The Big Gigs: Our critcs' music picks

POP/ROCK While his other band has inched toward accessibility after pushing so many sonic boundaries, TV on the Radio guitarist, co-vocalist and beard-grower Kyp Malone has recorded a solo album under the name Rain Machine that's as wild as anything he's done. The songs range from tribal grooves to gritty neo-blues to freakish electronic, all tied together with starkly personal and spiritual lyrics. Should be fascinating live. Siren-voiced Brooklyn songwriter Sharon Van Etten opens. (9 p.m. today, 7th Street Entry. $15.) (C.R.)

On "The Truth According to Ruthie Foster," the truth is provided as much by Robben Ford's tasty guitar as by Foster's soulful vocalizing. Her previous CD, "The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster," was a more effective showcase for her voice, but "The Truth" still celebrates the considerable talents of this rootsy Texas troubadour. Opening are the delightful Davina and the Vagabonds, led by Minnesota's sly piano star. (8 p.m. today, O'Shaughnessy, $32.) (J.B.)

For their biggest Twin Cities show to date, Atlanta metal savants/saviors Mastodon have enlisted an opening act that threatens to steal some of their thunder, or at least take away some of the show's piousness: Dethklok, the government-baiting death-metal band that so brilliantly epitomizes and spoofs the genre on the hit Adult Swim cartoon "Metalocalypse." Onstage, the group is made up of the musicians who co-created the series, with their animated characters appearing onscreen behind them. High on Fire and Converge open. (7 p.m. today, Roy Wilkins Auditorium. $34.50-$37.) (C.R.)

After a 25-year run that was split up by frontman Ilia Lagutenko's service in the Red Navy (true story), Russia's biggest rock band Mumiy Troll is breaking into the United States with its first English-language EP, "Paradise Ahead," and its second tour to visit our familiar northern climate. American audiences have been filing them between Gogol Bordello and David Bowie. Murzik opens. (9 p.m. today, First Avenue. $12-$14.) (C.R.)

Known for colorful, love-or-hate-'em live shows, Ghostland Observatory is a psychedelic, hyper-grooving dance-rock duo with a ponytailed, howling, Freddy Mercury-copping singer and a cape-wearing beats maker. Their big coming-out was at their hometown's Austin City Limits Festival three years ago. They have since dazzled at Coachella and Lollapalooza but are only now making their Twin Cities debut. (9:30 p.m. Sat., Cabooze. $22-$25.) (C.R.)

Toronto singer Amy Millan is on a break from her full-time band, Stars -- not to mention her sometimes-group Broken Social Scene -- to promote her second solo effort, "Masters of the Burial," a downbeat but warm and serene collection that includes cover songs from Death Cab and Richard Hawley. Fellow Canadian band Bahamas opens. (9 p.m. Sat., Turf Club. $12.) (C.R.)

Celtic Woman may be an Irish group but the Dublin five have undertaken eight U.S. tours since their inception in 2004. Regarded as the vocal version of Riverdance, the slick vocal ensemble offers renditions of pop hits including Sting's "Field of Gold," Irish faves such as "Danny Boy" and the pandering original "O, America." (8 p.m. today, Mystic Lake Casino, $39-$49.) (J.B.)

Inspired by everything from flamenco to Metallica, the duo Rodrigo y Gabriela makes music that's always stirring and sometimes startling, on two acoustic guitars. Their signature sound? Reveling in percussive drive. The Mexican duo, which became a world sensation after relocating to Dublin, pays tribute to musical heroes -- including Carlos Santana, Astor Piazzolla, Jimi Hendrix and Pantera's Dimebag Darrell (!) -- on the recent CD "11:11." (8 p.m. Sat., Pantages Theatre. $32-$36.) (T.S.)

Get ready to rawk with hard-hitting U.K. vets UFO, now entering their fourth decade. The current lineup features original members Phil Mogg (vocals) and Andy Parker (drums), plus longtime keyboardist Paul Raymond and American guitar hero Vinnie Moore. (8:30 p.m. Sat., Medina Entertainment Center. $26-$36.) (T.S.)

A late add-on to this year's Summer Movies & Music in Loring Park, Ohio trio Times New Viking earned a surprisingly warm reception for such an experimental, freakish noise-rock band. The summer set forecasted the somewhat more hummable tracks on TNV's fall release, "Rip It Off." (9 p.m. Sun., 7th Street Entry. $13.) (C.R.)

At age 12, Joe Bonamassa was called the future of the blues by B.B. King. Two decades later, the Stevie Ray-loving ax man is a popular dude, having been chosen by readers of Guitar Player and Blues Wax as artist of the year in 2008. On his recent album "The Ballad of John Henry," he plays the heavy, veering into Zeppelinesque territory on the title track, and taking on Tom Waits' "Jockey Full of Bourbon" and Ike & Tina Turner's horn-accented "Funkier Than a Mosquito's Tweeter." (7:30 p.m. Mon., Guthrie Theater, $35-$50.) (J.B.)

Mindy Smith's "Come to Jesus" was one of the more enrapturing singles of 2004 but this Nashville singer/songwriter is a mixed bag. "Long Island Shores" in 2006 showed her to be a fragile soul, while this year's "Stupid Love" tries to dress up her well-crafted introspection with radio polish. Like her State Fair performance on "A Prairie Home Companion," it lacks spark. (8 p.m. Mon., Fine Line, $15-$18.) (J.B.)

One of Kurt Cobain's favorite bands, Japan's she-bop garage-punkers Shonen Knife are still in action playing their same timeless sound. The all-female trio's new disc "Super Group!" ends with a breezy cover of the Wings' "Jet." City Pages' Picked to Click winners Red Pens open. (9 p.m. Wed., 7th Street Entry. $15.) (C.R.)

On her second album, "Everybody," New York neo-popster Ingrid Michaelson continues to mix memorable melodies and quirky wordplay, though there's nothing as hooky as the ubiquitous "The Way I Am." But onstage she has an easy charm and wit that balances the sometimes cloying preciousness of her tunes. Storytelling Nashville singer/songwriter Matthew Perryman Jones opens. (8 p.m. Wed., Fine Line, sold out.) (J.B.)

When his bandmate Dan Auerbach was off touting his solo album this spring, Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney put together a new group of fellow Ohio musicians, most of whom happen to be drummers. Hence the band name, Drummer, although Carney actually plays bass in the group and their sound is shoe-gaze fuzz-rock and not some pretentious tribal drum-circle thing. (9 p.m. Thu., 7th Street Entry. $10-$12.) (C.R.)

Last year, beloved one-man jam band Keller Williams put out a live album with an actual band (three sidemen instead of his usual tape loops). But K-Dub is coming with just his guitar and loops, which should guarantee a good -- and surrealistic -- time. Always a trip. (9 p.m. Thu., Varsity Theater, $22-$25.) (J.B.)

FOLK/ROOTS A one-man folk festival, John McCutcheon is fluent on guitar, hammered dulcimer, banjo (his first love), autoharp, concertina, jaw harp, piano, dulcimer, fiddle, even the Swedish nyckelharpa. Over 31 albums, he's established himself as an ace songwriter, winning children's entertainer, a social activist in the Woody Guthrie/Pete Seeger mold and a man with a song for all seasons -- including baseball season. (8 p.m. Sat., Cedar Cultural Center. $22-$25.) (T.S.)

CHORAL This season and last, choral legend Dale Warland (whose eponymous choir was disbanded in 2004) has prepared the SPCO Chorale for performances led by others. Now it's his turn. His program, characteristically, combines two 20th-century masterpieces: Arvo Pärt's tintinnabulistic Te Deum and Maurice Duruflé's gentle Requiem. So dust off your Latin and head for the 'burbs -- for choral enthusiasts, this concert is not optional. (8 p.m. Thu., Trinity Lutheran Church, 115 N. 4th St., Stillwater; 8 p.m. next Fri., Wooddale Church, 6630 Shady Oak Rd., Eden Prairie. $10-25. 651-291-1144 or thespco.org.) (L.F.)

Contributors: Staff critics Chris Riemenschneider and Jon Bream and freelancers Tom Surowicz and Larry Fuchsberg.