Data Breaker on Portable Morla:

The Deepsleep Narcotics Co., the Three Fates, Portable Morla

(Nectar) Playing keyboards, synths, percussion, bass, melodica, accordion, and various toys, Portable Morla creates tunes that sensually slither into earshot. She composes low-lit torch songs that slyly seduce rather than slap you upside the ass. Dub influences her production style, lending her songs a lo-fi, intimate spaciousness not unlike the Kranky Records artist Nudge and Welsh post-punk band Young Marble Giants; similarly, Portable Morla's dulcet voice bears a slight resemblance to Nudge's Honey Owens's, albeit with more vibrato and theatricality. Morla's beats are relatively gentle, which allows more room for her lush, sparkling electronic embellishments to blossom. Overall, Portable Morla's introverted brand of electronic-oriented songcraft bears a distinctive sound palette and vocal tenor that will linger long after the last song dissipates into the ether.

In Up & Coming tonight:

Elvis Costello and the Sugarcanes

(Chateau Ste Michelle) Of the dozen or so singer-songwriters fleetingly burdened with the tag "the new Dylan," Elvis Costello earned it most. Like the standard-bearer, Costello burst onto the scene as an undeniable force, pooping out a bunch of brilliant albums that revolutionized rock lyrics with astonishing ease. Then came maturity—Blood on the Tracks, King of America—followed by a settling-in as venerable elder statesman and lifelong musical journeyman. I'm still waiting for Old Man Costello to put together his Time Out of Mind or "Love And Theft"—i.e., late records that contend with the best of the early records—but until then, I'll make do with his better-than-Knocked-Out-Loaded late-middle-period releases, such as 2009's Secret, Profane & Sugarcane. DAVID SCHMADER

Existereo, Tullie the Rapper, Rheteric Ramirez, JFK, DJ WD4D

(Chop Suey) Existereo (or just Exist, if you're into the whole brevity thing) is a tatted, ragged L.A. original, a shit-bag corsair, a member of L.A.'s graf legends CBS, and an MC with fantastically weird crew of beloved subterranean titans the Shape Shifters. Exist freaks a charmingly clunky singsong flow with a confessional humor and a street-bred laundry list of hard-livin', Cali hardcore influences, flipping rap covers of Black Flag's "Wasted" and making it work. His group Candy's .22 is with local boy done good Barfly; their first full-length, Livin La Vida Boo Hoo, is a rare recipe of dayroom cowboy blues, and the follow-up, A Girl and Her Gun, is coming soon. LARRY MIZELL JR.

The Contraband Countryband, Mindless Thuggs, Feedback Seed, Are you a cat?

(Blue Moon) Every Are you a cat? live performance is a different beast, determined by the Seattle duo's caprices on the day of the gig. If they have a default mode, it's a miasmatic kind of abstract electronica, a malevolent cauldron of vivid, mutating synth, bass, and guitar textures. However, they can apply their own rejuvenating twist to free jazz, rock, disco, doom metal, funk, and prog pop, as well. Whatever style they flex, Are you a cat? are bound to make your night rewardingly strange—and strangely rewarding. The Contraband Countryband play spirited country rock, with Olie Eshleman's exuberant pedal steel twaaannnggg-eeeennn and sighin' like mad. These locals will leave that "yee-haw!" you'll reflexively shout upon hearing their music charred on your lips. DAVE SEGAL

Midday Veil

(Wall of Sound) "Kaleidoscopic soundtracks for beatific visions," runs Midday Veil's MySpace descriptor. That's hard to top for a critic looking to sum up this Seattle quintet. But to elaborate: I once saw a sign in a New York City storefront that read "ALL IS BLISS." It was one of the most beautiful—if illusory—axioms I've ever seen. And it just might be Midday Veil's guiding principle. Vocalist Emily Pothast has affinities for country music, soul, and blues, but her alluring earthiness comes equipped with an equally ravishing ethereality, which complements the band's more kosmische tendencies. Throughout Midday Veil's expansive, incantatory psychedelia, analog-synth wizard David Golightly meticulously, delicately coaxes star-dusted oscillations. Indeed, he and his cohorts convince you that all is bliss within the enchanting folds of this group's debut disc, End of Time, as well as in their newer epic, "Queen of the Void," which you can hear at www.myspace.com/middayveil. DAVE SEGAL

For more music happenings going on tonight, try searching our online music calendar.