Sandcastle has issued a new EP Emeralds of Opium. It creeps into your consciousness as lurking keys and fragile, exposed vocals are brightened with a meshing of folky jangle and warm synth hue. It’s close, and still feels like a transmission from a distant zone.

Slutever‘s Rachel Gagliardi has a new project called Pouty, where she is backed by Cat Park (Amanda X, Eight) and Evan Bernard (The Superweaks, ex-Dangerous Ponies) on her debut EP Take Me To Honey Land, which you can stream HERE. It was record with Bernard at Big Mama’s Warehouse in Philly and and R.L. Kelly in Los Angeles. She also premiered a new music video for the single "Sad" today at Cultist. It was directed by Emily Alben, and was shot in LA.

The quartet of The Mellowells strikes the right balance of emotional investment and adventurous musicality. Reeling listeners in with reflecting narrative tales that send them slipping into a personal pocket while maintaining melodic momentum. They create space for an expression filled escape of instrumentation that releases pressure, shifting the point of view from observation to action, drawing through the mirror sentiment and then sparking a fuse that takes jogging grooves and transitions them into open-air sprints. Tonight, the satin-lined, soulful jazz of Seoul Delhi help set the table with Keppler as a starter. Bourbon & Branch, 705 N. 2nd St., 8pm, $7-$10, 21+ – Michael Colavita

Daytrotter just posted their session with Philly indie rockers Beach Slang yesterday. The recorded in-studio performance at Room 17 in Brooklyn was made up mostly of songs from their Polyvinyl LP The Things We Do To Find People Who Feel Like Us ("Bad Art & Weirdos Ideas," "Ride the Wild Haze," and "Too Late To Die You") and "Dirty Cigarettes" from the EP Cheap Thrills On A Dead End Street. You can take a listen to a couple of the tracks from the session for free, and the whole performance is available for streaming and download HERE (w/membership). (Illustration by Johnnie Cluney)

The somberly sincere Mark Lanky steps into Kung Fu Necktie this evening. Embracing the melancholy aftermath, Lanky’s deep, bellowing vocals achingly echo, orchestrating a cavernous, isolating sound that resonates in reverberation. Sinking into the shaded depths, he holds you in the haunting observational narratives, freezing one in his time. Tonight, Lanky will be joined by Cardinal Arms, the solo moniker of singer/songwriter Bevan McShea, whose introspective, searching lyrical style reveals personal tidbits, while projecting onto the listener/audience. Traveling troubadour Joshua Adair taps into his experiences completing this acoustic triad. Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 8pm, $5, 21+ – Michael Colavita

Philly’s Telepathic, featuring ex-Bleeding Rainbow members Sarah Everton and Rob Garcia with Paul Brinkley on drums, have a new follow-up to their debut Power of Ten. "Suit To Fit" is the lead single from the group’s upcoming album Time Release, due out January 18. Garcia’s guitar shreds through the duo’s vocals, providing the constant tension and intensity that propels the track forward. (Photo by Dominique Montgomery)

If Philadelphia had a band mascot, it would be Mumblr. Their brand of feel-good power-pop anthems are plenty spunky and spirited enough to get all the kids enlivened. The lyrics are the centerpiece of each peppy jam and showcase not only lead singer Nick Morrison’s beautiful, polished, and precise Rivers Cuomo cadence (this dude’s definitely had voice lessons or something), but also the band’s sarcastic yet revealing, lighthearted yet tragic sense of humor. The rest of the band matches the dynamic range of the lilting vocals as they move through soft then loud, jagged then steady progressions and rhythms. With a seemingly bottomless reservoir of stamina and imagination, Mumblr will rock your socks but also amuse you in your thinking organ; and they will prove it tonight at Johnny Brenda’s where they’ill be opening for Car Seat Headrest, the brainchild of Will Toledo, who’s been making big internet blogging headlines recently. For good reason too, as Will’s been at it for over 5 years now refining his sound and sense of self into something that superficially resembles Guided By Voices with more synthesized textures and a wry and introspective overtone. Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N Frankford Ave, 8pm, $10, 21+ – Bryce Woodcock

The aptly self-styled “shitpunk” bruisers Mannequin Pussy are renowned for their raw, unrestrained performances of piercing tunes that shred your eardrums like sonic cheese graters. Their reckless and unapologetically crass sound situates them alongside bands like Tacocat and Be Your Own Pet, while their outlying softer songs meander toward a more listless indie rock foundation, like something out of the late 80s Creation Records repertoire. But any lapse in the band’s “shitpunk” momentum is easily regained in a live setting, with each ensuing song, usually clocking in between 1-2 minutes, a self-contained noise-bomb of barbed wire and razor blades. Mannequin Pussy will be dishing out the raw power tonight at Hong Kong Garden with The Spirit of the Beehive, another local favorite who will round out the tonal frequency of the night with their low-end fuzz. SOTBH explore the bleak, more brooding side of noise rock and shoegaze, owing its dark but dissipated tonal signature as much to MBV as to Smashing Pumpkins. Their songs show an inclination toward heavy, dissonant riffs, a talent for complex but subtle melody, and a keen sense for song progression that sometimes never looks back or returns to that hook that captured your initial attention. All of this gives the music an indulgent but slightly withholding nature that resembles bands like Swirlies or Jessamine if you gave them a couple of bellowing Marshall stacks. Joining this stacked lineup will be Littler with their uneasy brand of slacker-punk and Tennessee space-rockers Idle Bloom. Hong Kong Garden, (Please contact one of the acts or venue for more info.), 7pm, $5-$7, All Ages – Bryce Woodcock

After releasing their latest full-length Hunting With The Lord (their first via Reptilian Records) a couple of weeks back, the melodic, punk-metal hybrid known as APE! headline a record release show this evening at Kung Fu Necktie. The power trio continues to refine a sound that’s parts gate-storming backend, the commanding bellow of lead vocals, and dynamite-lined, fuzz-noise textured ripping guitar solos that set off the situation. It is furious, strategically-placed, going hard and heavy with a target in their sights. Tonight, they will be joined by the fire-starting, riff-drum crack combination of Georgia duo Twin Trances, unleashing the menace. The space-traveling, fuzz-filtered rock of DC’s Polyon soar into town, while a pair of local acts in the gloomy, grungy stomp of duo Worst Ones and Fishtown’s Blurry Yeller complete a robust lineup. Kung Fu Necktie (Upstairs), 1250 N. Front St., 10:30pm, $5, 21+ – Michael Colavita