Wednesday 6/7
Cat Power
Indie chanteuse Chan Marshall plays guitar and piano, and sings her forlorn, hypnotic songs.
Berklee Performance Center
8 pm, $25.50
Cat Power: myspace | web site | The Greatest .mp3 | purchase

The Coup
Everyone's favorite hard-core leftist, black power radical rappers the Coup are back with their first album in nearly five years (the cover of which ain't quite so controversial as their last joint). Join Oakland's Boots Riley and DJ Pam the Funkstress as they deftly balance gutter humor and righteous rage (you get both Bush bashing and bush jokes). With Kabir and T-Kash. (Note, if you miss 'em this time, The Coup will be back on 7/17 opening for Les Claypool at the Roxy).
Paradise Rock Club
18+, $15, 8pm
The Coup: website | myspace | blog | my favorite mutiny.mp3 | we are the ones.mp3 | purchase

Maceo Parker with the Eclectic Collective
Along with Fred Wesley, alto saxophonist Maceo Parker started out backing James Brown, left to join George Clinton on the (Parliament/Funkadelic) Mothership, and then spent time backing Bootsy's Rubber Band. Since 1990, Maceo's led his own band, purveyors of the booty-shaking blend that's "2 percent jazz, 98 percent funky stuff." Boston's own purveyors of the funk (and jazz, hip hop and soul), the nine piece Eclectic Collective, open. Life's better on planet groove.
Roxy
$25 / $28 dos, 8pm
Maceo Parker: website | new album website w/ clips | wikipedia
Eclectic Collective: myspace | website

Mamadou Diop
Mamadou Diop, a master sabar drummer from Sénégal, brings his "high-energy, West African world fusion" dance party to Ryles.
Ryles Jazz Club
$10, 9pm

GuitarFest 2006 (runs through Sunday)
Eliot Fisk, professor of guitar at the New England Conservatory and the Salzburg Mozarteum, is the ebullient force behind NEC's first festival of guitar music. Concerts, masterclasses, symposiums and a competition will occupy the whole building, the whole long weekend, and it isn't so much a festival of guitars as of all sorts of plucked instruments: sitarist Peter Row plays on Thursday afternoon at 4, musicologist Chistoph Wolff reflects on the lute on Friday at 4, and Armenian oud virtuoso Mal Barsamian is up at 4 on Saturday. The festival's headline event, Fisk with the Borromeo String Quartet, is in Jordan Hall at 8 on Sunday evening and will feature Boccherini's Guitar Quintet in D Major.
Times and dates vary, but all events will be held in NEC's concert venues
$10, $20
New England Conservatory: website
Eliot Fisk's windmilling-tilting blog

Thursday 6/8:
Dungen
Their name sounds like a lamp from Ikea, but Sweden's Dungen play "folkrockpsych," the retro antithesis of clean minimalism.
Middle East Downstairs
18+, 8 pm, $12
Dungen: myspace | web site | Ta Det Lugnt .m3u | Festival .mp3 | purchase

Charlie Musselwhite
Blues harmonica legend Charlie Musselwhite invades the Regattabar. With Chris "The Kid" Andersen (guitar), Randy Bermudas (bass), and June Core (drums).
Regattabar
$20, 7:30pm & 10pm
website

Friday 6/9:
Gutbucket
Bostonist saw New York's Gutbucket on their last swing through town supporting their album Dry Humping the American Dream and was blown away by their incredible musicianship, jaw dropping chops, urgent sense of fun, and hell-bent, jump all-over the goddamn place performance. As their website notes, the group jumps "from hard rock to Latin to thrash to klezmer and back, often within the space of a few bars . . . attack[ing] their music with the kind of ferocity usually reserved for punk, despite having earned their jazz bona fides." Including former members of the Ex Caminos, Gutbucket sometimes sounds like the Lounge Lizards in their late '80s hey day. With Ken Thomson (sax), Eric Rockwin (bass), Ty Citerman (guitar), and Paul Chuffo (drums).
Zeitgeist Gallery, Inman Sq.
$12, 8pm
website | myspace | info/promo | money management for a better life.mp3 | purchase

The Campbell Brothers
As Glide Magazine puts it, The Campbell Brothers bring "a three guitar-gospel-rock assault that bridges the gap between church and state. It is the tie that binds the blues to gospel and rock to roll."
Regattabar
$16, 7:30pm & 10pm
website

Saturday 6/10:
Boston Hip Hop Fest 2006
Leedz Edutainment presents Boston Hip Hop Feast, featuring Special Teams (Edo. G, Slaine, Jaysaun), Awkward Landing, Exposition, Greater Good, DL, Al Jabra, Mymansnthem, The Foundation Movement, Deck Demons, and more. Support local hip hop! Middle East Downstairs
18+ $12 / $15 dos
Leedz Edutainment: myspace | website

Donal Fox: Scarlatti Jazz Suite
Guggenheim Fellowship for music composition winner Donal Fox performs his Scarlatti Jazz Suite, which jazz critic Gary Giddins calls "a dazzling original work," noting that pianist Fox "has positioned himself on the cutting edge of jazz by incorporating classical techniques and melodies." With Stefon Harris (vibes), Terri Lyne Carrington (drums), and John Lockwood (bass).
Regattabar
$24, 7:30pm & 10pm

Speaking in Code Party
DJ's Jon Schmidt, Jay Flower and Mike Uzzi spin for the RSVP fundraiser for the new documentary on international electronic, dance, and music. The evening will include special clips from the feature-length film followed by a party with music catered by three locals.
The Enormous Room
$50 RSVP gets a spot on the films credits, 6 pm
Earlier post (with video) | myspace

C. Fernsebner, Matt Durutti, and Christina Linklater contributed to this list