Spider Bags – “Teenage Eyes” b/w “Eileen” – Odessa Records [Lucky 7-inch]

Spider Bags – “Hey Delinquents” MP3
Titus Andronicus – “Waking Up Drunk” MP3 (Spider Bags cover) 

I wasn’t even going to review this ”7-inch” (I put 7-inch in quotes because all I have is a 2-song CD-r) … I planned on giving it a cursory listen, dismissing it, and moving on to something else.

Well, that didn’t happen because Spider Bags‘ “Teenage Eyes,” not to mention the b-side, “Eileen,” are both rockin’ and rollin’ and outta controllin’. That’s the best way I can put it.

I so rarely hear clean, rockin’ stuff that I like these days. The S-Bags don’t drown their sorrows — and their guitars — in mounds of reverb/echo/delay, nor do they make a habit of injecting sound effects or muffling their vocals. 

They’re too busy slamming it down to focus on anything else. You’d think the whole jangle-rock sound would have a million quality bands toting its powers, but there really aren’t that many good ones floating around. 

The Village Green suck. The Greenhornes are never around. The Deathray Davies broke up. Where else am I supposed to get this stuff? 

“Eileen” is the easy favorite here, b-side status or no. It’s an earnest song with bar-ready, chant-a-long vocals, some nice little queer arpeggios, a swingin’ ride-cymbal beat and … bass. There’s also a kick-ass breakdown during which an Arcade Fire-ish build takes place. 

I don’t know how they make that sound, I’m just glad they make it. The mean-ass riffing kicks into high gear and the constantly evolving drum beat only fuels the fire. I’d love to see Spider Bags share a bill with labelmates Inspector 22. Just sayin’.

Hell, now that I think about it I like “Eileen” so much I’m going to skip “Teenage Eyes” for now. Besides, you can check it out via the video above; also a good tune, just maybe not as much punch or intrigue as “Eileen.”