Various Artists - Band Kits: Collection of Music from Denton Texas (CD)

All Music Guide

While a sleepy college town 40 miles from Dallas hardly sounds like a hotbed of imaginative music, how many of us in 1978 thought Athens, GA, held any great importance? Obviously, certain college towns (not most) become gravitational pulls for the creative-minded, especially once a little scene gets going. We've been hearing about Denton since 1995, and Band Kits is an opportunity to experience 17 uncompromising, unknown artists, all dissimilar from each other, and sounding like they have a touch of the artistic-minded flu. This compilation runs the gamut: Union Camp could open for the Sticky Fingers/Exile on Main Street-era Stones; the Falcon Project are more cerebral; the instrumental Wiring Prank more piquant slowcore; the Baptist Generals are like a demented Violent Femmes with a steel drummer; the Meat Helmets feel like the Pixies fronted by the Flesheaters' Chris D.; Lo-Fi Chorus are minimal pop with lyrical attitude; Coals to Newcastle are the find of the CD, all shimmering rumb...le; and so on. If I lived in Texas, I'd move here. (P.O. Box 2464, Denton, TX 76202; questionsqualityparkrecords.com) - Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover, All Music Guide Read more Less