The Crepe Place

Sep 2 @ 9:00pm

Lower Dens (pictured)

Swarming guitar fuzz, bass waves, Jana Hunter’s voice, and insistent drum throbs are the core components of Baltimore’s Lower Dens. Hunter, sometimes known for intimate, ghost-heavy weird-fi, is now writing and playing with a group that might get filed as new wave, or drone pop, or post-punk. With due deference to her solo work, we’re very glad.

The swarming wave-throb, coupled with Hunter’s lyrics and redolent, charred voice, wrecks.

The band’s upcoming record, Twin-Hand Movement, is eleven perfect songs long. From opener “Blue & Silver” (anxiety mounts at a quick clip until the final climactic release) to “Plastic & Powder” (a churning, narcotic slow-burner) to “Hospice Gates” (penultimate album cut, proud weirdo anthem, possible creative zenith), not one is a space-taker. They’re rife with the survivalist paranoia you’d expect from residents of a post-urban port hole (and this particular songwriter), crafted methodically and beautifully, and carry you enthusiastically out into the rolling breaks of industrial filth-water.

Lower Dens formed in 2009, when Hunter set about finding a full-time band. They spent the rest of the year sweating in attics and basements, and only stepped out of the shadows to do a quick tour and record. Twin-Hand Movement was recorded by Chris Freeland (ex-Oxes drummer; proprietor of Beat Babies, Baltimore), mixed by Chris Coady (at his DNA, NYC), and mastered by Sarah Register (of the Lodge, NYC and the band Talk Normal.)

www.myspace.com/lowerdens

le Verita

"Coming on like an ambient electronic band, but liable to break into a propulsive, abrasive rush at any time, le Verità is a sonic dream of what New Wave could have been. If Ian Curtis hadn’t died, if people had taken Gang of Four and Wall of Voodoo seriously, if Urgh! A Music War had been the soundtrack for post-punk instead of that New Romantic crap. The duo’s Iron Ghosts EP starts out sparsely, with a few well-chosen words in the haunting “Zelda,” and spirals all the way through the lush, sweeping “Winter’s View.” Trendy bands trying to be retro-‘80s could learn a lot from le Verità about what actually made that decade’s music good."
-Steve Palopoli, sanjose.com

"... San Jose’s Harrison Russell and Star Quach continue the tradition with their moody, atmospheric group le Verità. The interplay between Russell and Quach creates a spare but pulsing (and sometimes barreling) electronic sound that’s somewhat like Joy Division, if Ian Curtis hadn’t been so depressed."
-Aaron Carnes, metroactive.com

www.myspace.com/leverita< br/>
$8 advance/$10 door

8pm doors, 9pm show

Advanced tickets at The Crepe Place or at http://www.ticketweb.com/snl/S earch.action?query=crepe+place