Jimmy Cliff, Liars, Jesse Sykes

Also playing:

GINGGER SHANKAR at Largo; QUEEN EXTRAVAGANZA at Club Nokia; LISA MARIE PRESLEY at the Roxy.

PHOTO BY ZEN SEKIZAWA

Liars: See Friday.

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More About

• The Coup (Band)
• Amy LaVere
• Steve Earle
• Rahsaan Patterson
• Indie Rock and Indie Pop

wed 6/27

Jimmy Cliff

TROUBADOUR

Few songs have the enduring power of Jimmy Cliff's anthem "The Harder They Come," from the classic 1972 film of the same name. In fact, if the Jamaican singer and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame had never recorded another album, he still would be eternally lionized for his contributions to the soundtrack, including the evocatively sublime pop idyll "Sitting in Limbo" and the oft-covered spiritual ballad "Many Rivers to Cross." Cliff's notorious role as an unschooled country boy who turns to a life of crime once he hits the big city of Kingston was iconic, but it belied the sunny disposition and positive power of Cliff's own long musical career, including his most recent set of soulful tunes, Sacred Fire. —Falling James

Also playing:

MARILLION at House of Blues.

thu 6/28

Jesse Sykes

LEVITT PAVILION (PASADENA)

You won't find a more haunting voice than Jesse Sykes'. The Seattle singer intones with a beautiful and sometimes icy delivery that aptly evokes the dark mystery of the Pacific Northwest. Many of her songs are set in the woods and draw upon images of nature, but there's nothing escapist or cutesy about her tree-tangled imagery or the way her pure, mournful vocals plumb the depths of a hidden lake in the forest. On Sykes' most recent album, 2011's Marble Son, she and guitarist Phil Wandscher move away from the folk introspection of such earlier releases as 2007's aptly titled Like, Love, Lust and the Open Halls of the Soul into a harder, more enigmatic brand of psychedelia, where her bewitching vocals and Wandscher's spare, luminescent guitar figures spark each other onward into fully intense and mesmerizing passages. On this current tour, the self-described "deadly duo" will perform in a more intimate, stripped-down format apart from regular backup band the Sweet Hereafter. —Falling James

El-P, Killer Mike, Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire

THE ECHOPLEX

The pair of names at the top of this bill is responsible for what may well prove to be the best two rap records of 2012. Brooklyn's sci-fi–obsessed, paranoiac rap king El-P averages only one album every five years and with good reason: Each is a genre-transcending masterpiece. May's Cancer 4 Cure is his best yet, a stunning mix of dark poetry and claustrophobic soundscapes beamed in from a highly dystopic future. Sample lyric: "Don't make me suffer this dimension straight/When we can bend face, let space pixilate." Dude similarly invents entire worlds for his fans to inhabit and, as it turns out, produced the stunning new full-length from OutKast affiliate Killer Mike. For that record, dubbed R.A.P. Music, El's beats skew harder and more traditional, while the Atlanta emcee unpacks God, slavery and pimpdom with astounding aplomb. —Chris Martins

Justin Townes Earle

EL REY THEATRE

Despite whatever negative sentiment you might have toward his self-labeling, Justin Townes Earle is the best Kentuckian "white trash" (his words, not ours) the music world's ever had. The son of folkie Steve Earle, the younger Earle is much bluesier in his brand of foot-stomping folk, but his storytelling is just as emotive. With the recent release of Nothing's Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now, Earle has tapped into his soulful side, departing from the post-heroin misery of previous works and heading into some truly relatable material. No matter what demons he's channeling, Earle's definitely a gritty troubadour who knows how to sound cold as ice and still make you melt at the same time. —KC Libman

Also playing:

DONALD FAGEN, BOZ SCAGGS at Gibson Amphitheatre; GLADYS KNIGHT at Greek Theatre; JOSHUA WHITE QUINTET at Blue Whale; JOSH GROBAN at Walt Disney Concert Hall.