Philly is a shoegaze mecca. If you don’t believe me, go to the Slide Away festival tomorrow — or at least try to, since it’s sold out. They Are Gutting A Body Of Water are one of the notable bands in the scene right now, and, like Philly forebears Blue Smiley, their brand of fuzz is full of quirky, weird sounds, as heard on their new collaboration with fellow Philadelphia folk Greg Mendez and SUN ORGAN. By TAGABOW standards, “krillin” is tame but immersive and mesmeric. Emotive guitars and harmonies conjure a whirlwind of magical chaos, bewitching all the way through. —Danielle

“If It’s Gone” sets expectations high for the new Good Looks LP. On their album’s lead single, the Texas indie band pulls from heartland-rockin’ forebears like Wilco and the War On Drugs while staying spry on their feet with traces of power-pop and emo. With contagious locomotion, the song seems to accumulate noise and melody as it goes, like a snowball that builds to an avalanche as it rolls down the hill. Tyler Jordan sings artful lyrics about letting go when parts of your life slip into the past — a theme perfectly synchronized to the music’s relentless forward surge. And when the final verse wraps up, what a sign-off it is: “I hope you find true love and money/ Many orgasms and fame/ And if you’re somehow still unhappy/ Find somebody else to blame.” —Chris

Though Sinai Vessel’s last release “Birthday” watched Caleb Cordes taking advantage of a sparse, slow sound, its follow-up “How” is driven by heavier (though not heavy) guitars. The song is full of motion as Cordes sings of a kind of emotional Déjà vu: “I’ve been here before/ I know where I am/ I know where’s the door.” It captures the way mental states can feel like physical spaces, often claustrophobic and packed with optical illusions: “Each time further down/
This hall in my mind/ Till I dead end, convinced/ This has been my whole life.” The piano, though, imbues the track with a sense of hope; even if the place is uncomfortable, we can still try to make a home of it. —Danielle

Gouge Away can sound absolutely titanic. “Dallas,” the closer from their new album Deep Sage, is a six-minute fuzz-pop epic that thrums with ’90s alt-rock energy — an ambitious move for what was once a raw, noisy post-hardcore band. But sometimes, you don’t need ambition. Sometimes, you just need to scream at someone to leave you alone, and Gouge Away can do that too. “Spaced Out” is a 104-second ripper with a gang-chant chorus, a nasty breakdown, and lyrics that get right to the point: “I’m so damn bored I could C-R-Y! Running your mouth, asking to die die die!” It doesn’t take six minutes to say that. —Tom

Nate Amos’ music as half of Water From Your Eyes is fractured and chaotic. His glorious new song channels some of that unconventional spirit into a much smoother, more emotionally charged listen. Amos has been releasing solo material as This Is Lorelei for years, but as the lead single from official debut album, “Dancing In The Club” works as a gripping, rewarding introduction to the project.

Amos says he wrote “Dancing In The Club” as a riff on romantic fuck-ups who are always playing the heel in relationships; “It was supposed to be a character study and I guess it is but it turns out the character was just me.” The personal element comes through resoundingly. It’s undoubtedly polarizing to hear Amos apply so much Auto-Tune to his vocals on such a confessional track, but it works wonders in tandem with his soft, sensitive delivery on lines like “And I sang into my phone/ I ate my dinner in the dark/ And I fucked up my guitar/ While I was fucking up my heart/ While I was singing Steely Dan/ Crying “shake it” in the wind/ Yeah, a loser never wins/ And I’m a loser, always been.”

The backdrop for this lament is propulsive and unique — a little bit pop-punk, a little bit post-punk, and more than a little electronic, with all sorts of sounds soaring in and out of the airspace like debris in a windstorm. Like so many of the best and boldest songs, it sounds familiar but also unlike anything else. —Chris