With the dissolution of his band The Ambulars, songwriter Michael Cantor has moved his attention to his blossoming solo project The Goodbye Party. This latest undertaking carries many themes over from his old group, including the jangly power-pop tonality evocative of Teenage Fanclub that makes songs into anthems. But going solo has also given Cantor room to explore other avenues of his musical inclination, giving rise to tunes that aren’t necessarily fashioned to be played onstage in a high energy environment. Some of the more sedate songs take an almost mournful tone, best described by the self-coined genre descriptor “heavenly blues.” This distinct flavor of jaded melancholy seems to permeate the majority of Cantor’s solo output and stands almost at odds with The Ambulars’s bubbly light-hearted tone. However, it puts on prominent display another side to the artist, while also carrying over enough artistic idiosyncrasy to be unmistakably, patently Michael Cantor. The Goodbye Party will be opening this evening's Sunday billing at LAVA Space with Richmond, VA's Atta Girl, Ohio transplant and Father/Daughter Records artist Addie Pray, and power-pop rock ‘n’ rollers Missing Earth. Lava Space, (Please contact one of the acts or venue for more info.), 7:30pm, $5-$7, All Ages - Bryce Woodcock

Purling Hiss commemorates the release of its latest EP Something (which is available via Famous Class Records) with a late night show at Kung Fu Necktie. Mastermind Mike Polizze will be dealing up a solo set that will deliver a tenacious blend of scorching, fuzz-textured guitar work, tempered by chilled-out melodies. It's part storm and calm raining down on your ear canals. Spacin’s Jason Killinger, a.k.a. Spacin’ Chillinger, will help lay the foundation with a rifftastic psych-punch that will undoubtedly send you into a sensory spiral, while Kiel Everett (Purling Hiss/Tin Horses) opens the proceedings. Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St., 11pm, $5, 21+ (Photo by James Richards IV) - Michael Colavita

Opening the musical door with keys before rocketing off into a magnetic, balanced percussive groove, Work Drugs's new single, “Permanent High,” is an ideal catalyst for movement. The song, which will appear on the group’s forthcoming album (tentatively titled False Highs and Actual Lows) and will be released courtesy of Bobby Cahn Records, grabs as the steady stream of seductive vocals washes over the intense beat. Work Drugs will be hitting the stage at Boot & Saddle on Saturday, June 11 with Church Girls.

The trio of Motherwhore embodies gloomy, gothic grit. Semi-filtered through the shade, the band smacks of a direct simplicity, luring listeners with semi-spoken, spellbinding vocals that hang on with an emotive, expressive power. Catching on to an unencumbered, raw, rock feel, a somewhat methodical mechanism establishes a sense of weighted steps as the guitar echoes through the fading light, demanding that you follow. Motherwhore inflects a dreary, deserted expanse with momentary musical mirages that shimmer with catchiness. Tonight’s billing at Kung Fu Necktie will be fortified by the quick-fired pop-punk of Baby Brains and the unrefined snapping confidence of Trash Night, whom dare to roam in the darkness. Kung Fu Necktie, 1250 N. Front St. 8pm, $8, 21+ - Michael Colavita

Kurt Vile's stardom has transferred to the small screen of the HBO/Duplass Brothers series Animals, "about anthropomorphic New York City animals." Check out a squirrel version of Vile as he croons his latest tune, "Eatin & Goin Nuts, Man"! The new video premiered earlier today over at Pitchfork, along with some additional dates to his already extensive tour, and you can check out the complete episode of Animals this Friday.