Winter's music has always sparkled with dream pop shimmer, but despite the title of the band's new EP Hazy, the sound waves away the smoke and mirrors of production to introduce something more raw and unrefined. Samira Winter sings on five lo-fi tracks recorded in her Echo Park bedroom, all influenced by the likes of Sparklehorse and Elliot Smith. The stripped-down format creates a more vulnerable platform for Winter to share tracks full of unobscured emotion such as "I Feel" and "Bad News". But even with the more rough production value, the shimmer remains the same. Take a listen to Hazy below. - Will Sisskind

After three years, Christoph and Anton Hochheim's passion project Ablebody celebrates individual exceptionalism in full with the release debut album Adult Contemporaries. The album—which includes the band's first sleeper hits "Backseat Heart" and "After Hours"—shimmers with tones redolent of sophisti-pop while casting light shade with its tongue-in-cheek title. Adult Contemporaries releases October 14 on Lollipop Records.

Watch the absurdist music video for Ablebody's "Gaucho", directed by Lily X. Wahrman (Dinner, Prince Rama) and see them on October 18 for a record release party with Winter at The Bootleg Theater.

Heads up: Samira Winter premieres a new single mere days before her band's North American Tour, titled "All The Things You Do". Like celebrated debut album Supreme Blue Dream, "All The Things You Do" verges on the boundaries of shoegaze, dreampop, and neo-psych, with languid beats pouring over melodies temperate and fibrous. It's a great send-off to summer as autumn falls upon us, and a wonderful tour-parting gift courtesy of Winter (and Burger Records).

Winter leaves on the 18th with indie pop Georgian transplant Allison Weiss, plus NYC's Mal Blum and Kid in the Attic — first show's at the Brick & Mortar Music Hall (SF). Los Angeles will be lonelier (and muggier) without the grace of Samira & Co., but fear not: the quartet returns to perform 11/24 at The Echo! Until then, get lovesick with "All The Things You Do" on repeat. - Ryan Mo

Call it art pop, call it psych pop, call it experimental. Call it whatever you want, but the music that Joaquin Pastor aka James Supercave puts out is not only aurally phenomenal — it's first-world metaculture commentary. 

The singer/songwriter has been active since 2012, reaching seminal fame for his acoustic collaboration with filmmaker and Erhu player Evita YuePu Zhou in "Chairman Gou", a character perspective of the 2012 Foxxcon factory suicides. It was covered by the Chinese-American newspaper World Journal, illuminating labor abuse in the world's largest contract tech manufacturer. But prosodic quality isn't the only mark of James Supercave — the group's sensual musicality, playfully bridging unorthodox timbres and progressions, definitively separates them from the myriad of emerging acts in the city. James Supercave asks that you don't think too hard, and that sentiment resounds in "The Afternoon" EP. Released last year, the debut skillyfully pours levity over profound subjects of apocalypse, voicemails, the constant of change, and the self versus the society.

Percy Shelley once remarked: "poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world." Well it's 2015, and now's as good a time as ever to start.

James Supercave performs on Saturday at the Non Plus Ultra as part of their Fall Tour. Acclaimed dreampop/shoegaze band Winter and So Many Wizards side-project Crown Plaza will support. Watch the new music video for "The Right Thing", directed by James Kim, below. - Ryan Mo

The fifth annual Echo Park Rising has announced the 2015 lineup! The initial lineup includes heavy hitters like Blank Tapes, Dengue Fever, Roses, Fever The Ghost, Hanni El Khatib, and Kera and The Lesbians as well as Deli features Media Jeweler, Liphemra, Tennis System, Winter. More acts will be announced in the coming weeks.

Celebrating local music, arts, and small businesses, Echo Park Rising transforms several bustling routes into a summer weekend block party, with events happening through the afternoon and into the night. Yearly participants of Echo Park Rising include iam8bit Gallery, Stories Books and Café, Lot 1, The Echo/Echoplex, Bedrock LA studios, and the signature French restaurant Taix which sits at the crossing of Sunset Blvd and Park Ave. The event is free and all-ages (sans spaces that serve alcohol), but Echo Park Rising is currently offering VIP 3-day passes for exclusive viewing access, line-skip privileges, easy bar access, and limited-quantity souvenirs. VIP 1-day passes will be available when full lineup is announced.

Echo Park Rising was created in 2011 by several club and business owners to quickly replace the Sunset Junction festival, according to LA Times. Last year's festival included performances by Cherry Glazerr, Allah-Las, Crisis Arm, Bur Gur, and Tapioca and the Flea. Sound advice: avoid parking near the lake on afternoons. - Ryan Mo