The Big Gigs for week of 10/28

HIP-HOP

It's a little redundant for Minneapolis hip-hop star Dessa to get onstage to promote her new album, "Castor, the Twin," since that's exactly where it came from. She made the new recordings of mostly older tunes right after coming off the road with her ace band, which spiked the songs with jazzy inflections and arguably greater drama. It's not actually a live album, but it very much feels like it. In addition to her already notable bandmates such as Aby Wolf and Heiruspecs' Sean McPherson, she will be joined by Channy Casselle and Cecil Otter. Should be far from redundant. (8 p.m. Fri., Fitzgerald Theater. Sold out.) Chris Riemenschneider

According to its website, the Smokers Club was "sprouted in the summer of 2010 by a group of friends seeking to merge both their love of music and medicinal medicine." For its second-ever tour, the loose collective is trotting out Wu-Tang legend Method Man, buzzy Southerner Big K.R.I.T. and prolific/talented weed rapper Curren$y for a 35-city run. Don't think the MCs' emphasis on THC hog-ties their craft -- these are some capable and artful technicians. (9 p.m. Fri., First Avenue, 18 & older, $27.) Jay Boller

Like his friend and frequent collaborator Slug, Murs has become something of an underground hip-hop elder statesman. He came up in the late '90s, finding critical success as an indie rapper before taking his smart, plainspoken rhymes to a major label on 2008's "Murs for President," which netted mixed reviews. Independent once more, the Los Angeles-based MC released his fourth solo effort, "Love & Rockets, Vol. 1: The Transformation," last month. Opening are D.C.-based rapper Tabi Bonney, Jay-Z's producer pal Ski Beatz and others. (9 p.m. Tue., Fine Line, 18 & older, $15.) Boller

POP/ROCK

Although it can be difficult to tell the difference, They Might Be Giants continue to craft "adult" records alongside their popular kids albums. The latest is "Join Us," a playful but non-cutesy collection that shows the two Johns who front the band are still pretty serious about making clever, polka-spiked pop/rock. They're meeting their wide-aged fan base halfway this time: It's a 14-and-up show. Gold Motel opens. (7:30 p.m. Sat., First Avenue. $23.) Riemenschneider

It seems like only yesterday that bands like Hatebreed and Killswitch Engage were merging the crunchy breakdowns of '90s hardcore with heavy-metal riffage, the latter sprinkling in some melody for good measure. Not much has changed since metalcore's inception, but few have perfected the formula better than regional headbangers After the Burial (Minneapolis), Veil of Maya (Chicago) and Misery Signals (Milwaukee). (6 p.m. Sun., First Avenue, all ages, $15.50-$18.) Michael Rietmulder

Listening to Mike Posner's hit singles "Cooler Than Me" or "Bow Chicka Wow Wow," it comes as no surprise the 23-year-old chart-topper majored in business and sociology. Tacky sexuality, cameos (Lil Wayne, Boyz II Men) and big-name producers abound on his debut, "31 Minutes to Takeoff." It's all salesmanship, as Posner hides an underwhelming, slithery voice behind a wall of stylized production and hip posturing. The end result smacks of a trashy Justin Timberlake. St. Cloud-based live hip-hoppers Modern Condition open. (8 p.m. Mon., Cabooze, 16 & older, $20.) Boller

Things have been relatively quiet on the Solid Gold front, as the local electro-pop band works on its long-awaited follow-up album. In a Halloween show that marks its first major Twin Cities concert in a year and a half, expect a mix of the band's new, groovier material as well as favorites from 2008's "Bodies of Water." Teddy & the Turks and Leisure Birds open. (9 p.m. Mon., Varsity Theater, 18 & older, $12.) Jahna Peloquin

From the unlikely hipster hotbed of Baltimore (Dan Deacon, Beach House, Wye Oak), Future Islands perform under the ubiquitous synth-pop banner but -- gasp! -- aren't tired '80s retreads. That has a lot to do with frontman Samuel T. Herring. Manic and theatrical, he belts tragic yarns as if he's New Order's Bernard Sumner doing a Tom Waits impression. Future Islands' danceable arrangements are equally exciting. There's crystalline, Devo-inspired new wave, sure. But there's also a freewheeling, kitchen-sink boundlessness that skirts any sterility. The trio released its third LP, "On the Water," last month. Fellow Baltimoreans Ed Schrader's Music Beat and locals A. Wolf & Her Claws open. (9 p.m. Tue., 7th St. Entry, 18 & older, $10-$12.) Boller

Between solo tours and continued outings as Dinosaur Jr.'s bassist (look for an all-"Bug" tour), Lou Barlow has also returned to the road with Sebadoh. The lo-fi Boston trio, co-helmed by the underrated Jason Lowenstein, never had a hit like its offshoot Folk Implosion's "Natural One," but its influence can be heard on a lot of today's scrappier indie guitar-pop. The current trek is timed to the expanded reissue of "Bakesale," which stands up as the trio's best album overall. Mazes opens. (9 p.m. Wed., 400 Bar. $15.) Riemenschneider

COUNTRY

ROOTS

Texas is famous for its not-so-famous country/folk music heroes, and one of them will celebrate another in Minneapolis this weekend: Gurf Morlix, best known as Lucinda Williams' guitarist from the mid-'80s to mid-'90s and producer for Ray Wylie Hubbard and Slaid Cleaves, just released a loving tribute album to the late and tragic Blaze Foley, the subject of Williams' song "Drunken Angel." Blaze is also now the subject of a new documentary, "Duct Tape Messiah." The film will screen before Morlix's set of Foley standards, which also have been covered by Merle Haggard, John Prine and Lyle Lovett -- dudes who, like Morlix, know a great songwriter when they hear one. (7 p.m. Sat., Patrick's Cabaret. $15.) Riemenschneider

Acoustic blues specialist Rory Block has stayed busy the past few years, recording tribute CDs to Son House and Mississippi Fred McDowell, publishing an autobiography ("When a Woman Gets the Blues") and touring steadily. This weekend she'll bring the Delta downtown, turning the corner of 10th & Nicollet into the "Crossroads," for one night at least. (7 p.m., Sun., Dakota Jazz Club, $20.) Tom Surowicz

The Blind Boys of Alabama just dove into country gospel for the first time on their well-received album "Take the High Road," harmonizing with Nashville and Texas acts, some revered, others debatable. The genre-crossing project has now morphed into a series of gigs pairing the fabled gospel singers with country vets. In Minneapolis, siblings Sara and Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek will join them -- can we get an "Amen, y'all"? (7:30 p.m. Thu., Cedar Cultural Center, $30-$35.) Surowicz

Roots guitar great Pete Anderson, who's as known for his record-producing (Dwight Yoakam, Michelle Shocked, Rosie Flores) as his fine playing, dives into urban blues on his new release "Even Things Up." Growing up in a blue-collar Detroit family, the blues was Anderson's first big musical love, and his passion is apparent throughout the disc, which came out in a limited release in 2009, but is newly expanded with four extra tracks, including a guest vocal by Bekka Bramlett. If the names Ronnie Earl, Earl Hooker or Dave Specter make you feel warm and fuzzy, don't miss this gig. (8 p.m. Thu., Turf Club, $10.) Surowicz

The news is that Herbie Hancock's 2005 CD "Possibilities" -- the one with all the pop stars -- just went gold this month, surpassing a half-million copies sold. Since that album, the ever-unpredictable modern jazz piano giant cleaned up at the Grammys with "River: The Joni Letters," and went the all-star route again with "The Imagine Project." He's spending the next month either playing solo gigs or performing "Rhapsody in Blue" with various symphonies -- we get the solo show. (8 p.m. Fri., Orchestra Hall, $25-$100.) Surowicz

An idiosyncratic Parisian master of "prepared" piano, avant jazzman Benoit Delbecq has recorded with musicians from all over the globe. His 2010 trio CD, "The Sixth Jump," made the New York Times best-of-the-year list, and this year he appeared on local label Innova Records as a key participant on a cool Afro-flavored release by composer/percussionist Lukas Ligeti, "Pattern Time." Delbecq will perform solo in St. Paul, sharing a bill with the Halloween-ready improv trio Merciless Ghost, featuring saxophonist George Cartwright, drummer Davu Seru and bassist Josh Granowski. (7 p.m. Fri., Black Dog Cafe, $10.). Surowicz

No modern jazz guitarist has a more distinctive sound than John Scofield. And on his great new ballads CD, "A Moment's Peace," Sco' puts that eloquent, tartly beautiful blue-hued sound to work on familiar themes by the Beatles, George Gershwin, Abbey Lincoln and Billy Eckstine, along with some impressive, moody originals and a Carla Bley gem that could be headed for jazz-standard status ("Lawns"). While the guitarist has made many cool crossover albums, "A Moment's Peace" is straight jazz all the way -- a dozen songs without a clinker, which bodes well for Scofield's quartet gig with pianist Michael Eckroth, bassist Ben Street and drummer Gregory Hutchinson. (7 & 9 p.m. Tue., Dakota Jazz Club, $30-$40.) Surowicz

CLASSICAL

"Life and Love in the 17th Century" is the theme of the debut concert by the Hyperion Singers, a vocal-instrumental quartet comprising countertenor Josef Nelson, soprano Sarah Jackson, keyboard player Tami Morse and theorbo (lute) player Phil Rukavina. Music by Handel, Monteverdi, Strozzi and Vivaldi illuminates the delights and dolors of amour. (7:30 p.m. Sat., Baroque Room, 275 E. 4th St., Suite 280, St. Paul. $10-$15. www.thebaroqueroom.com.) Larry Fuchsberg