Baltozine Roundup: Beach House, Lower Dens, and more

The new Under The Radar (#41) features a profile of Lower Dens by John Norris. Confusingly, the magazine identifies them as a Fort Worth, TX band even though we think of them as a Baltimore band (interestingly, so too does Lower Dens who list Baltimore as their hometown on their Facebook page). 
"The themes are not unrelated to the topics explored on the next album from Dan Deacon, Hunter's former Baltimore roommate, with whom she shared more than one lengthy conversation about such matters. But while the electro Pied Piper's assessments of the state of the world tend to be grim, Hunter's own view is more hopeful."

There is also a Beach House profile by Matt Fink.
"The way people listen to music is at the very heart of the varied interpretations swirling around the fourth Beach House record, and on first listen, Bloom does, indeed, sound fairly similar to Teen Dream. The same sort of dreamy guitars and keyboards color nearly every track, the same understatedly ingenious melodies provide the human pulse, the same gorgeous clouds of reverb float over Legrand's softly emotive vocals. But like all Beach House albums, it sounds different on the second and third listen and fifth..." 

In the review section, Beach House's Bloom rates an 8/10 by J. Pace.
"It's like a blurry, haunting Polaroid. It's the Beach House effect - the intoxicating cocktail of Legrand's voice and relatable lyrics, the reverb-soaked guitar and organ arrangements, and, yes, those dusty old beats just barely audible beneath."

Lower Dens' Nootropics rates an 8/10 by Hays Davis.
"The end result is an intriguing, ambitious set of songs that reward those who opt for full immersion, rather than cherry-picking tracks, with each listen."

And Arbouretum's split with Hush Arbors, Aureola, rates a 6/10 by Frank Valish.
"...Arbouretum's tracks take the prize, but both bands offer folk/psych goodies to forget yourself to."

And finally, Mark Redfern's SXSW recap includes Dan Deacon's performance.
"Deacon made up for it by organizing a dance competition in the middle of the audience with such bizarre instructions as, 'This side of the room dances like Avatar was actually good and this side of the room dances like the mom in Big.'"

Bust #75 has a profile of Beach House's Victoria Legrand by Eliza Thompson.
"'[Our music] gets a whole other life for us,' [Legrand] says. 'It's not ours anymore. People always blow my mind with things they say about the songs.'"

Thompson also reviews the new Beach House record, Bloom:
"With each new release, it feels like Baltimore's Beach House develops their sound into something bigger."

In Filter (#48), Dope Body's new record Natural History gets a rating of 84%.
"...Natural History is an invigorating listen, which may say as much about today as it does about the band." -Jon Falcone