Lower Dens

Baltimore-based Lower Dens' latest album Nootropics swirls, making it hard to find your musical footing. Yet somewhere in this whirlwind of lush guitars and muffled vocals, a balance is found, and the chaos lends itself to a sweet, blissful pop venture. Tonight, the band brings that anarchic sound to New York and headlines the Bowery Ballroom. A few weeks ago on the eve of America's birthday, lead singer Jana Hunter stopped on the side of the road between San Francisco to Portland to chat with Sound of the City about how their latest record isn't a concept album, gender dynamics in music, and what you can learn from conservative radio.

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Should you desire a fairly soothing, meditative, softly fuzz-toned way to ease into this coming weekend, we humbly suggest you drop by Music Hall of Williamsburg Friday night for the splendid, lo-fi-pop-centric double bill of Baltimore's Lower Dens (that's them above) and Jersey's own Ducktails, the former the toast of this most recent CMJ bacchanal, the latter responsible for the amiably meandering Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics, quietly one of the better records of 2011 thus far. We are proud to offer a pair of tix to this historic summit -- first person to email me at rharvilla@villagevoice.com gets them. Below, please find Lower Dens doing one of those NPR Tiny Desk Concerts; Friday will be a lot like that, just with more, you know, elbow room. Good luck.

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"Stereogum!" Pics by Rob, more below.

Marnie Stern/Dom/Tamaryn/Lower Dens
Santos Party House
Wednesday, October 20

Better than: Just sitting at home reading ecstatic Tweets about the whole Phoenix/Daft Punk thing.

So let's toss a few more ribald Marnie Stern exclamations on the pile. #1: "It takes a lot to drive this old, desperate bitch out of bed. Just kidding!" #2: "How many times do I have to say I need a peen in the vagean until someone hits on me?" And #3: "We've got two more, and then Wild Nothings are up. I wish it were Wild Somethings! [Thrusts pelvis repeatedly.]" God bless this girl and her total lack of decorum.

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