Concert Previews

Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones - Nas for short - is the toast of Long Island, N.Y., whose incendiary raps and street-centric prose have made him a poet laureate of the hip-hop nation. Damian Marley - "Jr. Gong" to some - is a son of Jamaica and its most legendary songwriter. His work as an innovator in the production and creation of future-forward reggae and jamrock is equally ferocious. Together, the pair fused their inscrutable talents for one of 2010's most powerful recordings,

Distant Relatives.

Throughout the dub-and-dancehall-infused album, the duo deconstruct the myths of black icons ("Leaders"), offer positive uniting messages ("Strong Will Continue"), and create jazzy sound tracks filled with talk of ganjas, guns, and girls. While

Distant Relatives

sounds like several parties in one towering inferno, the pair's show in Atlantic City is one of a fleeting few during their brief tour. Catch that fire.

Ariel Pink is one of those pop-savant genius dudes who has produced tons of homemade recordings so low-fi in quality that it's been hard to tell if he's really a genius or not. That is, or was, until Before Today, the new album credited to Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti that came out on 4AD last month. Produced in a real studio with a real band, it mixes new songs with sharper and brighter versions of '70s and '80s radio-pop-inspired tunes that have been pulled from Pink's back catalog, and often radically reshaped. "Round and Round" is the undeniable crowd pleaser that makes the sale, but there are plenty more sunny, snappy, and sometimes seriously strange pop nuggets like "L'estat ("Acc. to the Widow's Maid)" and "Menopause Man" where that came from.

More than a decade after Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan brought her sisterhood-is-powerful philosophy to concert stages in the form of Lilith Fair, this all-female tour has returned amid much fanfare and sluggish ticket sales (10 shows were recently cut from the schedule). While crowds may be smaller, reviews have been strong for McLachlan (whose just-released

Laws of Illusion

is her first album in seven years) and for her rotating cast of new and established talent. Philly's Lilith lineup is especially dynamic: everyone from rock and soul diva Janelle Monáe to Dixie Chicks Martie Maguire and Emily Robison (performing as the Court Yard Hounds), and Aussie Missy Higgins. Add in vocal powerhouse Sara Bareilles, Malaysian singer-ukulele player Zee Avi, and a few others, and you've got a genre-jumping sonic smorgasbord. Pittsburgh-based pianist-singer Joy Ike, winner of Lilith's Philly-area local talent search, will kick things off Wednesday, most likely with the aptly named tune that landed her a spot onstage, "Sweeter."