Dallas Stars

Vibrolux,Vibrolux (Last Beat Records): (December 7) Kim Pendleton has never sounded lovelier or more terrifying: Hers is a dangerous whisper of a voice, that of a weary jazz singer fronting a rock band (or art-rock band, or art-R&B band, by the time you get to "Finest" near album's end). Sometimes, on a song such as the roiling "Love Letters," it's clean and crystalline; other times, it's rough and ragged, a rusty nail that leaves a nasty cut. It's as though two singers live within her, both fighting for control: One possesses a switchblade sneer, the other a radiant smile, and both will cut you just the same. --R.W.

Various Artists, Band-Kits: A Compilation of Denton, Texas Music ca. 2000 (Quality Park Records): (March 9) Perhaps the best sign that George Neal (who spearheaded this project) and Quality Park Records' Matt Barnhart did their job well is that Band-Kits is more than a historical document. It's a great album as well, the kind of record you can put in your CD player and never want to take out. And it's not just the big names (well, in a manner of speaking) that deliver the rock: Union Camp's dirty-South boogie ("War Whistle") is what most people mean when they say country-rock, and Mandarin's beautiful "Here and Leaving" has you counting the minutes until its own album comes out in the spring. Of course, Neal's not completely satisfied. As it says in the liner notes of the disc, "For every band compiled here, there are 17 more who weren't." --Z.C.

The Falcon Project isn’t a prog-rock band. OK, it is, but don’t tell Wanz Dover we said that. Wait, he already knows? Never mind then.

Bryce Avary enjoyed The Rocket Summer this year. And so did we.

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