Concert Previews

Jose Gonzalez's

In Our Nature

was arguably last year's most deceptive album. From a distance, Gonzalez's understated tenor voice and alternately percussive and beautifully finger-picked guitar make it sound like a somber, downcast, introspective work. But pay attention to the lyrics and it becomes an angry, disillusioned diatribe against people's capacity for violence and deceit. "What's the point if you hate and kill for love?" he croons softly, but chillingly. Gonzalez is Swedish, but his impressive guitar playing and his political bent owe a lot to Brazilian Tropicalia artists such as Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil. On Saturday at World Cafe Live, he'll be joined by a percussionist and a backing singer, and opening will be the simpatico Mia Doi Todd, whose just-released

Gea

melds harmonium with acoustic guitar to winning effect.

- Steve Klinge

The best songs on Justice's Grammy-nominated

Cross

album from last year are its most disposable ones. "D.A.N.C.E." uses what sounds like a choir of 13-year-old girls chanting a playground rhyme that ends up wedded to a spiffy electronic update of Chic disco. Its silliness would be annoying if it weren't so joyful. And "New Jack," with its chopped-up vocoder-ed voices, is almost as good. Although they could be destined to sound dated within two years - "those songs are SO '07!" - that doesn't matter: They're great for now. The French duo - Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Auge - are the young heirs to Daft Punk, and they headline the Spring 2008 MySpace Music Tour, which also includes two other French artists: the glam rock band Fancy and DJ Mehdi. (Philly's Diplo joins the tour later, unfortunately for us.)

- Steve Klinge

In the early days of his career, as a member of 1960s art-rock band Procol Harum, Robin Trower was heralded as the next Jimi Hendrix. In the 40 years since, Trower has proved himself a unique, often under-appreciated talent who plays with jaw-dropping technical prowess and heartfelt emotion. Known for his wailing riffs and blues-infused solos, the 63-year-old Trower reached his commercial heyday in the mid-'70s with four gold albums in a three-year span, including 1974's classic

Bridge of Sighs.

In recent years, singer Davey Pattison has nicely filled the slot of late soul singer James Dewar for Trower's tours. And in January, Trower and Cream's bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce teamed up for the much-inspired

Seven Moons.

Along with his older crowd-pleasing favorites, songs from the new album will undoubtedly be given the Fender-Strat Trower treatment onstage: soulful blues runs, some wah-wah pedal, and the self-styled "soft psychedelia" that's his trademark.

- Nicole Pensiero