Man or Astro-man?, Roky Erickson, Mose Allison

For a decade, the quirky, eerie surf rock of Man or Astro-man? was far too scarce. Save for an appearance at record label Touch & Go's 25th anniversary festival in 2006, the Auburn, Ala., group remained quiet after the tour behind its 2000 release,

A Spectrum of Infinite Scale

. But this year, the band began playing again, including a series of South by Southwest dates and, now, an East Coast tour. Age hasn't tempered the group's affinity for corny science-fiction themes, or its love of a good live performance. Flaming theremins, Tesla coils, and acrobatics in astronaut suits are all fair game. The group has always emphasized instrumental tracks as much as vocal ones, and arpeggiated bass melodies coupled with angsty guitar chords and lyrics about intergalactic war are all but guaranteed.

- Katherine Silkaitis

The long story of Roky Erickson's troubled genius has similarities to those told regarding Brian Wilson and Syd Barrett. But while their tales of psychotropic drugs and psychological disturbance were cushioned by money made by the Beach Boys and Pink Floyd, Erickson - diabolical king of Texan psychedelic garage rock - didn't make that type of bread. He just made legendary music: tough yet swirling sounds with the 13th Floor Elevators (their second album, 1967's

Easter Everywhere

, is an acid essential), and solo albums throughout the pre-punk '70s with horror-film-inspired cuts such as "Red Temple Prayer (Two-Headed Dog)" and "I Walked With a Zombie." If you want to know about his arrests, insanity pleas, electroshock therapy, psychoactive treatments, institutionalization, Martian inhabitation, rotten teeth, career-crippling management, and salvation by brother Sumner Erickson, watching the poignant documentary

You're Gonna Miss Me

is a good start (and a happy ending, no less), with the multi-CD anthology

I Have Always Been Here Before

and the live compilation

Halloween

solid starting points for the uninitiated. If you want to hear his present and future states, then

True Love Cast Out All Evil

, his wonky, urgent collaboration with Okkervil River, Erickson's first new studio album in years, presents Roky in fine rocking fettle. On ruminative songs like "God Is Everywhere" and "Goodbye Sweet Dreams," it's as if no troubled time or personal terror had passed since

Easter Everywhere

; instead,

True Love

sounds like that inventive classic's follow-up. Long live Roky Erickson. He has a lot of time to make up.

- A.D. Amorosi

Eighty-two-year-old bop pianist and sardonic lyricist Mose Allison comes to town for four shows this weekend at Roller's on Germantown Avenue. Allison's newest, the Joe Henry-produced

The Way of the World

, is droll, swinging, and biting, as in "A Modest Proposal," which suggests: "Let's give God a vacation, he must be tired of it all / Rigging the game, taking the blame, 24 hours a day on call." For those who don't think they know Mose, his songs have been covered by Bonnie Raitt ("Everybody's Cryin' Mercy") and The Who ("Young Man Blues"), and Van Morrison recorded a whole album of them. At Roller's he will be backed by a pair of Philadelphia players, with Jim Dragoni on guitar and Dylan Taylor on bass.

- Dan DeLuca