Even without its remarkable backstory, Roky Erickson's album with Okkervil River, “True Love Cast Out All Evil,” feels like a triumph. Full speed ahead on comeback trail after years lost to drug abuse and mental illness, the 62-year-old songwriter has crafted the tender, back-porch folk of a man who's seen life from the other side. Best album ever birthed in a psychiatric hospital? Maybe, and producer Will Sheff and his Okkervil bandmates maintain the material's sense of wonder while never crossing the line to mawkish. Leslie & the Badgers open tonight's show at the Fonda Theater. (Download, courtesy of the label: “Be and Bring Me Home”)

Elsewhere: Armed with material from their fifth album and first in seven years, “Heligoland,” British trip-hop pioneers Massive Attack start a three-night run at the Wiltern. … Jonathan Richman has released more albums (21) than most regulars at the Smell have had birthdays, but, two days past his 59th birthday, he's playing the downtown all-ages room tonight. … And up-and-coming pop-rock quartet Scarlet Grey headlines the Troubadour in their last local show before the release of their sophomore album, “Fancy Blood,” and a tour supporting AFI.

Also: Bigelf at the Roxy; the Ruby Friedman Orchestra and Nina Storey at the Hotel Cafe; Black Math Horseman at Spaceland; Converge at the El Rey Theatre; Voices Voices and 60 Watt Kid at the Echo; Styx and Foreigner at the Gibson Amphitheatre; and the Moviegoers at the Silverlake Lounge.

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