Twin Cities concerts of the week: The Black Angels at First Ave; metalheads flock to Northern Invasion

The Black Angels: Austin's psychedelic rockers provide a wonderful dose of sensory overload at their concerts, with hard-throbbing bass lines, heavily reverberating guitars and the occasional rhythmic outbursts into full-blown punk mayhem. They titled their masterful new album "Death Song" as a playful nod to the Velvet Underground song they also named their band after ("The Black Angel's Death Song"), though sonically it's closer to early Pink Floyd. Anyone digging Temples at the moment should give these more hair-raising soundalikes a try, especially with A Place to Bury Strangers opening. (9 p.m. Fri., First Avenue, 701 1st Av. N., Mpls., $20, eTix.com.)

Greg Brown: The locally beloved Iowa folk music hero has been keeping an even lower than usual profile of late but is thankfully keeping up his long-standing annual gig at the Twin Cities' best listening room. (8 p.m. Fri., Cedar Cultural Center, sold out.)

Amy Helm: The daughter of the Band's Levon Helm and singer Libby Titus has a soulful voice and a way with roots music, as evidenced in her Twin Cities performances with her dad, the group Ollabelle and Patty Griffin and Mavis Staples as well as on her 2015 solo album, "Didn't It Rain." Helm's band will feature guitar goddess Cindy Cashdollar, who has worked with Bob Dylan, Asleep at the Wheel and Ryan Adams. (7 p.m. Fri. Dakota, $33-$38.)

Northern Invasion: The first big music festival of the season in our part of the tundra — because only metalheads are tough enough to endure whatever cold weather might come in mid-May — this two-day camp-out in western Wisconsin is in its third year and has its biggest lineup yet. Saturday's schedule includes Soundgarden, Godsmack, Bush, the Pretty Reckless, Pierce the Veil and In Flames. Unless his pal President Trump names him the new director of the FBI, Kid Rock will headline Sunday over the Offspring, Papa Roach, Opeth, Gojira and more. (Noon Sat.-Sun., Somerset Amphitheater in Somerset, Wis., $65/one-day, $120 weekend, NorthernInvasion.com.)

Chicago: Last year's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction added a little momentum to the "Saturday in the Park" hitmakers' seemingly never-ending tour cycle as a core casino act nowadays. (8 p.m. Sat., Mystic Lake Casino, sold out.)

Festival Au Desert: Malian music legend Ali Farka Touré's band is back on the road without its late leader and has paired up with another rocky act from the Saharan region, Terakaft, founding members of Tinariwen. (8 p.m., Cedar Cultural Center, $25-$30.)

David Gray: The "Babylon"-singing British folkie topped off his second decade in the music business by issuing his second career anthology, "The Best Of," which he's promoting with a string of U.S. solo-acoustic dates. (7:30 p.m. Mon., Pantages Theatre, sold out.)

Flogging Molly: Los Angeles' enduring Irish-punk troupe is out previewing a new album recorded in Ireland, "Life Is Good," and graduates from its many First Ave appearances locally to what should be a good venue for its festive live show. (7 p.m. Tue., Palace Theatre, $38.)

Marcus Roberts: The pianist came to prominence replacing Kenny Kirkland in the Wynton Marsalis band beginning in the late 1980s. Like Marsalis, Roberts is steeped in scholarship of the jazz tradition, with an abiding affinity for Thelonious Monk and the foundational jazz of his native New Orleans. His most reliable milieu is with his longtime trio: Drummer Jason Marsalis has been with him for decades, with bassist Rodney Jordan slipping in more recently. (7 and 9 p.m. Tue.-Wed., Dakota, Mpls.; $25-$40, dakotacooks.com)

Rick Levinson: It would be easy to dismiss "Songs from Rick's Cafe" as a vanity project by a retired Minneapolis doctor who played in local bands in his youth. But this album truly rocks in a spirited 1960s sort of way, and Levinson has crafted age-appropriate lyrics, including "You Don't Have To Get Old." For his CD-release party, Levinson will play a few songs accompanied by a group of all-star Twin Cities pros including Alex Rossi, Jeff Victor and John Fields. (7 p.m. Wed. Bunkers)

The 1975: Most of the fans of this new wavy British soft-rock band weren't yet born in 1975 or even 1995, so most of them are too young to know the show is at the worst concert venue in town. It probably won't matter, though, given the heartthrob-nerd status of the band's lovelorn frontman, Matthew Healy, who guaranteed he'd go over big in poster-lined bedrooms across America when he titled their sophomore album "I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It." They're still touring behind the breakout record, which included the hits "Somebody Else" and "She's American." (8 p.m. Wed., Roy Wilkins Auditorium, 175 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, $25-$45, Ticketmaster.com.)

K. Flay: Sounding like an unlikely cross between M.I.A. and Emily Haines of Metric, Illinois-raised singer/rapper/rocker Kristine Flaherty doubles down on her unique sonic niche with her newly issued sophomore album, "Every Where Is Some Where." Underneath the ear-popping collage of styles is feminist-leaning, personally loaded songwriting, audacious and sometimes outlandish — although, at this point is her new tune "The President Has a Sex Tape" really all that out there? She's also a dynamic performer in concert. (8 p.m. Wed., First Avenue, 701 1st Av. N., Mpls., $22-$30, eTix.com.)