1. The great ’60s Brazilian rock group Os Mutantes became the band to reference for arty indie musicians in the ’90s. The band reunited in recent years and has just unleashed its first studio album since 1974, Haih or Amortecedor. (Saying that three times fast offers an experience similar to listening to the band’s music.) Tonight, the Mutantes play Webster Hall.

2. International country star Keith Urban headlines Madison Square Garden. (Read our preview here.)

3. Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney brings his side project, Drummer, to Southpaw. (Read our preview here.)

4. Classy pianist Bill Charlap plays Village Vanguard with his trio.

5. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Giants Stadium. Enough said.

Drug Rug, a sharp young band hailing from Officer James Crowley’s stomping ground, comes down to New York for a pair of shows, starting tonight at Union Pool. (The band plays Mercury Lounge on Friday.) The group is celebrating the release of a very cool second album, Paint the Fence Invisible. Click here for Drug Rug’s 2007 interview with TONY. Boycotting Cambridge? There are other shows:

De La Soul celebrates 20 years of 3 Feet High and Rising at Nokia Theatre Times Square. (Read the band’s TONY interview here.)

John Legend and India.Arie take on Madison Square Garden.

The crazy Russian rock band Auktyon plays Joe’s Pub.

Yeasayer play a free show at Hudson River Park at Pier 54.

Mandolin expert Snehasish Mozumder joins ukulele prodigy Jake Shimabukuro and guitarist Derek Trucks at Lincoln Center, Damrosch Park.

Think of the Lincoln Center as a stuffy organization that forces people to sit on their hands while watching opera? You might want to reconsider. Every summer, it sponsors Midsummer Night Swing in Damrosch Park. Dancing isn’t requested so much as it is demanded—they even include lessons. Tonight, Midsummer Night Swing teams up with the Ponderosa Stomp Festival with a celebration of vintage soul starring Stax mainstay William Bell, girl-group progenitors the Bobbettes, cult R&B singer Harvey Scales and Memphis instrumentalists the Bo-Keys. Afraid of dancing? There are other shows:

Philadelphia maniacs Man Man play for free at East River Park Ampitheater.

Slavic Soul Party! gets the Jewish Museum moving.

The Kronos Quartet presents the world premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s Harp and Altar at Celebrate Brooklyn—and give the first local performance of Aheym, by The National’s Bryce Dessner.

Jack White brings his latest band, the Dead Weather, to Terminal 5; Alison Mosshart stars.

The venerable Jersey indie legends The Feelies often surface around big holidays. Tonight the band kicks off the July 4th weekend with the first of three shows at Maxwell’s, in Hoboken. If you’re going to see the Feelies, this is the place to do it. Can’t stand the PATH train? There are other shows:

The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players bring their slides to (Le) Poisson Rouge. Tammy Faye Starlite and Corn Mo share the bill. (Click here to see Rachel Trachtenburg sing about carriage horses while playing the ukulele…and hula-hooping.)

Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian Sextet plays a free show at Tutuma Social Club.

Bay Area punk John Dwyer brings his garage-pop outfit Thee Oh Sees to Glasslands Gallery.

The great jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut plays Iridium with his trio.

Tim Fite

Tonight, The Bell House throws a special “customer-appreciation night” starring Brooklyn’s own St. Vincent. The band, which pivots around singer Annie Clark, is newly added to the bill and fresh off a Letterman taping. Also performing to appreciative customers is the always-fun Tim Fite, whose work flirts with rap, folk and the points between. Click here for Fite’s 2005 TONY interview.

Hate customer-appreciation nights? There are other shows!

Cracker celebrates its surprisingly strong new album, Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey, at Highline Ballroom.

Soul great Bettye LaVette takes to the waters on the Rockin’ the River Cruises.

Afrobeat scion Femi Kuti hits Celebrate Brooklyn with his band, the Positive Force; Melvin Gibbs’s Elevated Entity opens.

Icelandic electro composer Jóhann Jóhannsson comes to (Le) Poisson Rouge on his first ever East Coast tour, with the American Contemporary Music Ensemble.

Indie giant Matador Records, now amazingly 20 years old, throws itself a tribute show at Spike Hill.

Spending time in California can give any New Yorker a fresh perspective. For evidence, lend an ear to Little Joy, a breezy Brazil-folk-psych-pop project formed by Strokes drummer Fab Moretti with Rodrigo Amarante and Binki Shapiro (profiled in TONY last November). Having opened for Regina Spektor at the Beacon Theatre last week, Little Joy takes a headlining berth tonight at Bowery Ballroom, with The Dead Trees opening. Yes, it’s officially sold out…but we know just how crafty and tenacious you are.

Elsewhere around town, Patrick Wolf puts on his flamboyant moves at Highline Ballroom, sharing material from his recently released album, The Bachelor (reviewed in TONY last month).

Roll over, Beethoven, and tell Doc Pomus the news: Indie-classical ensemble–slash–roots combo Build, led by fiddler-composer Matthew McBane, shares a bill at Joe’s Pub with impressive Aussie songstress Greta Gertler. Each act will play its own songs, after which they’ll team up.

Keyboardist and composer Carl Maguire, an artist with whom we’ve long been mightily impressed, has finally come through with a rich, challenging new disc by his band, Floriculture: Sided Silver Solid is celebrated tonight with a show at Monkey Town.

And local indie-jazz label Skirl, known for invigorating sounds and stylish packaging, presents Skirl Party VI at Public Assembly, with a lineup that includes Tyft (led by guitarist Hilmar Jensson, and featuring reedist and label head Chris Speed), the duo of Mary Halvorson and Jessica Pavone, and drummer Jim Black’s AlasNoAxis (whose excellent new CD, Houseplant, isn’t on Skirl—and so what?).

Hmm, so let’s see: Whom shall we feature as our pick of the day today? How about the person who’s sold 75 million records? And at age 27, is ranked by Forbes at No. 4, on its list of 100 Most Powerful and Influential Celebrities, with more than $87 million in earnings. Yep, it’s Beyoncé Knowles, who plays her second show at Madison Square Garden tonight. Besides starring in Dreamgirls, hauling in more Grammys than a person can reasonably carry, launching her own fashion line and making silly videos with Justin Timberlake, she’s also a serious artistic inspiration. When TONY asked Dirty Projectors singer Dave Longstreth who his big vocal inspirations were, he told us Bob Dylan and Beyoncé. Nice.

Not in the mood for doing the “Put a ring on it” dance? Try these:

D.C. hardcore heroes Ted Leo and the Pharmacists play Maxwell’s.

David Johansen’s New York Dolls glam up Music Hall of Williamsburg.

The Roots play “the Jam” at the Highline Ballroom, and it’s not sold out!

And Gabriel Kahane brings his piano-bar poetry to Rockwood Music Hall.

Neckties and golf clubs are out. Taking Pops to a rockin’ show is in. Which one’s it gonna be?

Friday
Danish pop singer Hess Is More plays 92YTribeca before he gets in a little tennis. Read our feature on the man here.

Akitsa and Bone Awl bring a black-metal cult following to Fontana’s.

Is it the buzz band of the year? Maybe or maybe not, but either way Passion Pit lights up Bowery Ballroom tonight (and tomorrow). Read our recent review of the band’s debut full-length here.

The Secret Machines team up with Dead Combo and A Place to Bury Strangers for an epic bill at Santos Party House.

Saturday
The brilliant L.A. tribal-tech outfit HEALTH plays 979 Broadway.

More techno, you say? The Juan MacLean and The Field make for an excellent electro double bill at Webster Hall.

British rockers The Maccabees split a bill with electropop fast-risers Miike Snow at Music Hall of Williamsburg. They play Monday at Mercury Lounge, too. (Read our review of the new Miike Snow record here.)

Sunday
Certainly the biggest, wildest thing going on on Father’s Day is Make Music New York. Back for its third year, the fest is putting on more than 875 free shows throughout town. Find all the info you need here with our exclusive guide.

If that’s not your cup of tea, the long-running English prog-rock institution Van der Graaf Generator plays the Nokia Theatre. Check out our show preview here.

And if all you and your dad want to do is dance, Beyoncé shakes it at Madison Square Garden (and Monday, too!).

In January, Andrew Bird headlined Carnegie Hall and sold the joint out. Tonight he returns to town—fresh off an appearance at Bonnaroo—to play the even larger Radio City Music Hall. The musician’s uncanny art pop should sound splendid in the gorgeous concert hall; it will probably be the first time in Radio City’s history that a performance is so focused on whistling. The dusty Southwestern band Calexico does opening honors. Click here for TONY’s 2005 interview with Bird, and here for our 2003 interview with Calexico. Hate whistling? Well, what a coincidence! There are other shows in New York tonight!

Graham Smith, the songwriting dynamo/Arli$$ fanatic who recently stopped by our office to play, performs for free at Pianos Upstairs Lounge.

Later in the night, Pianos hosts West Coast pop heavy Richard Swift.

Drummer Jim Black brings his AlasNoAxis to Bowery Poetry Club.

A trio of sharp R&B singers—Anthony Hamilton, Musiq Soulchild and Chrisette Michele—play Madison Square Garden’s beautifully named WaMu Theater.

John Kelly pays tribute to the songs of Joni Mitchell at the lovely Abrons Arts Center at Henry Street Settlement.

There’s a healthy buzz building, both at TONY and elsewhere, re: Far, the new one by Regina Spektor. Why, our own Jay Ruttenberg even picked it as the summer album to look out for, in our recent roundup of the season’s key releases. The playfully eccentric, sad-funny songstress unveils her latest set of tunes in grand fashion tonight at the Beacon Theatre, where she’ll be joined by Little Joy, a side project of Strokes drummer Fab Moretti (profiled here). Here’s Far’s lead single, “Laughing With”:

Also in the city tonight, there’s a ton of great jazz afoot. Explosive freebop quartet Mostly Other People Do the Killing gets busy at the Stone, subtly potent saxist Jerome Sabbagh helms a trio at Jazz Standard, and modern guitar star Kurt Rosenwinkel pilots his Standards Trio at (Le) Poisson Rouge.

Seasoned hip-hop hit-makers Naughty by Nature, MC Lyte and Raekwon step up to the mike at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill.

Classically styled power pop reigns at Highline Ballroom, where sorta -supergroup Tinted Windows—recently reviewed in TONY—will present its peppy bubblegum nuggets.

Wry songsmith Loudon Wainwright III ropes in sis Sloan and daughter Lucy for a free show at Madison Square Park. Meanwhile, another amiable veteran, Leo Kottke, shows off his homespun virtuosity at City Winery.

Here come the martian martians! Okay, not really. But tonight’s pairing of eternally youthful troubadour Jonathan Richman, pictured, and remarkably caustic crooner Vic Chesnutt is in some ways just as unlikely, and in all ways equally special. Catch this sweet-and-sour combo plate at the Bowery Ballroom tonight.

Another fascinating pairing holds forth at the Gramercy Theatre, when Street Sweeper Social Club, the new project from Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello and erstwhile Coup mouthpiece Boots Riley, rides the momentum from its recent NIN/JA tour appearances straight into this album-release celebration.

You’ve also got another chance to see Bachelorette prove that Kraftwerk  had it only half right, with The Man-Machine, tonight at Union Hall. (Here’s our preview, in case you missed it.)

Who you calling Wussy? Oh, that band from Cincinnati? Well, all right then. Chuck Cleaver, formerly of the illustrious, underrated Ass Ponys (we could type that name over and over), brings his latest combo to Cake Shop this evening, sharing a bill with distinguished headliner Chris Brokaw.

And at (Le) Poisson Rouge, you’ll find two of the more compelling representatives of European jazztronica circa now, both of them Norwegian trumpeters: Nils Petter Molvaer celebrates a new self-released CD, Hamada, while Arve Henriksen shares material from a new ECM disc, Cartography.

All too often, experimental pop is another way of describing music that’s basically cold, clever and clinical. Not so with Seattle’s The Dead Science, which plays The Studio at Webster Hall tonight. Yes, the band’s named influences are super-smart and odd— Prince, John Coltrane, Einstürzende Neubauten—and yes, the band members are trained jazz musicians, too. But their music is gloriously dramatic and dark. Imagine Boris Karloff brewing up steaming chemicals in some Hammer horror movie and you’re on your way to the spooky glory of current album Villainaire.

Prefer something sweeter? Rhode Island chamber-folk romanticists the Low Anthem play Bowery Ballroom.

Smoother? Jazz bandleader Dave Brubeck (who wrote such classics as “Take Five” and “Fujiyama”) brings his quartet to the 92nd Street Y.

As previewed by Jay Ruttenberg here, New Zealand electro-femme Annabel Alpers is Bachelorette at Cake Shop tonight (also at Union Hall tomorrow).

And multimedia blowout Vision Festival XIV brings such jazz luminaries as William Parker to the Angel Orensanz Foundation Center for the Arts, in a celebration of Orensanz’s art and sculpture.

The Avett Brothers

Oh yes, folks, everybody’s favorite holiday—Flag Day—is coming up on Sunday, and to quench your rabid anticipation, we have some shows to recommend…ya know, for distraction’s sake.

Friday
The Northside Festival heats up with The Beets and Drink Up Buttercup at Bruar Falls and Sunset Rubdown at Studio B.

The Avett Brothers bring a welcome twang to Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza, where the band also plays Saturday.

The gorgeous (sonically and physically) School of Seven Bells closeS out a tour at the Bowery Ballroom.

Saturday
Smokie Norful brings the good word to SummerStage with the assistance of Tye Tribbett and Ruben Studdard. Check out our feature on the show here.

The 74-year-old Ran Blake plays elegiac piano jazz at the Bleecker Street Theatre. Read our show preview here.

Woods gets psychedelic on your ass at the Shank. Read our show preview here.

Switch and Diplo head up Major Lazer’s attack on S.O.B.’s. Read our show preview here.

And Death Vessel is just awesome (with an emphasis on awe) at Public Assembly.

Sunday (Flag Day)
The show of the day is, without a doubt, Todd P’s Unamplified Acoustic BBQ. Tons of bands unplug at Fort Tilden Beach.

And the Northside Festival closes out with two notable shows, The Dodos at Studio B and Ponytail at the same joint.

The Fiery Furnaces’ new album, I’m Going Away, doesn’t come out until July, but the band plays songs from it tonight at (Le) Poisson Rouge. The local group has been awfully prolific since debuting in 2003—and Time Out has interviewed them a bunch, including in 2004 and 2007—yet the forthcoming album is one of its most focused efforts. Tonight’s show is part of the Wordless Music Series, pairing indie-rock bands with classical acts. In a first for the series, the opening act—the new-music ensemble Newspeak—will perform a work composed by the headliners: specifically “Amalgamated Bakery and Pastry and Ice and Coal Drivers Local Union No. 953 v. National Licorice Co.,” by Fiery Furnace Matthew Friedberger.

Hate compositions with really long titles? There are other shows!

Elizabeth and the Catapult show off their debut, Taller Children, at Joe’s Pub. (Click here for Mikael Wood’s review.)

The great Nashville songwriter Todd Snider headlines Bowery Ballroom. (Click here to watch his exclusive performance for Time Out, next to Shake Shack.)

The sprawling Northside Festival invades Williamsburg.

Allen Toussaint plays a free show at BAM at MetroTech Commons.

Goran Bregovic brings His Weddings and Funerals Orchestra to Celebrate Brooklyn. (Click here for Steve Dollar’s review.)

And in a cool-looking panel, Loud Fast Jews!, a group of punk veterans (including Tommy Ramone) talk about the Jewish influence on their music at YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. (Click here for Tommy Ramone’s Time Out–exclusive list of his favorite Jewish punks.)

Typically when the leader of a famed jazz ensemble passes on, it more or less spells the end for their namesake group. Sure, the Count Basie and Duke Ellington Orchestras still exist, but more as repertory projects than vital forces of music-making. However, the Arkestra helmed by the late space-jazz visionary Sun Ra is one major exception to this rule, largely thanks to the tireless efforts of Marshall Allen, the guest of honor at tonight’s Vision Festival installment at Abrons Arts Center. The 85-year-old hornman, who took over the consummately versatile big band upon the 1995 death of his fellow Ra disciple John Gilmore, will perform as part of an all-star quintet before taking the stage with the Arkestra itself. Here’s a vintage clip of Allen getting seriously freaky with Ra & Co.

For all the non-aliens out there, here are a few more-earthbound picks…

Veteran organ master Booker T.—who funks up “Hey Ya” on his new disc, Potato Hole—gets down at Joe’s Pub.

Solar-powered New Mexico outfit Brightblack Morning Light summons the neohippie vibes at the Studio at Webster Hall. (Here’s a TONY Brightblack review by Mikael Wood.)

Icelandic songstress Ólöf Arnalds plies her bewitching folk at Sycamore.

The ever-elegant Elvis Costello dons his Stetson for a country-inflected gig at the Beacon Theatre.

Indie darlings The Decemberists share a bill with esteemed pop eccentric Robyn Hitchcock at Radio City Music Hall. (Check out a TONY review of the Decemberists’ latest by Cristina Black, as well as a recent Hitchcock preview by Jay Ruttenberg.)

Justly beloved local outfit Budos Band busts out its vintage-style grooves—for free, no less—at Stuyvesant Town Oval.

New Jersey singer-songwriters Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey have done plenty to be proud of over the years, but for New Yorkers of a certain age, the duo will always be best known as half of beloved jangle-pop band The dB’s. Reunited for a benefit concert a few years back, apparently the pair felt so good that they decided to wax a new disc, Here and Now—one track of which actually came from rehearsals for a dB’s reunion project. Catch up with Holsapple and Stamey tonight at City Winery, and you might just catch further glimpses of what’s to come.

Another dynamic duo is back in action tonight: PJ Harvey and John Parish come to the Beacon Theatre with songs from their latest collaboration, A Woman a Man Walked By.

Jenny Lewis plays The Music Hall of Williamsburg tonight, splitting a bill with the creepily monikered Deer Tick. Alas, the show is officially sold out—but we know you’re a crafty lot.

If you’d rather not risk the potential agita and heartbreak of that show, we’d like to point you toward the Mercury Lounge this evening, where gifted ne0folkie Marissa Nadler shares the stage with sublime acoustic-guitar stylist James Blackshaw, who’s been newly signed to Michael Gira’s Young God imprint. (You can hear a bit of Blackshaw’s dazzling art right here.)

And as usual, there’s plenty of jazz to be had tonight (especially with the Vision Festival getting under way). But we’d like to bring to your attention a special event certain to thrill guitar geeks: Postbop veteran Joe Diorio is ailing, and a slew of his six-string colleagues—John Abercrombie, Vic Juris, Dave Stryker, Sheryl Bailey, Gene Bertoncini and plenty more—are swinging into Birdland to help him out.

Okay, so summer must have officially begun. How else to explain the ridiculous amount of stellar talent playing our fine city on a Monday night? Seriously! We’re talking movie stars, rock icons, jazz titans, the lot. Topping our list, it’s Amadou and Mariam, the self-billed “blind couple from Mali” who play Webster Hall tonight. Superstars back home in Bamako (where their music is used as cell-phone ring tones and wedding songs), the duo has attained global success with their latest album. Welcome to Mali. Rightly so. Recorded in Dakar, Paris, London and Bamako, the disc sounds as if it were made, variously, in 1970s flare-wearing NYC, in a timeless stretch of desert and at a really awesome dance party. As a live proposition, they’re unmissable: Expect sweaty beats, some serious ax shredding from Amadou and truly joyful sing=alongs. As Mariam told TONY earlier this year, “La musique est universelle.”

One dude who knows the truth of this is David Byrne. The Talking Heads polymath plays Celebrate Brooklyn at the Prospect Park Bandshell.

Keeping it real (man), The Hold Steady plays the Bowery Ballroom.

Intense alto saxophonist Steve Lehman—whose show we previewed—brings his bracing grooves to (Le) Poisson Rouge.

And finally, there’s a celebration of Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Camps (camps for kids with life-threatening illnesses), hosted by (cough!) Robert Redford and Julia Roberts at Avery Fisher Hall. The show features Joshua Bell, Harry Connick Jr., Art Garfunkel, Yo-Yo Ma, James Taylor and Jerry Seinfeld. And there are still tickets! What are you doing reading this?!?

Nine Inch Nails

It looks to be a rainy one tonight, but don’t let that stop you from checking out one of the fine musical events.

Friday

On the sold-out front, TV on the Radio is headlining a SummerStage show, which boasts a particularly excellent opening act, Dirty Projectors. Check out our particularly excellent article on DPs here.

Out on Long Island, Phish plays its last of three New York dates to, yes, a sold-out audience.

If you’re more into being able to get into a show, you may want to check out retro-soul big shot Lee Fields at Southpaw. See our show preview here.

Amanda Blank makes her case for pop stardom at (Le) Poisson Rouge. (She also opens for Santigold at Terminal 5 on Tuesday.) See our show preview here.

Youssou N’Dour kicks off the Muslims Voices fest at BAM in style. (He also plays Saturday.)

Saturday

Veteran NYC drummer-turned-leader and composer Jonathan Kane orchestrates bluesy riffs at the Stone. Check out our review of his most recent album here.

Sunday

Little Richard—yes, that Little Richard—rips it up at B.B. King’s.

Back out at Jones Beach, Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction team up for one spectacle of a double bill.

Just two days after releasing her first album, Bible Belt (S-Curve), singer-songwriter Diane Birch plays sleek downtown cabaret City Winery. Birch is young, but has lived the life: She’s the daughter of a traveling preacher who brought his family to exotic locales so he could spread the Lord’s message. Birch’s music, however, sounds more Carole King than Billy Graham. And look! Thursday brings other great shows, too:

The Bloom Festival, which spotlights progressive jazz, world and pop artists this month, welcomes Allison Miller to Tea Lounge.

Art Brut continues its Mercury Lounge residency. (Click here for TONY’s 2006 interview with leader Eddie Argos.)

Argentine composer-arranger Guillermo Klein brings Los Guachos to play Village Vanguard.

Afrobeat scion Femi Kuti plays Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza, along with cool South African rock band BLK JKS.

Popular British band Doves comes to New York for the first time in years, playing Terminal 5. (Click here for Mikael Wood’s review of the new Kingdom of Rust.)

Okay, we admit it: It’s a bit of a rough night for the would-be spontaneous showgoer. All of the big rock and pop tickets—Mandy Moore at Joe’s Pub, Art Brut at Mercury Lounge, Amanda Palmer at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe—are either sold out or precariously close to it. And two other enticing gigs—Femi Kuti and BLK JKS at Fillmore New York, and David Grubbs at Issue Project Room—have been canceled since we went to press. But not to worry—the Volume shall light the way as you venture off the beaten path.

First and foremost, you can take an affordable, spirit-expanding trip with two local purveyors of wide-eyed experimental pop, as Julianna Barwick and Twi the Humble Feather hit Pianos for a measly $8. Here, the men of Twi demonstrate their surreal acoustic mindmeld:

And elsewhere around town…

Bold Cuban crooner Albita takes the stage at world-music haven S.O.B.’s.

Downtown-jazz institution Sex Mob plies its raucous avant-funk at the Stone.

Suavely brooding British dance-popster Jack Peñate makes a bid for U.S. stardom at Bruar Falls.

Veteran mandolinist David Grisman bites into his self-styled “dawg” music at B.B. King’s.

Electronic buzz band Anamanaguchi gets bleepy at Monkey Town.