Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, London
Noxious, of mysterious origin, and seemingly impossible to contain …Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All arrived in a fashion more befitting a chemical spill than a new group. From California, and capable of shifting their 11 members into versatile configurations, the group have a strong leader (Tyler, The Creator), an errant, ODB-style absent genius (Earl Sweatshirt, apparently now confined in an exclusive boys' reform programme in Samoa), a sworn enemy (the mainstream US comedian Steve Harvey) and even a sense of humour (see their bizarre but amusing "Golf Wang" skits). This is a smart group, one that with its many fictions is breaking out of the prison of "realness" in which hip-hop can find itself.
Electric Ballroom, NW1, Tue & Wed
John Robinson
SCUM, On tour
With the Horrors recently making alarming concessions to melody, it's good to see a group happy to issue forth a dark and alienating grind. SCUM, with their impressionistic videos and eastern bloc-style communiqués (they call their singles "signals"), try and remain as obscure as possible. Their first releases, Warsaw and Berlin, saw them embark on a turbulent psychic InterRail tour of central Europe, all rumbling bass and occluded vocals, knowing – like the directors of great suspense films – that what is suggested by the imagination is sometimes more horrifying than what is shown. The more recent Paris, however, illustrated that there's a beautiful, if no less desolate creature here that occasionally escapes.
King Tut's, Glasgow, Sun; Ruby Lounge, Manchester, Mon; Forum, Sheffield, Wed; Met Lounge, Peterborough, Fri
JR
Arctic Monkeys, London & Kinross
On their new album Suck It And See, the Arctic Monkeys seem to be attempting a kind of musical rejuvenation. Their last two albums, Humbug and Favourite Worst Nightmare, had their moments, but all the Josh Homme-inspired riffology couldn't disguise a yearning in the heartland for the fiery indie rock and wry observational material that had made up their debut. Careful, as they say, what you wish for: Suck It And See is, after a fashion, just such a return, produced as was their debut by James Ford, and filled with Smithsy guitar rock and tortuous jokes. It's not a bad record but it's reminiscent of how a movie star, once a great beauty, might attempt to turn back the clock via plastic surgery; the famous features familiar, just a little unnatural in their arrangement. Not that this will darken proceedings at all. The band command enormous goodwill, and their amassed hits will continue doing so here.
Roundhouse, NW1, Wed; T In The Park, Kinross, Fri
JR
Sing The Truth, London
Two years ago, vocalists Angélique Kidjo (pictured), Dianne Reeves and Lizz Wright joined forces on the Barbican stage as part of a tribute to the legacy of Nina Simone. Reeves's combination of jazzy technical command and raw gospel power, Kidjo's playfulness with African and Latin references, and Wright's pure-toned emotional eloquence made for a rare chemistry which the Barbican's Blaze season of contemporary music has remixed for this spectacular show. With a backing band including piano star Geri Allen and drummer Teri Lyne Carrington, they honour the great women of jazz, R&B, gospel and blues with music by Miriam Makeba, Abbey Lincoln, Odetta, Billie Holiday and Lauryn Hill, among others. African-born Kidjo represents a close link to Miriam Makeba, whose work will also be cherished on trumpeter Hugh Masekela's Hackney Empire gigs for Blaze (10-11 Jul).
Barbican Hall, EC2, Tue
John Fordham
Doctor Dee, Manchester
It was at the Manchester international festival four years ago that Damon Albarn made his first foray into music theatre with Monkey, based upon an old Chinese story and featuring a largely Chinese cast. The worldwide success of that show has tempted Albarn back to the genre, with another project for Manchester, but this time on subject matter very much closer to home. Albarn actually calls Doctor Dee an "English opera", and its central character is one of the most intriguing figures in British history: John Dee, mathematician, astrologer, astronomer, occultist and advisor (AKA spy) to Queen Elizabeth I. Working with director Rufus Norris, Albarn has come up with a very different show from the slick spectacle that was Monkey; for one thing it features Albarn himself onstage with a new collection of songs, commenting on the action, while the accompanying band mixes 16th-century and modern instruments.
Palace Theatre, to 9 Jul
Andrew Clements
Cheltenham Music Festival
No longer the UK's most important showcase of new music, Cheltenham still manages to balance a programme of popular concerts with a healthy scattering of premieres. This year's crowd-pleasers will be the visits of the London Philharmonic under Vladimir Jurowski (Sat), and the Bournemouth Symphony with its music director Kirill Karabits (Fri), as well as a recital of Beethoven, Brahms and Schoenberg by Leif Ove Andsnes (Tue). The new music has already included a song cycle by Ian Venables, and a percussion concerto by Joseph Phibbs. Thursday brings Music Theatre Wales's new production of Mark-Anthony Turnage's Greek.
Various venues, to 10 Jul
AC
