“Sokc,” the latest single from Sleepy Sound Dept., almost immediately thumps in a relaxed groove. Hovering over the narration of a daydream, the song blurs the edges, focusing on the individual perspective. Locked into a low-key, compact, instrumental push, the track is a bright flash of optimism. Press play, and let your imagination wander.

Sleepymonster, a.k.a. Shane Luckenbaugh (American Trappist, ex-River City Extension), recently shared his new LP You’re in the Family. Co-produced with fellow bandmate Joe Michelini at Berlin Studios, there’s a sticky strangeness to the songwriting – one which locks into the snap of the groove and takes on a pop-psych bend. Balancing that heady environment with a bit of carefree, garage-rock swagger, the record potentially could be the soundtrack to your dreams, or maybe more like your nightmares. ‘Tis the season.

Truth In Comedy, the new LP from Steady Hands (featuring Modern Baseball‘s Sean Huber), is out now via Lame-O Records. Produced by Brian McTear at Miner Street Recordings, the record navigates through ongoing trials and tribulations with an earnest exuberance. Finding a knack for creating an opening-book setting and building upon precisely assembled melodies into euphoric releases, these songs thread that personal-universal line. Riding steadily nuanced progressions, the band finds ways to embrace the moments, and still tear it up. (Photo by Chelsea Christer)

Krust Toons: "Been Done" by Tedd Hazard – please feel free to drop him a line at teddandthehazards@gmail.com if you dig or have any funny ideas. You can also check out more of his illustrations and animation shorts HERE.

We are still recovering from what felt like a long weekend, but not seeming to be long enough this morning. Below is a captivating new EP from Absinthe Father (the solo project of Haley Butters), entitled Jane, which is dedicated to their late grandmother. The album "deals with death/death anxiety, survivor’s guilt, & trying to feel okay again." Let the warm, hushed vocals and languid guitar strums help get you where you need to be this chilly fall morning. Butters is getting set to head out on tour with North Carolina’s Jail Socks next month, and you can join them this Friday, October 26 at No Face Studios for a Halloween cover show that also features Coping Skills, Ready Now, Future Teens, and Lady Pills. (Photo by Becky Slack)

Raw agitation and frustration over societal changes and issues are delivered via intimate narratives, speaking to the individual and lighting a fire to which a community can gather around in union. LP5000, the latest album from Restorations, which was produced by Jonathan Low and released via Tiny Engines, delivers on that mission statement. There’s an ability to dig down deep, expressing the essence of the present problems. However, rather than languishing and lamenting in a state of stagnation, the band encourages a pulse of positivity, driven by a gritty groundswell of post-punk and the potential impact of an oncoming wave in the distance. This Sunday, Restorations steps into the First Unitarian Church, where they’ll be joined by tour & label mates Wild Pink, whose reassuring, airy, singer-songwriter composure strolls with synth and then spikes when called upon. As we await the release of their forthcoming self-titled debut album, the roaring, grunge-punk surge of Fight Amp-Legendary Divorce hybrid, Low Dose, completes this lineup. – Michael Colavita 

More places to hit this fall weekend…

First Unitarian Church (2125 Chestnut St.) SUN Restorations, Low Dose

Johnny Brenda’s (1201 N. Frankford Ave.) FRI Hardwork Movement, Attic Tapes, SAT Darla (Record Release Show), Square Peg Round Hole, Taylor Kelly

Boot & Saddle (1131 S. Broad St.) SUN Black Dog Gallery Halloween Show: Yuckmouf, Wrists, Haunted Homes, X88B88

Kung Fu Necktie (1250 N. Front St.) FRI Canine 10/DJ Deejay, SUN The Retinas

PhilaMOCA (531 N. 12^th St.) FRI Cape of Bats, SAT Lovelorn, Don Devore, Korine

The Trocadero (1003 Arch St.) SAT Scorpio  (A Scorpions Tribute)

The Foundry (1000 Frankford Ave.) SUN Varials

World Café Live (3025 Walnut St.) FRI (Upstairs) Red Wheelbarrow Trio, SAT (Upstairs) Christine Havrilla, Vanida Gail, SUN David P. Stevens, Carol Riddick, Deverson Patterson

The Fire (412 W. Girard Ave.) FRI Joe Jack Talcum, Rodney Anonymous, The PLIBmen, F. Woods and The Fellow Humans, 7th Victim, Starwood, SAT Fonvery, Moonroof, Distant Destroyer

MilkBoy Philly (1100 Chestnut St.) SAT Homestead Collective, SUN Matthew Schuler, Joshua Howard, Marielle Kraft

Ortlieb’s Lounge (847 N. 3^rd St.) FRI Joey Sweeney & The Neon Grease, Ali Awan, SUN Narcos Family Band, Trash Knife

The Barbary (951 Frankford Ave.) SAT Behind The Grandstand, Swwik/The Rectors, Shy Boyz

Bourbon & Branch (705 N. 2^nd St.) FRI Everlit, Dune Puma, SAT Michael Wavves, Tucker Eb’s, Evan Tracy, Jrdn Aris, Alex Catrambone, Malcolm Taylor, SUN Mariano Di Gabriele

Silk City (435 Spring Garden St.) FRI Bo Bliz, SAT DJ Deejay

Fergie’s (1214 Sansom St.) SUN Rusty Cadillac 

Connie’s Ric Rac (1132 S. 9^th St.) FRI The Louderbacks, The Pink Angels, Weakknees, SAT The TC Cole Riot, The Cheddar Boys, Side Pocket Louie

The Tusk (430 South St.) FRI Lamplighters, The Lot 

Voltage Lounge (421 N. 7^th St.) FRI Rivers of Nihil, No Gods, SAT DJ Haveboard, SUN Coast 2 Coast Live: Philadelphia Edition 

Century (1350 S 29^th St.) FRI Fucksake (Tape Release), Los Gueys, Episode, Asthmatix, SAT Body Spray, Faking, Dunning Kruger

Morgan’s Pier (221 N. Columbus Blvd.) FRI DJ Beatstreet, SUN Rich Baker

Frankie Bradley’s (1320 Chancellor St.) FRI The Peek-A-Boo Revue “Dead Sexy”/Ben Aire, SAT  The Peek-A-Boo Revue “Dead Sexy”/Ed Christof, SUN TIT: A Burlesque Tribute to Stephen King

The Grape Room (105 Grape St.) FRI Effusion 35, Summer Scouts, Dear Forbidden, The Band Sheep, SAT The Output, The Easily Fooled, Goodthief

Ardmore Music Hall (23 E. Lancaster Ave.) FRI Echoes, the American Pink Floyd/Splintered Sunlight

Everybody Hits (529 W. Girard Ave.) FRI Clasp

The Pharmacy (1300 S. 18^th St.) FRI Bad Shapes, Dweller, Tiger Castle, SUN Science Club, Brandish

Creep Records (1050 N. Hancock St.) SAT Skeleton Lipstick, Kiss of the Whip

No Face Studios (5213 Grays Ave.) SAT Grayling (solo)

Planet Phitness (Please contact one of the acts or venue for more info.) SAT Halloween cover show:  System of a Down (ft mems of (formerly) Old Maybe, Aubergene), Television Personalities (ft mems of Radiator Hospital, Missing Earth, Big Heet), Everclear (ft mems of closer, Corey Flood, Littler, Everywhen, Prawn), Hilary Duff (ft mems of Susie Derkins, Slow Ref, Microsoft Saint, (formerly) the human fly), The Cure (ft members of Bury Your Fish, Jesse Magenta, and Pachyderm), Broadcast (ft mems of Corey Flood), Fall Out Boy (ft mems of Baby Bush, Here Comes Your Arms)

Rosali Middleman, a.k.a. Rosali, recently stopped by City Winery New York for a One On One Cellar Session. Spellbinding songwriting and heartfelt singing unite in the transfixing performance, featuring four songs from her latest album Trouble Anyway. The ability to tap into one’s emotive core while maintaining a cathartic calm captivates. Rosali is set to support Cloud Nothings and The Courtneys on Tuesday, December 4 at Union Transfer.

Flesh Prison Records recently emerged, releasing a compilation with 10% of its digital proceeds going to MusiCares. Void Vision is on the roster, along with notables like Ariel Pink and Mac Demarco, and a new track, “Body Says,” is featured on the release. Percussion and synth merge into a slithering, dance-inducing, darkwave trance. Allow your body’s natural instincts to takeover, and embrace the dimly-lit get down. You can catch Void Vision’s Shari Vari deejaying at Voltage Lounge on Saturday, November 3 as part of Spellbound’s Extended Halloween Edition.

Bottle It In, the new full-length album from Kurt Vile, is out now via Matador Records. The songs gently roll down a melodic, slow-burning trajectory – one that feels loose and at ease, yet has the sneaky sense of precision. Sink into those conversational drawls, which accompany Vile’s intricate guitarwork and grooves. You can find Kurt and The Violators headlining The Met Philly on Saturday, December 29 with The Feelies.

With an internal monologue that spills out in shimmering, experimental openers, Goodbye, the debut EP from Scotty, has arrived. Acoustic strums and off-kilter keys intermingle as a confessional quality emerges. Isolated observations, brightened by the morphing, instrumental backdrop, generate a zoomed in, but not closed off world. Balancing the stuck-in-your-own-thoughts familiarity with quirky twists, the album is both a place one’s seen, but never been.

Directed by Austin Elston and Emily Gallagher, the video for Gracie Martin‘s "Siren Song" immediately draws you in. The beautiful contrast between the darkness of the night and the glittery glow of the makeup highlights the tranquil warmth of her vocals. Then, as the scene shifts to the joy of dancing and performing in the streets, there’s a grace and freedom on full display. Martin will be performing next Friday, October 26 as part of the University of Pennsylvania’s Noontime Concert Series. (Photo by Amy Hernandez)

Siren Song from BornLuckyStudios

Whatever they decide to call themselves, John Dwyer and his gang, Oh Sees, are one of our all-time favorite non-Philly acts, and they’ll be bringing their Left Coast brand of psych-punk to Union Transfer for the first time this Saturday, October 20, with Merge Records’ Escape-ism, featuring Ian Svenonious (of D.C. outfits Nation of Ulysses, The Make-Up, Weird War, XYZ, and Chain and The Gang). To enter for a chance to win a pair of tix, just send an email to thedelimagazinephiladelphia@gmail.com with the subject line "a.k.a. Thee Oh Sees, OCS, The Oh Sees, etc." Please also include your cell number in the body of the message (in case of an emergency). Good luck!