Music critic Mike McGonigal once compared the start of My Bloody Valentine's "Loomer" to the sensation he felt every time he got high back in the days when he was hooked on speedballs. And though Baltimore's Lower Dens share the shoegaze deities' affinity for graceful, diaphanous sounds, their music is hardly appropriate for binging on mega-potent drug cocktails. As with fellow Marylanders (and sound-alikes) Beach House, Lower Dens' vibe is deeply narcotic. I'm reminded of the over-the-counter cold medicines that came - in the days before litigation intervened - packed with mind-numbing Dextromethorphan, and the crust punks I knew who took it regularly and copiously. If you're feeling the need to zone out on sprinkles of mellow guitar, muted percussion and drowsy pop melodies (as if they were being broadcast, somehow, from the bottom of a swimming pool), this is your ticket. Highs like this are hard to come by anymore. 

[Northern, guests TBA, 8 p.m., all ages, cover TBA, 321 Fourth Ave., Olympia, northernolympia.org]