Sweet Tooth Edition: Black Taffy, Mint Field, supercandy, somesurprises & Gum Takes Tooth
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Black Taffy: Elder Mantis
Have you got a sweet spot for the sweets? I personally can’t resist a sugary treat, but whether that’s true for you or not, I think you’ll dig some or all of this week’s candy-coated recommendations. We’ll start with Black Taffy, a Texas electronic musician who combines percussion and other instrumentation (vibraphone, harp and more) with bass-heavy beats to create fascinating soundscapes. Sometimes jittery, sometimes irresistibly toe-tappable, it’s both heavy and sparse. This is headphone music for when the mood hits you just right and you just want to let your mind wander … but not too much. Dig it.
Mint Field: Mientras Esperas
As far on the spectrum from that electronica as taffy is from mints, our next album, Mientras Esperas from Mexican band Mint Field is a jammer’s delight. This five-song EP is some killer psychedelic rock: a trio of cranked-up guitars, overwhelming drums and organic bass. It’s dreamy and rocking, earthy and extraterrestrial. They pack a lot of music into these 26 minutes, little excursions with surprises and adventures and a whole lot of “gimme-more!” in a good way. Check it out!
supercandy & somesurprises: Some Candy
Our next pick is actually a split release on the Crash Symbols label, from two Seatle-based bands, with one side from somesurprises and the other from supercandy. The album is appropriately called Some Candy and it is, indeed, a little treat for your mind-expanding ear. The Somesurprises tracks are a shimmering ambience, a little haunting at times, a little hallucinogenic at others. The Supercandy tracks find more form, but also poke around in the weird and psychedelic. Both worth checking out, for sure.
Gum Takes Tooth: Arrow
One more pick before our sugar rush wears off and our dentist gets wind of what we’ve been up to. We’ll finish appropriately with Gum Takes Tooth, a London duo whose new release, Arrow is a symphony of styles, sounds and moods. It’s introspective, it’s in-your-face, it’s in between. There are moments of sheer bliss and others of short-blast cacophony. It’s all engaging and worth listening to in full. It transforms and morphs from track to track and probably the less prepared you are the better, but there’s a good chance you’ll find something in there that really clicks for you on one end of the spectrum or the other. Enjoy, but don’t forget to brush your teeth!
