The New York Times-20080125-Pop- -Schedule-

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POP

Full reviews of recent concerts: nytimes.com/music.

NICOLE ATKINS For almost two years now Ms. Atkins, above, has been on the brink of fame, which can sometimes seem a fate worse than failure. First there was a profile in Rolling Stone that tagged her as an artist to watch. Then came an American Express commercial -- Martin Scorsese treatment all the way -- which would have been perfect timing had her debut album come out on time. Instead fans waited. And waited. When Neptune City (Columbia) was finally released in late October, it received positive reviews but sold poorly, and all that buzz seemed to pack up and head somewhere else.

That's a shame. Ms. Atkins, 29, is one of the most talented singer-songwriters to emerge in New York in years, with songs that have anxious undercurrents despite their romantic, cinematic sweep -- pop noir, she calls it. She named her album after her hometown on the Jersey Shore, and in the title song, over a slow, murky beat that seems to sway like the sea, she sings of being stuck in a surreal state somewhere between being unable to leave home and being unable to return. Maybe if I paid attention, I could learn to love the landscape I was born to, she sings.

One wailing crescendo is all it takes to make you realize that Ms. Atkins is a woman with no small amount of will power. And while she didn't become the next Patti Smith overnight, she has persevered through all the fly-by-night hype and release-date postponements with gig after gig. On Friday she plays her long-delayed headlining date at the Bowery Ballroom, which for local acts can be either the stepping stone to something bigger or simply a career peak. Which will it be for Nicole Atkins? (At 8 p.m., with Craig Wedren and the Parlor Mob; 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, 212-533-2111, boweryballroom.com; sold out.) BEN SISARIO

CHROMEO (Saturday and Monday) You take the '80s train to Pet Shop Boys and Cameo -- not too fast, not too racy, not too challenging -- in the midtempo electronic head-nodders by this Montreal duo. With the Chicago indie rapper Kid Sister. At 8 p.m., Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111, boweryballroom.com; sold out. (Ben Sisario)

JUDY COLLINS (Friday and Saturday, and Tuesday through Thursday) What Ms. Collins brings to a song, whether she wrote it or not, is perspective. You have the sense of a woman standing alone in the night air, gazing at a star and directing a beam of psychic energy into the cosmos. Or maybe she is the receiver of this cool, steady light; it cuts both ways. (Through March 1.) At 8:45 p.m., Cafe Carlyle, Carlyle Hotel, 35 East 76th Street, Manhattan, (212) 744-1600, thecarlyle.com; $125 and $175. (Stephen Holden)

CORNELIUS (Saturday) Keigo Oyamada, a Japanese musician who records as Cornelius (he took his name after Roddy McDowall's character in Planet of the Apes), is a witty if cold conceptualist, toying with minimal electronics and off-kilter rhythms that sound like the stimuli of some psychological lab experiment. His Sensuous Synchronized Show incorporates kaleidoscopic visuals. With the Benevento-Russo Duo, whose meanderings on keyboard and drums begin in peaceful soul-funk and end up in poundingly insistent climaxes that might as well be punk rock. At 7 p.m., Webster Hall, 125 East 11th Street, East Village, (212) 533-2111, bowerypresents.com; $25. (Sisario)

TOUMANI DIABATE'S SYMMETRIC ORCHESTRA (Thursday) Mr. Diabate, the Malian kora master, plays regular gigs back home with his big band, mixing ancient songs with salsa-infused funk and lyrical improvisations on the kora, a harplike instrument that allows him to play three parts at once. With Fernando Otero. At 7 p.m., Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111, boweryballroom.com; $25. (Sisario)

HOWARD FISHMAN (Sunday) Rummaging through the attic of American song, Howard Fishman finds witty insights in Dixieland, swing and bluegrass. At 9 p.m., Rodeo Bar, 375 Third Avenue, at 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 683-6500, rodeobar.com; no cover. (Sisario)

GOSPEL CARAVAN (Friday) The performers at this World Music Institute concert make a good case for gospel music's being truly timeless. In one form or other the Blind Boys of Alabama have been active since 1939, and the Dixie Hummingbirds since 1928, harmonizing with a passionate intensity that directly influenced R&B and rock music. Also on the bill are Chuck Campbell, who plays sacred steel lap guitar; and the McIntosh County Shouters, from the Georgia coast, who pound out rhythms with a broom as they sing. At 8 p.m., City Center, 131 West 55th Street, Manhattan, (212) 581-1212, worldmusicinstitute.org; $30 to $60. (Sisario)

LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO (Saturday) This great South African vocal group, which introduced so much of the world to Zulu singing, is in the midst of transition. On Wednesday Joseph Shabalala, its 65-year-old founder, made a vague statement about retiring, saying that he would hand the reins over to his son Thamsanqa. No date was given, but this may very well be Mr. Shabalala's last tour. At 8 p.m., B. B. King Blues Club & Grill, 237 West 42nd Street, Manhattan, (212) 997-4144, bbkingblues.com; $41.50. (Sisario)

JEFFREY LEWIS AND THE JITTERS (Wednesday) A veteran of the scruffy antifolk circuit that produced the Moldy Peaches and Regina Spektor, Jeffrey Lewis has a severe case of logorrhea that is not confined to his music. He is a gifted cartoonist and combines his monologues on everyday life and earnest bohemianism with storyboard history lessons. (Topics have included Karl Marx and the British post-punk stalwarts the Fall.) At 9:30 p.m., Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street, at Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, (212) 260-4700, mercuryloungenyc.com; $10. (Sisario)

LINCOLN CENTER'S AMERICAN SONGBOOK (Friday and Saturday) Lincoln Center's flagship pop series is dedicated to crossing genres and experimenting with the idea of a modern American canon, though this weekend's concerts are a little on the conventional side. On Friday Rob Fisher, the former musical director of City Center's Encores!, leads a Bernstein concert. Saturday is Broadway standards, with Kelli O'Hara, who will star in South Pacific at the Lincoln Center Theater this spring. Friday at 8:30 p.m., Saturday at 8:30 and 10:30 p.m., Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street, (212) 721-6500, lincolncenter.org; sold out. (Sisario)

MARILYN MANSON (Tuesday and Wednesday) The world's least shocking shock-rocker is back on tour. One bit of good news: he has been reunited with his former guitarist, Twiggy Ramirez, which might bring back some of the spark of songs like The Beautiful People. With Ours. At 8 p.m., Hammerstein Ballroom, 311 West 34th Street, Manhattan, (212) 307-7171, mcstudios.com; $64.50. (Sisario)

HUGH MASEKELA (Sunday) This South African fluegelhorn player has more to offer than Grazing in the Grass, his international hit from 1968. For decades he has brought together the three-chord lope of South African pop with the zigzagging possibilities of jazz. At 7:30 and 10 p.m., S.O.B.'s, 204 Varick Street, at Houston Street, South Village, (212) 243-4940, sobs.com; $25. (Jon Pareles)

NEUROSIS, MASTODON (Friday) The good thing about experimental heavy-metal groups is that no matter how out there they get, they stick to the rudiments of riffing, screaming and pummeling. For this first of two shows at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple in Fort Greene, Neurosis, a longtime post-metal band from Oakland, Calif., teams with Mastodon, an Atlanta group so brainy that it wrote a concept album based on Moby-Dick. At 8 p.m., 317 Claremont Avenue, at Lafayette Street, brooklynmasonictemple.com; sold out. (Sisario)

NEW YORK GUITAR FESTIVAL (Sunday and Thursday) It's marathon time, with a two-part Brazilian event on Sunday at the 92nd Street Y programmed by Sergio and Odair Assad. At 2 p.m. are Badi Assad (their younger sister), Yamandu Costa, Arthur Kampela, Romero Lubambo and others. After a two-hour break at 5, it resumes with Vinicius Cantuaria, Allison Carvalho, Ms. Assad, Mr. Costa and the bassist Stephan Crump, who performs a new commission with his Rosetta Trio. On Thursday, in the third of four tributes to country giants, Jorma Kaukonen, Larry Campbell, Laura Cantrell, G. E. Smith and others play the Loretta Lynn songbook. Sunday at the 92nd Street, Y, 1395 Lexington Avenue, (212) 415-5500, 92y.org; $60. Thursday at 8 p.m., Merkin Concert Hall, 129 West 67th Street, Manhattan, (212) 501-3330, kaufman-center.org; $35. Information: newyorkguitarfestival.org. (Sisario)

JOANNA NEWSOM (Thursday) The fairy queen of the freak-folk movement, Ms. Newsom uses a harp and her froggish little voice to spin elaborate, beguiling fantasies. On Thursday, in the first of two concerts, she is accompanied by none other than the Brooklyn Philharmonic in a performance of her brilliantly expansive 2006 album, Ys, which was orchestrated by Van Dyke Parks. She also performs a set with her band. At 8 p.m., Brooklyn Academy of Music, 30 Lafayette Avenue, at Ashland Place, Fort Greene, (718) 636-4100, bam.org; $25 to $55. (Sisario)

ALEJANDRO SANZ (Friday) With a husky voice that brings flamenco passion to pop love songs, Alejandro Sanz is a superstar at home in Spain and beyond. He has collaborated with Shakira and slips Caribbean rhythms and even a touch of hip-hop into his material. At 8 p.m., WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden, (212) 465-6741, thegarden.com; $69.50 to $139.50. (Pareles)

SHOGHAKEN ENSEMBLE (Saturday) The Shoghaken Ensemble brings together some of Armenia's most celebrated traditional musicians and dancers. It is led by Gevorg Dabaghyan, a virtuoso on the duduk, a flute with a richly melancholy tone. At 8:30 p.m., Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall, (212) 247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $36 to $44. (Pareles)

SPECTRUM (Friday, Saturday and Monday) In the 1980s Peter Kember, a k a Sonic Boom, was a member of Spacemen 3, an influential British band that found a twilight zone between garage-rock and the druggy minimalism of the Velvet Underground. On his own, with Spectrum and other projects, he has perfected a technique of disassembling pop songs into ever purer forms of drone, though he's still full of surprises: his new album is a collaboration with the storied Memphis producer Jim Dickinson (the Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin). Friday at 8 p.m., Union Hall, 702 Union Street, at Fifth Avenue, Park Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 638-4400, unionhallny.com; $15. Saturday at 7 p.m., with the Ladybug Transistor, at the Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street, TriBeCa, (212) 219-3132, knittingfactory.com; $10. Monday at 9:30 p.m., Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street, at Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, (212) 260-4700, mercuryloungenyc.com; $10.

(Sisario)

SANDY STEWART AND BILL CHARLAP (Friday and Saturday) In Make Me Rainbows, their fifth engagement at the Oak Room, this mother-son team carries the romantic metaphors of the American songbook into a realm where the songs -- Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning -- become the equivalent of philosophic texts to be deciphered for the truths they embody. At 9 and 11:30 p.m., 59 West 44th Street, Manhattan, (212) 419-9331, algonquinhotel.com; $65 cover; $30 minimum; dinner is required at 9. (Holden)

SUPER FURRY ANIMALS (Friday) This Welsh band plays wonderfully overwrought pop, cramming together Beach Boys' melodies, zooming space-rock, noisy punk and some penitent country-folk. At 9 p.m., Music Hall of Williamsburg, 66 North Sixth Street, Brooklyn, (212) 260-4700, musichallofwilliamsburg.com; sold out. (Sisario)

THE TEENAGERS (Wednesday and Thursday) All pop odes to Hollywood sexpots should be like this French-British band's Scarlett Johansson, a spunky new-wave confession in broken English that is both safely ironic and genuinely creepy: I'll sell my mum to be lost with you/Lost in Tokyo or anywhere else. Wednesday at 8 p.m., Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street, at Ludlow Street, Lower East Side, (212) 260-4700, mercuryloungenyc.com; $10. Thursday at 10:30 p.m., Hiro Ballroom, 363 West 16th Street, Chelsea, (212) 242-4300, hiroballroom.com or gbh.tv; free with reservation.

(Sisario)

RICHARD THOMPSON (Thursday) Somehow only Richard Thompson, the great wit of British folk-rock and the world's most underrated guitar god, could pull off a project with the breadth and ingenuity of 1,000 Years of Popular Music, which spans English-language song from Sumer Is Icumen In to Oops! ... I Did It Again. At 8 p.m., Nokia Theater, 1515 Broadway, at 44th Street, (212) 307-7171, nokiatheatrenyc.com; $29.50 to $39.50. (Sisario)

VAMPIRE WEEKEND (Tuesday and Wednesday) A hybrid of the Strokes and Paul Simon's Graceland, the songs by this buzz band of recent Columbia University graduates are lean, smart indie rock blended with the sunny guitars of Afro-pop. If that sounds weird, get used to it: it's the newest and most promising trend in an indie world running dangerously short on new ideas. The band plays two sold-out shows at the Bowery Ballroom in celebration of its excellent debut album. Beat the Devil and Sam Rosen open the show on Tuesday; Plastic Little and Aa on Wednesday. At 8 p.m., 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery, Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111, boweryballroom.com. (Sisario)

LAURA VEIRS (Sunday) With electronics twinkling above soft guitars like stars in a perfect night sky, Laura Veirs's ballads cast romance as both intimate contact and cosmic event. She plays an acoustic show at Union Hall in Brooklyn. At 9:30 p.m., 702 Union Street, at Fifth Avenue, Park Slope, (718) 638-4400, unionhallny.com; $15, with limited availability. (Sisario)