From down the end of Los Angeles, the barebones gravepunk duo Band Aparte strips down and combines elements of gothic rock, synthpunk, and beachy lo-fi as macabré appreciation simmers in the gut of the city.

Vocalist Brian Mendoza effortlessly channels Joy Division and Nick Cave, crooning into a death bouquet with his shirt unbuttoned. But he’s not doing it to imitate Morrissey’s aesthetic — Band Aparte’s shows are fast and fierce, and the crowd works up a sweat at every venue they play. Josh Hensley’s psychotic textures gnaw and bite at the ears, from sharp velcro fuzz to buoyant modulations that pair with relentless drum machine beats like deliriants to narcotics. It’s a dangerous mixture that has crushed nights alongside Cruelty Code, Roses, Ghost Noise, and Terminal A.

Find Band Aparte this Saturday at Echo Park Rising — playing 4:30pm at Lot 1 Café. Listen to their eponymous track from their EP "Enter" below. – Ryan Mo

Led by Danielle Sullivan’s gentle and compassionate voice, Portland’s indie pop outfit Wild Ones sounds anything but wild, although they do enjoy experimenting with sounds, which – in a sense – is kind of wild! Their music has the ability to sound at once warmly intimate and somewhat cerebral. This is must be the product of the fusion of the creative minds and talents of Danielle and keyboardist Thomas Himes. Our sister blog Delicious Audio asked them a few questions about their gear and compositional process. Link to the interview below. The band just released a new EP entitled "Heatwave," they’ll be playing Mississippi Studio tonight (08.14).

LINK: Delicious Audio’s Interview with Wild Ones.

We added this song to The Deli’s playlist of Best songs by emerging Portland artists – check it out!

Formed after the splintering of Oakland based garage group… The Splinters, SCULLY is a Brooklyn-based psych-punk garage group with an infectious lo-fi sound. Considering that three of the four members from The Splinters are involved in the group, in addition to Burgers from NYC band The Numerators,  it’s no surprise that the two have a similar sound. "Deny," the first of three tracks available on the "SCULLY / Las Rosas Tour Split" release (streaming below), is a boisterous garage rock anthem with an in-your-face punk attitude. The tempo of the release gets progressively slower from there, with the second track, "Dana," providing a laid-back yet unmistakably punk-influenced sound, and the third track, "Mother’s Sighin’," closing the release with an ominous melody, threaded with a single two-and-a-half minute guitar lick. The group’s next release is due out on August 17th, a single entitled "Don’t Want That," which will be out on vinyl (available for pre-order here) as well as on bandcamp. The band will also be performing on August 29th at the Bowery Ballroom. – Patrick Wolff

As he shows on the airy Americana track “Let The Blue Skies Go To Your Head” (streaming below) from his sophomore release ‘Empty Seat On A Plane,’ New York/Connecticut singer/songwriter Jesse Terry understands the pure comfort that music could provide. Reassuring a worried lover that “The engine’s warm, he’s waiting for you” with his sweet voice and gentle strums, the Berklee College of Music-trained musician assuages doubts but never disingenuously; his vivid lyrics (including “carnival rides” and “halogen lights”) and surprising instrumentation (a drum-clasped interlude towards the end) make sure the song is movingly true. Jesse Terry will celebrate the release of his latest EP (apparently titled ‘The Calm and the Storm’) at Rockwood Music Hall Stage 3 on Tuesday August 18th. – Zach Weg

In Toot Sweet’s new video for “Stations,” a multi-faceted romantic conflict between land and sea, past and present, away and home, takes place in accordion funk outfit. The track is a slow moving, dramatic opus of stop-and-go. Double bass backing and oozing accordion chords bolster frontlady Mary Spencer Knapp’s vocals as they build up and burst and build up again throughout. The video, directed by Knapp and Rod Morata, opens with Knapp awakening in her bed to find ghostly pirate figures, whom she follows out the door on a seafaring voyage, which dances between the past and present, the living and the dead. As she steps through her sliding glass door to the outside, the color video transforms into an old-timey, granular black and white vaudevillian film visual, and we’re taken on a trip through time. Choral backings come in and out before a clean guitar replaces every other instrument beneath Knapp’s singing, creating a tremendous hollowness in the background, and highlighting her vocal power. Dramatic swells as grandiose as the ocean itself occur in the chorus, as Knapp hopelessly, heartily laments, “Do you know the way home from here? It’s getting dark and I’m afraid of fear.” A girl, an accordion, the ocean, and the past are intertwined to make a powerful visual accompaniment to a uniquely theatrical track. You can see Toot Sweet live at The Bowery Electric on August 21. – JP Basileo

Noisy and dreamy at once, Brooklyn/Philly trio Museyroom hits a soft spot with their nostalgic flavored, evocative music. The band’s roots go way back to 2003, or rather the end of middle school when guitarist and singer, Jack Donavon started playing with multi-instrumentalist Ben Cohen. The duo became a proper band later on when they found their drummer in Matt Coppola. According to the group’s Facebook page, Museyroom’s forthcoming album “Pearly Whites” is promised to be “a dense and harrowing work of rare quality.” Although this brought a smile to our faces, we sure found their music good enough to be highlighted in this blog. Check out their dream soaked, 2009 self-titled EP and – if you dig it – don’t miss their show at The Knitting Factory on August 16th. – Lauren Schechter

Higher Education is a talented four-piece hailing from College Park and their sound is a veritable cornucopia of roots rock, reggae, and funk. Vocalists Danny and Petey Devaney display their versatility well, belting like Sublime’s Bradley Nowell, drawing listeners in to the music. Hardly a better dance groove is imaginable as Higher Education slides from punky fast beats to slow island jams effortlessly. Catch them treating an audience at their album release party at The 8×10 on 8/21. Make sure to pick up a copy of "Would You Like Fries With That," too! -Jonathan Goodwin