in fact and fiction, the importance of Juneteenth Jubilee, our amazing Civil Rights mavens of 1960s integration, and indeed the Legend of Pops Carter in our local music pantheon. Denton digs its tunes, and that’s been true since way back in the day.
Read MoreINTERVIEW: SIAMESE
Mark your calendars, call a babysitter, and put it in your BlackBerry (if you’re living in the year 2007) because Dan’s SilverLeaf is the place to be on Sunday, October 11th. In a move befitting the month of October, beloved Denton band Spooky Folk will headline a concert that includes Fort Worth’s Whiskey Folk Ramblers and Oak Cliff’s Siamese.
Read More3 S- NO WAIT... 4 SONGS
We're hosting a show at Rubber Gloves as part of their always-awesome Free Week series next Monday (yup, Labor Day). We did our best to highlight some of our favorite bands from Denton's house show circuit. Dome Dwellers, Bad Beats, Mink Coats, The Days, and The Hymens will all take the stage next Monday to kick off the week of free shows. We love all of 'em and think you will, too. We've expanded our monthly 3 Songs column to include all of the bands playing our show so you can get a little preview of sorts. Check all of the songs out below and we'll see y'all on Monday at Rubber Gloves!
Dome Dwellers - "My Halo"
Dome Dwellers will be headlining the show. Here's what we said about their song, "My Halo" a year ago. We still dig this song, and they've even gone on to release a full length that you can buy here.
We just happened to sort of stumble across "My Halo" from Dome Dwellers. As soon as that happened, everything was immediately right with the world. Seriously, this is great stuff and hopefully a precursor of more that we’ll be seeing from this trio of dudes who have a full length coming in late October. "My Halo," itself, reminds us a bit of the Canadian band, Women, before they imploded a few years back - mathy and disjointed in the best of ways. The guitars are full of 90’s-era chimey-ness and tremolo and the math rock aspect of this tune acts as more of a hook than it does a headache - let’s just say that it’s more Algebra 1 than it is Pre-calculus. Whether they’re aware or not, this slightly epic track harkens back to the days of Denton space rock and we couldn’t be happier to be reminded of that era. Do yourself a favor and give this a listen. Heck, you can even download their entire EP for free from their bandcamp.
The Days - "Roll Tide"
(Editor’s Note: We Denton Do It shares a few members/contributors with The Days, but none of them are writing this, none of them asked for this, and we're diggin' it quite a bit. Conflict of interest be damned. While we’re at it, you wanna buy a couch from us on Craigslist?) If you’ve yet to catch The Days live or hear them in any capacity before, you’ve been missing out. These dudes sound as if The Band was fronted by a younger, less smokey Mark Lanegan. "Roll Tide" is a romp of sorts through 70's -era rock songs that'll have you stomping your feet and imagining the band pointing fingers/drumsticks at each other while they're playing. The song just sounds like sweaty chest hair. Why didn't they just name it "Sweaty Chest Hair?" Check out more material on their bandcamp.
Bad Beats - "Fight"
Possibly learning a lesson from the Beastie Boys who fought and possibly died for your right to party, Bad Beats just want you to fight what you think is right. This track is an infectious minute and fifteen seconds of blasé punk anthem. This is a catchy track thrown at you with a "take it or leave it" punk for non punks attitude that, leaves you wanting more because like we said, it's only 75 seconds long, and we love that slight house show party feel it has. Fun stuff here.
Mink Coats - "Sun Daze"
Some of the best psychedelic surf-pop in Denton - if you've seen Ft. Worth's Space Beach, this is on the same field of existence. We're pretty happy there's a local psychedelic surf rock scene going on. "Sun Daze" is dripping in syrupy summer sludge and this tune will make you wipe the mushrooms from your eyes and dream of panda bears on tropical islands if you aren't careful. That's right, suck it up kids, this is the best pack of already-been-chewed bubbalicious around. Shoving every piece in your mouth and half drooling half chewing the explosion of flavor until it's a wet gray mass of spent underwear balled-up inside of your mouth. It's kind of an awful feeling, but there's no doubt you love it and aren't gonna stop chewing anytime soon.
3 SONGS: JULY 2014
We're chiming in before the month ends with 3 Songs, our monthly column featuring three recently released tunes from local artists that we've been digging lately. Read on to get a quick glimpse into the current state of the Denton music scene for the month of July. Today, we hear from the likes of localites Layer Cake, The Holler Time and Shaheed Floww. Oh, there's some fun videos in this month's column, too. We certainly dig these tunes, and hope y'all do, too.
There's not much we can say to emphasize how amazing this video directed by Eric Michener of Fishboy is. Let's just say that it features the ladies of Layer Cake getting threatened by the ladies of Slayer Cake with a note proclaiming, "There can only be one cake band." That, plus super powers. Oh, the song is great, too. Layer Cake is playing their last show before an indefinite hiatus this Saturday at Rubber Gloves. More info on that here.
Alt-country has long been a good fit for Denton and "One Way to Know," by The Holler Time makes us want to grab a beer just as much as any other tune with keys and slide guitar. This is a fun tune with plenty of noodling and good times.
Lastly, we have a tune called "Gold Wrist" by local up-and-coming rapper, Shaheed Floww. Floww recently graduated from Denton High School and any time there's a reference to a Spongebob Squarepants character in a rap song, we obviously take notice.
Post sponsored in part by Crossfit 940. Visit their new location off of I-35 and get fit!