Levels sport a frustratingly Google-unfirendly name, so let me shine a light on their background – the trio of Florida residents Cody Wilson, Mikey Rollingchild, and Roxor Evensen have been longtime friends ever since they met 15 years ago, and through thick and thin they finally stopped at California and made it their home. The sludge-pop enthusiasts like to bridge a gap between noise and melody, employing jerky guitars and vibrant choruses that incite listeners to stand up and shout. Check out the payfully sinister promo cut for their song "Regrets", which accentuates their pop tendencies in both their tasteful riffs and call-and-response vocals. – Juan Rodríguez

If you do one thing today, it should be to watch this latest video from Wages. It will leave you with chills and the desire to hug someone you love. A visually stunning interpretation of the song’s lyrical messages, the video is inspiring from the first string embellishments to the final unexpectedly unresolved ending. The artist, Yarrow Kraner, spent days painstakingly implementing live ink techniques to create patterns in the water, setting the perfect visual mood at every moment of the song. As it swells, the images move faster as the colors collide into each other like an underwater storm. Trust me, this is a video you’ll be watching on repeat today. It is Monday after all. – Jacqueline Caruso

Nick Campbell & Wages – Pull Through from CHISEL INDUSTRIES on Vimeo.

I can’t even begin to fully scratch the surface of The Intelligence. In their latest release Everybody’s Got It Easy But Me, listeners get a feel for how the album will sound, garage mixed with revival punk and 60’s psychedelic rock. The guitar strums last for days, tripping out every listener as the Casio piano enters stage left with its mellowed transitions into a lazy Sunday afternoon. Lars Finberg is a great musician, and is less than simple with his instruments, but his quirky perspectives brings back the lost art of trippy garage punk rock and feels like you’re listening to a throwback album circa 1986. The band can help you find peace in your week while getting down to their unique musicianship at least for a good 40 minutes. They’re a loud, backyard concert that never ends, and you kind of don’t want it to. – Kayla Hay

The psych-tinged blues of recent Deli LA poll winners Las Brujas infuses a smoggy, fuzzed-out sound that can take one on a leisured drift. The Echo Park foursome are strictly devoted to the tenets of rock n’ roll though, embodying a murky, vaporous mist that falls somewhere between the rustic hard rock of Screaming Trees and the frayed modern-blues of Califone when they were still known as Red Red Meat. Its coarse-grained guitar tones do give it a sludgy distortion that recalls grunge when it was going through a period of evolution and confusion, calibrated with a mildly apathetic and placid temper. But the band does have an ear for a powerful hook, so their sound does occasionally flirt with the kind of winding guitars that give power pop that lustrous sheen (even the hushed, front-and-center vocals of Brian Jarmon have the same pristine, harmonic quality of Matthew Sweet). It’s too early to say how Las Brujas will further their sound just yet, but their recently released self-titled EP proves their might as confident players ready to push their craft in unforseeable directions. Have a look at their latest video "Sweaty Windows" below, and make sure to catch them at TRiP in Santa Monica on January 10th. – Juan Rodríguez

A celebratory atmosphere will be tangible at The Echo tonight as local favorites, LA Font, will be officially releasing their sophomore full length along with a raucous cast of noisemakers. The band has been slowly teasing out songs from the new album for several months. The official video for the title track, "Diving Man" encapsulates the band’s straight forward, non-nonsense approach. Apparently the video is a 3-minute version of a larger mumble core film frontman Danny Bobbe and director David bores created together. Frontman Danny Bobbe is devoid of pretention and so the songs come across as such – sincere, vulnerable, and undeniably catchy. Head to The Echo tonight to catch the band in their element along with Spaceships, Washing Machines and Wax Children. ‘Diving Man’ is out now. – Jacqueline Caruso

A riff drenched in delayed tremolo crunches atop a steady drum beat as Imaad Wasif and Josh Garza stand alone in a blank, white space. This is your introduction to Electric Flower Group, or EFG as they’d like you to call them. The video for “Eclipsed,” seems minimalist, allowing you be carried away by the song itself. But it wouldn’t be psych rock without a twist. What you see is not what it seems as the image suddenly morphs – slowing down, degrading, and warping, like a an acid trip. The song’s integrity stays in tact, though, with its modern garage rock undertones casting a hazy shadow over what is a truly catchy pop tune lathered in classic rock vibes. – Jacqueline Caruso

Sydney Wayser has re-tooled her singer-songwriter sound, changed NY for LA, and released some new songs under a new name. We’re excited to share with you what she’s been up to since she played our showcase at SXSW earlier this year. Donning a new identity as Clara-Nova, she recently wrapped up a residency at The Bootleg. Her approach to jangly indie pop has matured; her voice more relaxed and open, her melodies more refined, and her presence as bewitching as ever. There’s a quality to the new tune, “One of These Days,” that brings back my memories of a free-spirited, sparkly shorts-wearing Lissie, whose delight in mere hand claps and tambourine slaps couldn’t be contained in the small room in which we were all crammed to watch her perform. That same feeling is encapsulated in Wayser’s new approach as Clara-Nova that oozes out of the speakers and lifts your soul right up. Give it a listen and try to fight its charm. – Jacqueline Caruso

The term power pop has been resurrected into the music lexicon in the past year or so, though most of the current acts that follow its roots are giving it more of gritty garage sound. But every so often, a band like Punch Punch Kick reminds us of how playful and simplistic a pop song can be, nonewithstanding that powerful crunch that gives it a sense of melodic urgency. Their first shout-out to the world, "What The Kids Don’t Know", is all-around likable, boasting a straightforward hook that morphs to the rhythm of their vocal harmonies like a good old-fashioned pop rock song should. Think of a more bubbly Surfer Blood mixed with the tight guitar dynamics of the Cars and, of course, the youthful, self-referential naivete of early Fountains of Wayne. Stream the track below, which is part of their recently released self-titled EP.

John Isaac Watters, the folk/country crooner with grainy gravitas in his voice and a camp of incredibly talented musicians surrounding him, has released yet another collection of intimate and moving songs titled, ‘Campanas.’ His sincerity is always striking as he tenderly ushers you into the worlds he creates in each song. Standout single, “Outside the Bar in Winter,” features Watters’ signature poetry and the ethereal backing vocals of Alex Rhodes, all building to a rousing movie moment chorus. The songs swing with the ease of a see-saw between dusty folk tunes and demented carnival stylings with New Orleans horn sections like those on “Ragman.” Watters reaches into every corner of alt-country, spooky folk, and indie rock to pull together his best effort to date. His storytelling shines with pristine production and a backing band worthy of the Opry. Stream the entire album on his bandcamp now. – Jacqueline Caruso

Former US Marine and world class drummer, Jacob Summers, took a break from the glitz and the smog to hide away in the frozen tundra of Alaska. It was there that his ruminations simmered unencumbered into what has become Avid Dancer. Lucky for us, he brought this new project back to LA for our aural pleasure. Last week, SPIN premiered the first single, “Stop Playing with My Heart.” Summers’ haunting vocals have an endearingly heartbreaking quality. Perfectly paired with the vintage-style production that evokes 60’s psych in a lost bedroom tapes kind of way, his time away from the unrelenting sun and sand proved worthwhile. Stream the track below, and catch Avid Dancer live at The Echo on January 21 for Pop Shop West. – Jacqueline Caruso

The highly anticipated project from 22-year olds Sean Guerin and Isaac Franco is finally available for public consumption. It was announced a few months back that the duo were set to release their debut LP on Innovative Leisure next year, but without any clue as to what they were up to sonically. Well, now we have the preemptive EP to keep on repeat while we wait for the full length. Released by Scion AV (yep, the Toyota owned company), the five song EP is an impressively dense and unpretentious glimpse into the world of De Lux, which I’m sure we will become more acquainted with in the coming months. The first single, “Better At Making Time,” is a post-disco groovy dance tune rife with catchy synth lines and an uncanny David Byrne influence. I first saw them live at The Echo when The Deli LA presented the last night of the Haunted Summer Residency. They had a seven piece band pulling off every element from these recordings in a way that stunned the crowd. De Lux is the new wave of the future. – Jacqueline Caruso