Cory GravesComparing This Year’s 35 Denton Bill To Its Previous Incarnations.
It’s hard to believe that almost exactly one year ago to the day, Snowmageddon was wreaking such havoc on the Metroplex, causing a weeks worth of rolling power outages, countless school and business closings, and almost single-handedly assuring that it’ll be a very long time when and if North Texas is allowed to host another Super Bowl. Even harder to come to grips with is the number of folks we’ve already spotted around town this February sporting freshly-jorted jeans, what with this being the mildest winter in a decade and all.
Needless to say, it feels much more like spring than winter. And, because of that, it’s already beginning to feel like festival season.
That being said we’ve already begun to look ahead to what’s in store for the 2012 season — and namely how 35 Denton and its Jesus-of-all-lineups for its March 8 – 11 event compares to its former offerings.
Right off the bat, this year’s biggest names stands out as the strongest and most diverse in the festival’s four-year history, with the biggest coup, of course, being reunited Scottish rockers The Jesus and Mary Chain, who are set to play their first American concert in four years at this year’s 35 Denton. Similarly the reformed ’70s post-punk band The Raincoats will also be making their first-ever Texas appearance at this year’s deal. Add in Built to Spill, Bun B, Mountain Goats, Devin the Dude, Atlas Sound, John Vanderslice, OM, Thee Oh Sees, Dum Dum Girls and others, and it’s safe to say that this year’s incarnation of the festival formerly known as NX35 will boast its most recognizable list of mainstage performers to date.
At the other end of the spectrum, however, the local aspect of the lineup appears a bit more Denton-heavy than it has in years past, with more noticeable glaring omissions and a higher quotient of head-scratchers thrown in than in previous lineups. At first glance, a few handfuls of bands immediately stand out as acts that have rarely — and in some cases never — played outside of Denton’s city limits. That’s not to say that bands such as Neeks, Coves, Comanche, Comrade, Holler Time, Idiots, Juve, Midnight Society, or Terminator 2 are necessarily undeserving of playing the fest, per se, but it does make the exclusion of other popular DFW acts such as Hormones, The Vliets, Here Holy Spain, Madison King, The Orbans, The Black Dotz, Darstar and Mind Spiders all the more conspicuous.
Still, any way you slice it, 35 Denton’s 2012 lineup is set to be one of the most entertaining — or at the very least more interesting — in the history of the fest.
Take a look at the full list of performers. It’s hard not to be impressed.
Confirmed 2012 35 Denton performers to date:
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A.M. Ramblers
Aan
American Royalty
Air Review
An Absence of Color
Atlas Sound
Backwater Opera
Bad Design
Bad Sports
Bare Wires
Baruch the Scribe
Bethan
Best Coast
Bleached
Boxcar Bandits
Built to Spill
Bun B
Buxton
Chapter 24
Cities Aviv
Class Actress
Clint Niosi
Coves
Cowboy and Indian
Cowboy Indian Bear
Damaged Good$
Daniel Francis Doyle
Danny Brown
Danny Malone
Danny Rush and the DD’s
David Ramirez
Designer Drugs
Devin the Dude
Dim Locator
Dinosaur Feathers
Doom Ghost
Doug Burr
Dum Dum Girls
Dust Congress
Eat Avery’s Bones
El Ten Eleven
Ella Minnow
Evangelicals
Ex Cops
Fab Deuce
Family Fiend
Final Club
Finn Riggins
Fox and the Bird
G-Side
Gardens & Villa
Hares on the Mountain
Here Holy Spain
High Places
Holy Fiction
Idiots
Jack Wilson
John Vanderslice
Julianna Barwick
Kiwi Sisters
LEGSWEEPER
Light Asylum
Lily Taylor
M.A.K.U SoundSystem
Magnet School
Main Attrakionz
Mannequin Men
Mariachi Quetzal
Maricopa County
Mary Walker
Mexican Lions
Midnite Society
Mikal Cronin
Millionyoung
Milo Greene
Missions
Mittenfields
Mountain Goats
Museum Creatures
My Education
Natural Child
NEEKS
Night Beats
Noonday Morningstar
Oberhofer
OK SWEETHEART
Old Snack
Old Warhorse
OM
Onward, Soldiers
Peaking Lights
Peopleodian
Pond
Psychedelic Horseshit
Psychic Ills
Public Dims
Purling Hiss
R. Stevie Moore
RACES
Roy Robertson
RTB2
Sans Soleil
Savaging Spire
Schmillion
Sealion
Shaolin Death Squad
Shiny Around the Edges
Sleep ∞ Over
Soviet
Spookeasy
Spooky Folk
Summer of Glaciers
Sun Araw
Sundress
Teengirl Fantasy
Terminator 2
The Angelus
The Blurries
The Boom Bang
The Burning Hotels
The Commotion
The Demigs
The Eastern Sea
The Holler Time
The Hood Internet
The House Harkonnen
The Jesus and Mary Chain
The O’s
The Pass
The Phuss
The Raincoats
The Rassle
The Rich Hands
The Romany Rye
The Spectacle
The Treelines
Thee Oh Sees
Treasure Hunt
Tropical Ooze
True Widow
Twin Tigers
Two Knights
Typhoon
Vaults of Zin
War Party
Warren Hearne and Le Leek Electrique
Wet Hair
White Fence
Wiretree
Wooden Wand
Woodsman
Xray Eyeballs
Yeahdef
Young and Brave