Fall pop music preview: Odd Future hits First Avenue

After stirring up controversy all summer, this young and brash Los Angeles hip-hop crew cemented its pop stardom at last week's Video Music Awards on MTV, where lead rapper/producer Tyler the Creator was voted best new artist by viewers and his posse faced Will Ferrell and Jack Black in a dance-off. The group's violent, sexist, homophobic music has sent many a hip-hop hater into convulsions -- and plenty of hip-hop devotees, too -- no matter how cheeky those sharp tongues are really trying to be. GLAAD even formally denounced the Odd Future after the VMAs. All of this, of course, only adds to interest in the group's fall tour. For better or worse, it's the most noteworthy new act coming to town.

Foo Fighters

"Never lose faith in real rock 'n' roll music," Dave Grohl said last week at the MTV Video Music Awards podium, where his Foo Fighters were the lone rock act out. Likewise, they're the only thing headbangable booked into a Twin Cities arena this fall. The show is the kickoff to a fall tour behind the Foos' darker "Wasting Light" album. Topical punk band Rise Against and the Mexi-Cali offshoot band Mariachi El Bronx open.

St. Vincent

Under her nom de rock, Dallas-bred singer/guitarist Annie Clark has grown from an interesting, Bowie-loving studio experimenter with her 2007 debut "Marry Me" into a riveting, wow-inducing live act on her tours behind 2009's "Actor." It sounds as if she hasn't tamed her wild sound for "Strange Mercy," out Tuesday. Her tour starts here.

Esperanza Spaulding

She is one of the youngest instructors ever at Berklee College of Music. Prince enlists her as an opening act. The Grammys showed Spalding some love this year by giving her the best new artist award -- the first jazz musician to win this prize. The 26-year-old darling of the jazz world is working on "Radio Music Society," a February album on which the singer/bassist will offer funk, hip-hop and rock interpretations of tunes by the Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder and others.

This Irish chanteuse performed on last year's Grammys with Jeff Beck and appears on this month's tribute album "Listen to Me: Buddy Holly." The 37-year-old charmer is a throwback to Patsy Cline, Wanda Jackson and Peggy Lee with her retro mix of country, rockabilly and lounge jazz. And she throws in tasty covers such as a tongue-in-cheek take on "Tainted Love."

Aretha Franklin

After surgery that had some people wondering if the Queen of Soul was not long for this world, Aretha bounced back, lost weight and released a new album, "A Woman Falling Out of Love," through Wal-Mart. Though the disc is uneven, reviews of concerts by the 69-year-old icon have been consistently auspicious since she returned to the road in May. This will be the first Twin Cities appearance since 2004 for one of music's all-time greats.

Keith Urban

Some people know him as Mr. Nicole Kidman, but country music fans know Urban as a passionate singer, guitar hero and exciting performer. He's a steady hitmaker, too, having scored 11 No. 1 country smashes in the past 10 years, including this summer's "Without You."

Don't know why the powers that be at Orchestra Hall insist that it should be a place for amplified jazz, but Hancock doing a solo piano concert is the right artist for Minneapolis' symphony hall. Although he was one of the first jazz keyboardists to embrace synthesizers and funk, and gained his most recent recognition for Grammy-winning collaborations with singers interpreting Joni Mitchell and John Lennon, the 71-year-old crossover jazz giant is a classically trained master of many styles.

Dawes and Blitzen Trapper

Two of the most heavily rotated Americana/twang-rock bands on the Current and other public-radio outlets, they each have played warmly received First Ave gigs but couldn't resist returning on a fall co-headlining tour. Dawes' second album from June adds to its soulful Californian canon, and Blitzen's fuzzed-up fourth disc for Sub Pop has a good buzz going into its release Tuesday.