Night After Night

The ticket: Pop music, Aug. 28, 2016

Steven Tyler, by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

The ticket: Pop music
Sunday, Aug. 28, 2016

XENIA RUBINOS This dependably vital, consistently inventive singer and rapper continues to twist her Afro-Caribbean cultural and musical roots into unexpected and instantly appealing new branches, the likes of which can be heard on her powerful new album, “Black Cat.” Aug. 31, 9 p.m. $12, advance $10. Great Scott. 800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com

KANYE WEST The rapper, producer, media personality, fashion designer, and all-around auteur plants himself in the Garden for an evening, with results certainly to be memorable. Officially this is sold out; realistically, watch for last-minute ticket releases. Sept. 3,  8 p.m. TD Garden. 800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com

THALIA ZEDEK BAND A familiar face, vital voice, and visceral presence in the US indie-rock underground for as long as most of us can remember, Zedek and her excellent working band celebrate the release of their latest creation, the life-affirming “Eve.” Sept. 1, 9:30 p.m. $10. Great Scott. 800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com

STEVEN TYLER WITH THE LOVING MARY BAND Aerosmith’s howler went Nashville on his recently released, wholly respectable solo album, “We’re All Somebody From Somewhere”; now, he pays a visit with the same crack backing combo that accompanied him on the CMA Fest telecast in June. Sept. 4,  8 p.m. $59.95-$149.95. Citi Wang Theatre. 800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com

The week ahead: Aug. 25, 2016

Bent Knee, by Ben Stas for the Boston Globe

The week ahead: Pop & rock
Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016

BLACK SABBATH They say this is our last chance to see three-quarters of the quintessential English heavy-metal band, and you get the sense they’re telling the truth this time. The set list offers no surprises, but think of this as paying your last respects. Aug. 25, 7:30 p.m. $29.50-$150. Xfinity Center, Mansfield. 800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com

BENT KNEE Newly returned from a successful European tour, bearing a string of glowing press reports, and soon to embark on a stateside jaunt with Dillinger Escape Plan, this artfully emotive/emotively artful sextet shares stirring tunes from its newest album, “Say So.” Aug. 26, 10 p.m. $10. Great Scott. 800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com

XENIA RUBINOS This dependably vital, consistently inventive singer and rapper continues to twist her Afro-Caribbean cultural and musical roots into unexpected and instantly appealing new branches, the likes of which can be heard on her powerful new album, “Black Cat.” Aug. 31, 9 p.m. $12, advance $10. Great Scott. 800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com

Playlist.

Michael Daugherty - Tales of Hemingway; American Gothic; Once Upon a Castle - Zuill Bailey, Paul Jacobs, Nashville Symphony/Giancarlo Guerrero (Naxos)

Morton Subotnick - Music for the Double Life of Amphibians (Wergo)
> Axolotl - Joel Krosnick; Ascent Into Air - CalArts Twentieth Century Players/Stephen L. Mosko; The Last Dream of the Beast - Joan La Barbara, Erika Duke, Dane Little, Morton Subotnick/Stephen L. Mosko; A Fluttering of Wings - Juilliard String Quartet

Michael Pisaro - Ricefall (2) - Greg Stuart (Gravity Wave)

Michael Pisaro - July Mountain (Three Versions) - Greg Stuart (Gravity Wave)

Michael Pisaro - A wave and waves - Greg Stuart (Cathnor)

Michael Pisaro - asleep, forest, melody, path - concert performance (reference recording)

Michael Pisaro - asleep, forest, melody, path - 0 (YouTube)

Michael Pisaro - asleep, forest, melody, path - Greg Stuart & Musicians (Soundcloud)

Steve Flato - Harm Reduction (Studious Avoidance)

Playlist.

John Adams - Scheherazade.2 - Leila Josefowicz, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra/David Robertson (Nonesuch; due Sept. 30)

Kiss - Kiss Rocks Vegas (Eagle Rock)

Marillion - F.E.A.R. (F**k Everyone and Run) (earMUSIC; due Sept. 23)

Wayne Horvitz - No Place Fast (Theatre for Your Mother)

The Bad Plus - It's Hard (OKeh)

Come - 11:11 (Matador)

Porcupine Tree - In Absentia (Lava)

Anne Guthrie - so it's inverted, occupying the same position as always (Notice)

Evan Lindorff-Ellery - The Tea Merchant and His Atmospheres (Notice)

Joda Clément - Movement + Rest (Alluvial)

Thalia Zedek Band - Eve (Thrill Jockey)

Bob Weir - Blue Mountain (Legacy; due Sept. 30)

Andrew Cyrille & Bill McHenry - Proximity (Sunnyside; due Sept. 30)

Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden (EMI Manhattan)

David Sylvian - Geijutsu Hall, Osaka, Japan, Oct. 29, 2007 (audience recording, unknown origin)

Black Sabbath - Born Again (Sanctuary/Universal deluxe edition)

The ticket: Pop music, Aug. 21, 2016

Black Sabbath

The ticket: Pop music
Sunday, Aug. 21, 2016

BLACK SABBATH They say this is our last chance to see three-quarters of the quintessential English heavy-metal band, and you get the sense they’re telling the truth this time. The set list offers no surprises, but think of this as paying your last respects. Aug. 25, 7:30 p.m. $29.50- $150. Xfinity Center, Mansfield. 800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com

BENT KNEE Newly returned from a successful European tour and bearing in its wake a string of glowing press reports, this artfully emotive/emotively artful sextet continues to share stirring tunes from its recent debut release, “Say So.” Aug. 26, 10 p.m. $10. Great Scott. 800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com

THE DRESDEN DOLLS His brief stint in Violent Femmes now concluded, drummer Brian Viglione teams up anew with his longtime creative partner, the singer, songwriter, keyboardist, author, and provocateur Amanda Palmer, in this much-loved punk-cabaret duo. Be prompt: the cheeky, charming queercore duo PWR BTTM plays in support. Aug. 26, 7:30 p.m. $20-$44.50. Blue Hills Bank Pavilion. 800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com

LE1F The out-loud-and-proud New York rapper and producer born Khalif Diouf returns to Cambridge for an evening of fierce fashion and funky-fresh flamboyance, in support of last year’s innovative and infectious “Riot Boi.” Aug. 23, 8 p.m. $15, advance $13. Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge. 617-864-3278, www.ticketweb.com

The week ahead: Aug. 18, 2016

Zac Brown Band, by Josh Reynolds for the Boston Globe

The week ahead: Pop & rock
Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016

ZAC BROWN BAND Though their flag is nominally planted in the country-music world, Brown and his Atlanta cohorts are seasoned hands at reaching across the aisles to invite poptimists, jam-bandsters, and rockers into their party. Saturday’s show is sold out, officially, but tickets to big events like these do tend to materialize at the last minute. Aug. 20 and 21, 6:30 p.m. $41.50-$101.50. Fenway Park. boston.redsox.mlb.com

BILLY JOEL The reigning king of Madison Square Garden pays a return visit to Fenway for the third year running; as in those previous visits, expect tart humor, revealing stories, and hit songs by the dozen. Aug. 18, 7:30 p.m. $49.50- $139.50. Fenway Park. boston.redsox.mlb.com

BOSTON FUZZSTIVAL 2016 A bona fide lollapalooza of locals, this two-day, two-stage affair brings a potent lineup of Boston and regional acts. Highlights include Lyres, the Monsieurs, and Dent on Friday, and Weakened Friends, Zip-Tie Handcuffs, Major Stars, Doug Tuttle, and Quilt on Saturday. Aug. 19, 6 p.m. $15. Aug. 20, 2 p.m. $20. Two-day pass $30. Middle East, Cambridge. 617-864-3278, www.mideastclub.com

Playlist.

Carlos Santana & Cindy Blackman Santana - "The Star-Spangled Banner" (YouTube)

Johannes Brahms - Symphony No. 3 in F - Houston Symphony/Leopold Stokowski (Everest)

Herbie Hancock/Wayne Shorter - 1+1 (Verve)

Marcus Miller - Tutu Revisited - Live at Leverkusen 2009 (YouTube)

Carlos Santana/John McLaughlin - Love Devotion Surrender (Columbia)

Miles Davis - We Want Miles (Columbia)

Keith Rowe/Toshimaru Nakamura - Weather Sky (Erstwhile)

Ronald Shannon Jackson - Taboo (Venture)

Sarah Davachi - All My Circles Run (Students of Decay; due Sept. 9)

Last Exit - Iron Path (Venture)

Marek Poliks - hull treader (Another Timbre)

Lucio Capece - Awareness about - Konzert Minimal (Another Timbre)

Birchville Cat Motel - Beautiful Speck Triumph (Last Visible Dog)

Howard Stelzer - Bond Inlets (Intransitive)

Miles Davis - Live At The Fillmore East (March 7, 1970) - It's About That Time (Columbia/Legacy)

Greg Kelley/Jason Lescalleet - Forlorn Green (Erstwhile)

MIMEO/John Tilbury - The Hands of Caravaggio (Erstwhile)

Polwechsel/Christian Fennesz - Wrapped Islands (Erstwhile)

Cosmos - Tears (Erstwhile)

Grateful Dead - Dave's Picks, Vol. 18: Orpheum Theatre, San Francisco, CA 7/17/76 (Grateful Dead/Rhino)

Big Big Train - English Electric (Part One) (English Electric/GEP)

Marillion - A-Z Live 2011 (Racket)

Marillion - Marillion.com (Intact)

Roxy Music - Roxy Music (Virgin)

Roxy Music - For Your Pleasure (Virgin)

Roxy Music - Stranded (Virgin)

Roxy Music - Country Life (Virgin)

Roxy Music - Siren (Virgin)

Keith Rowe/Thomas Lehn/Markus Schmickler - Rabbit Run (Erstwhile)

Keith Rowe/John Tilbury - Duos for Doris (Erstwhile)

Chris Strickland - Excruciating Circumstances in the Kingdom of Ends (Notice Recordings)

Nick Storring - Exaptations (Notice Recordings)

The ticket: Pop music, Aug. 14, 2016

X

The ticket: Pop music
Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016

X Exene Cervenka, John Doe, Billy Zoom, and DJ Bonebrake: Now and always, this simply is one of the very best bands that American music has ever produced, punk or otherwise. The group’s latest trek — “Re-Zoomed,” so called because of guitarist Billy’s recovery from a cancer scare last year — is cause to celebrate, not that you need any excuse. Aug. 15, 9 p.m. $35, advance $33. Brighton Music Hall. 800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com

BARONESS + PALLBEARER Two of the strongest combos currently working the heavier end of the stoner/doom spectrum. Baroness, the pride of Savannah, Ga., continues to tour behind its heroic 2015 comeback LP, “Purple”; Little Rock, Ark. quartet Pallbearer is promoting “Fear and Fury,” a characteristically windswept, elegiac new EP. Aug. 16, 8 p.m. Fête Music Hall, Providence. 401-383-1112, www.fetemusic.com

BARBRA STREISAND Distinctive and dynamic at 74, the Brooklyn native with the buttery voice is on the road with “The Music . . . The Mem’ries . . . The Magic,” and early reports suggest she’s transforming cavernous arenas into intimate, chatty soirées featuring three backing singers and a 10-piece band. Talk amongst yourselves. Aug. 16, 8 p.m. $99-$510. TD Garden. 800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com

BILLY JOEL The reigning king of Madison Square Garden pays a return visit to Fenway for the third year running; as in those previous visits, expect tart humor, revealing stories, and hit songs by the dozen. Aug. 18, 7:30 p.m. $49.50-$139.50. Fenway Park. boston.redsox.mlb.com

Pensée.

With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this Calling

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

- T.S. Eliot, from "Little Gidding" (Four Quartets)

The week ahead: Aug. 11, 2016

EPMD, by Simon Abrams

The week ahead: Pop & rock
Thursday, Aug. 11, 2016

EPMD The influential hip-hop duo of Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith is back in business again, celebrating its 30th anniversary with a road trip focused on its classic 1988 debut LP, “Strictly Business.” Aug. 13, 8 p.m. $25, advance $22. Middle East, Cambridge. 617-864-3278, www.mideastclub.com

GOLDEN GATE WINGMEN A special treat suited to the lazy, hazy days of deep summer, this all-star quartet reunites former Furthur bandmates John Kadlecik, Jeff Chimenti, and Jay Lane with bassist Reed Mathis (Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Tea Leaf Green). Aug. 13, 8 p.m. $30, advance $25. Brighton Music Hall. 800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com

L7 Ferocious, snotty, and confrontational, this LA quartet arose during the grunge explosion, hit the charts, and made its mark on the burgeoning riot grrrl movement. The present reunion coincides with a Kickstarter campaign for a documentary about the band, “Pretend We’re Dead.” Aug. 11, 7 p.m. $28, advance $24.50. Paradise Rock Club. 800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com