Your backstage pass to the DFW music scene and beyond.
SPECIAL to DFW.COM/BRANDON WADE
University of North Texas students Antonio Nogueras, Morgan Moss, Carlo Canlas, and Dalton Kane, hold an informal jam session in front of the Denton County Courthouse on the square on March 6.
Denton has a peculiar vibe in the air. You notice it meandering through the maze of stacks at Recycled Books.
You pick up on it while sipping coffee at Jupiter House.
It's even apparent while taking in a show at the most unlikeliest of venues, the basement of J&J's Pizza, situated just off the historic town square.
It's the feel of things happening, not right out in the open necessarily, but a definite sense of forward momentum.
Situated at the point where Interstate 35 cleaves in two (into I-35E and I-35W), Denton comes off as a city grappling with numerous identities -- college town, popular tour stop, Austin wannabe, even a bit of rural suburb -- not the least of which is that of burgeoning musical mecca.
Strolling through the town square, past the stately courthouse, one recent afternoon, I found myself understanding how the music pouring out of Denton, everything from Fergus & Geronimo's sunny, rattling fuzz-rock to Brave Combo's crazed polkas, is so very reflective of its source. For all the press about Denton -- European music writers, in particular, coo over the city's musical exports like Midlake and Neon Indian -- it's remarkable how few people actually know what Denton has to offer.
There are fantastic bookstores, like the aforementioned Recycled Books, and terrific Thai restaurants (Thai Ocha, off West University Drive, is some of the tastiest Thai I've encountered in the Metroplex).
On some level, Denton is a hybrid of Fort Worth's charm and Dallas's artistic impulses (yes, beneath all the glamour of a major city, Dallas does do its part to push the artistic agenda 'round here). Most seem to regard Denton as a weird enclave of hippies or a landmark on the drive up or down I-35. But stopping to take the city in, however briefly, reveals so much more than that.
Later that day, as I sat and listened to Jacob Metcalf, with no amplification and surrounded by a tight cluster of people, launch into songs in the dimly lit basement of J&J's Pizza, it wasn't hard to see how Denton could quickly become romanticized. There is almost a primal feeling of watching music being made among very few people, as though spying upon the creative process in action.
"One of the things I love about Denton is you're never too far from someone to make music with," Midlake guitarist Eric Pulido told me earlier this year.
Indeed, with all of the barely legal house parties and intimate venues throughout Denton, it's a scene likely repeated hundreds of times a year. On the eve of the second NX35 music "conferette" (the event started as a day party during South by Southwest, but last year, organizers decided to base the festivities here), Denton seems to be peaking at just the right time.
Local, on a national stage
Denton's musical pedigree traces directly back to the University of North Texas, which has turned out impressive alums like Don Henley, Norah Jones, Roy Orbison and Ray Wylie Hubbard, among others. All have spent time on campus. The school also has a tremendously vibrant jazz program, which brings a fresh influx of new talent to town every fall. That relentless spirit of musical exploration tinges even the rattiest garage-rock band in Denton.
It's why on just an average Denton day you'll find a group of college students jamming in the courthouse square.
And why more than 160 bands will converge on the city over the course of the next four days, capped by an appearance from Oklahoma oddballs the Flaming Lips on Saturday. (Organizers, mindful of not going too national, drafted Midlake to open for the Lips.)
Nabbing a headliner like the Lips, not to mention notice from tastemaking outlets like Pitchfork, speaks to the astonishing growth of NX35 in less than a year's time. There was some concern among local writers that the Lips show, which will take place at the North Texas Fairgrounds, a few miles from NX35's otherwise carefully maintained orbit of venues, disrupts the vibe the conferette seeks to maintain. For their part, the festival organizers dismiss the notion that NX35 will be somehow watered down by a concert of this magnitude.
"[NX35] combines the art and the city in a big way," Midlake's Pulido said. "I'm so hopeful and excited about it -- one, that we're playing, [and] two, that's it become something that has been championed even more by the city."
In a way, this slight tug of war -- keep Denton a secret to be ferreted out by those who prize artistry or go for broke when the spotlight is trained upon you -- speaks to the larger identity confusion the city wrestles with.
Denton, rather than Dallas, is where any and every artist who wants to buckle down and get serious ventures. In that respect, there are probably folks who would rather not have Denton splashed all over the pages of, say, The New York Times (whoops, too late). It's better to try and fail in private than attempt to create and try new things with a whole lot of eyes watching.
At the same time, exposure can be a great thing: Leanne Macomber, a member of several Denton-based acts, has joined up with Alan Palomo's Neon Indian to play keyboards. The group was recently featured on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, a tremendous opportunity her previous groups like Fight Bite weren't receiving. Sarah Jaffe, with just an EP to her credit, has been tapped to open a handful of shows for Norah Jones on her upcoming tour. Midlake, long champions of their hometown, took upstarts Matthew and the Arrogant Sea on tour with them earlier this month.
And so it will go, through NX35 and well beyond; there will be those making passionate arguments on both sides of the divide. Denton, of all the major cities in North Texas, is easily the most left of center. Even if you can't quite put your finger on that vibe in the air, it will, one way or another, continue to influence any and everyone making music within its borders.
