The Big Gigs: Critic's music picks for the next seven days

POP/ROCK In its fourth year, the Take Action Tour is a charity-driven two-month trek put on by Hopeless Records and now backed by deep-pocketed corporate sponsors such as MySpace (meaning the money raised goes even farther). Bands this time around include the Fueled for Ramen-backed, emo-poppy Buffalo, N.Y., quintet Cute Is What We Aim For, Utah's sisterly Warped Tour vets Meg & Dia, plus Breathe Carolina and Every Avenue. (5:30 p.m. today, Station 4. All ages. $16-$18.) (C.R.)

A husband/wife-led garage-rock band, the Hard Lessons are big enough darlings in the Detroit scene to have opened for the Stooges and recorded with producer Eric Shipp (Electric Six, Ladytron). They just played South by Southwest to tout their May 27 disc "Arms Forest," featuring Mates of State-like boy/girl vocals and old-school power-pop hooks. (5 p.m. today, Triple Rock. 18 & older. $8-$10.) (C.R.)

Known for her hushed noirish alt-pop, L.A. hipster Eleni Mandell asserts herself vocally on the new "Artificial Fire." While she's not quite a shouter, "Bigger Burn" and "Cracked" crackle like Pretenders tunes, and she practically growls on the title track. Of course, this master of adult love songs can still purr with the best of them, as evidenced on the sultry "In the Doorway." Opening is Daniel Martin Moore, a Sub Pop folkie who sounds like a cousin of the Fleet Foxes. (8 p.m. today, Cedar Cultural Center, $12-$15.) (J.B.)

Raul Malo's new "Lucky One" is melodramatic and often schmaltzy in a Dean Martin country/lounge kind of way. But whether he's doing rockabilly, Latin jazz, Tex-Mex, country or you name it, Malo can summon Roy Orbison-like loneliness with his soaring, deeply emotional voice. In concert, he always does something by his wonderful 1990s band, the Mavericks, and usually covers of "Guantanamera" and rock classics. Always recommended. (9:30 p.m. today, Cabooze, $14-$17.) (J.B.)

After a couple decades of playing fan-adored acoustic tours, Bob Mould finally got around to making his most unplugged album to date. "Life and Times," due April 7, is replete with acoustic six-string and some of his nakedest vocals since 1986's "Hardly Getting Over It." It can't exactly be called mellow -- songs such as "Bad Blood Better" and "Spiraling Down" are as intense as his darkest tracks, plus there's some scorching electric guitar work here and there. His Varsity debut will be a solo performance, and it falls on the same date as his first gig with Hüsker Dü 30 years ago. Maybe it's time for that reunion. Yeah, right. (8:30 p.m. Mon., Varsity Theater. 18 & older. $20.) (C.R.)

British rockers Bloc Party are still blazing across America in support of their '08 album "Intimacy," which earned ample airplay on the Current with Cure-gone-digi-punk singles such as "Mercury." Their live show is even more hyper and sparks-filled than their records. (9 p.m. Mon., First Avenue. 18 & older. $25.) (C.R.)

Probably best known now as Mr. Heidi Klum, Seal tries to reassert his rep as a soul singer on "Soul," interpreting hits identified with Sam Cooke, Al Green and Curtis Mayfield. Of course, he also has his own hits from the 1990s, "Kiss From a Rose" and "Crazy," to sing. Opening is piano man Peter Cincotti, who, after years of trying to emulate Harry Connick Jr., evokes Billy Joel on "East of Angel Town," his first collection of originals. (7:30 p.m. Tue., Orpheum, $45-$75.) (J.B.)

ROOTS Old-time music is usually associated with white musicians from Appalachia, but the Carolina Chocolate Drops are determined to remind the world that black musicians from North Carolina's Piedmont area also played this style before World War II. This trio of singing scholars -- fiddler, banjoist and guitarist -- performs traditional tunes with emotion and authenticity. (8 p.m. Sat. & 7:30 p.m. Sun., Cedar Cultural Center, $17-$20.) (J.B.)

CLASSICAL What makes American music American? Folk tunes? Jazz rhythms? "Embracing America," a thoughtfully plotted concert of homegrown music by the Bakken Trio (augmented and diminished), may not answer these questions. But it asks them interestingly, juxtaposing works by John Adams ("Road Movies"), Charles Ives (Sonata No. 3 for Violin and Piano) and Antonín Dvoak (the "American" Quartet, Op. 96). Bakken violinist (and Minnesota Orchestra assistant concertmaster) Stephanie Arado will be heard throughout. (2 p.m. Sun., SPCO Center, third floor, 408 St. Peter St., St. Paul. $15-$25. 612-374-3175 or bakkentrio.org.) (L.F.)

JAZZ Get set for a jazz-funk double bill of near-epic proportions when sax star Karl Denson's Tiny Universe shares a show with Meters bass master George Porter's all-star Porter Batiste Stoltz trio. Porter was expansive and virtuosic and groovy as ever in a recent snowy Cedar Cultural Center visit, and now he's back with New Orleans pals Brian Stoltz (guitar hero of Neville Brothers renown) and Russell Batiste Jr. (drum dynamo extraordinaire from a fabled Crescent City family). (9 p.m. Fri, Trocaderos. $22-$25.) (T.S.)

A terrific alto saxophonist and gifted composer/arranger, Jim Snidero released one of the finest orchestral jazz albums ever with 2003's "Strings." He'll have a much smaller and bar-friendlier quartet when he visits this weekend, but you can still expect romance and fireworks from this reedman who's worked with everyone from Frank Sinatra to Eddie Palmieri to Maria Schneider. (9 p.m. Fri,-Sat., Artists' Quarter. $15.) (T.S.)

To celebrate its 70th anniversary, the great modern-jazz label Blue Note Records assembled an all-star touring band with precious little connection to Blue Note history. That said, the Blue Note 7 combo led by pianist Bill Charlap is plenty potent, featuring Nicholas Payton (trumpet), Ravi Coltrane and Steve Wilson (saxes), Peter Bernstein (guitar), Peter Washington (bass) and Lewis Nash (drums). They'll be assailing Blue Note gems of yore penned by the likes of Herbie Hancock, Thelonious Monk, Wayne Shorter and Horace Silver. (2 p.m. Sun., Orchestra Hall. $22-$48.) (T.S.)

WORLD Kalman Balogh is the gypsy genius of the cimbalom, an East European hammered dulcimer that's more like a vibraphone or marimba than a simple folk instrument. An amazing soloist, versed in all sorts of sounds, Balogh has the restless curiosity of a great jazz improviser. His rousing six-piece Gipsy Cimbalom Band is ready for any challenge, from Brahms to bossa nova, but their well-tweaked traditional dance numbers are what raise the roof. (7:30 p.m. Thu., Cedar Cultural Center. $18-$20.) (T.S.)