The Dactyls

The Dactyls allow the inner bong-rocker in all of us to party hard without feeling like we just took a hit of something that's gonna show up on a drug test the next day. The Lawrence band plays an indie-credible strand of stoner rock that doesn't induce a haze of laziness after delivering a beautiful rip of alternate tunings, shout-along verses and thundering low end. The group's debut EP is more a snapshot of 2007-08 Dactyls than new material, but it's a fine document of early material that the D's would be wise to keep in their repertoire. "Top Billing" is a head-nodding jam with a subversive chorus hook that'll stick in your head for days. "A Widow Knows" pairs guitar phrasings from the Dirty-era Sonic Youth songbook, with a steamrolling beat more akin to And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead. The Dactyls are about to make an album with that band's former producer (Jim Vollentine), and it should be an even more potent blend of off-kilter hooks and blunted tube amps.