The Boston-based avant-rock band Cul de Sac have an illustrious history -- back in 1997, they were one of the last groups to collaborate with guitar legend John Fahey, and more recently they scored the Roger Corman-produced film The Strangler's Wife. Now they've been tapped to back Damo Suzuki, the former singer of krautrock legends Can, on his latest US tour, which kicks off tonight (Thursday, May 2) at the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge with the bizarro indie-rock duo Mecca Normal, who themselves have a busy schedule. Sunday afternoon they're at the Berwick Institute (617-288-8145) in Roxbury with Mary Timony and Jessica Rylan Can't, and then in the evening they're at AS220 (401-831-9327) in Providence. On Monday, they're at Flywheel (413-527-9800) in Easthampton with Mark Robinson.

Philly neo-soul brother Musiq -- formerly known as Musiq Soulchild -- drops his sophomore effort, Juslisen (Def Jam), this week, and he kicks off a tour at the Webster Theater (860-246-8001) in Hartford on Friday. Then on Saturday at Avalon (617-423-NEXT) in Boston, Musiq hooks up with Goodie Mob heavyweight Cee-Lo, the bugged-out, dog-collared Afro-gospel Atlantan whose excellent solo debut, Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections (Arista), is generating OutKast-sized buzz. The San Francisco duo Blackalicious unveil tracks from their major-label debut, Blazing Arrow (MCA), on a tour that begins tonight (Thursday, May 2) at Axis (617-423-NEXT) in Boston; they then join West Coast contemporaries Jurassic 5 for gigs on Friday at Toad's Place (203-562-5589) in New Haven and next Thursday, May 9, at the State Theatre (207-780-8265) in Portland. Meanwhile, dramatic MC Talib Kweli throws down at Karma (617-421-9595) in Boston on Friday, at Pearl Street (413-584-0610) in Northampton on Saturday, and at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel (401-272-5876) in Providence on Sunday. Lupo's also hosts the "High Times Tour" with Smif N Wesson, Buckshot, Non-Phixion, and Afu-Ra on Wednesday.

What the hell ever happened to Monster Magnet? Over the course of a single month in Vegas late last century, Dave Weindorf wrote the Great American Rock-and-Roll album -- Powertrip (A&M), an über-garage-punk masterpiece in a Stooges-to-Urge-Overkill style that seemed destined to give garage punk the bling-bling quotient it never had. Then it took him a couple years to make God Says No, which, we suspect, was the answer to the question, "Lord, will Dave Weindorf ever get that lucky again?" The psych-metal overlords hit Axis (617-423-NEXT) on Friday and Chantilly's (603-621-0330) in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Sunday; also look for them to play the Webster Theatre next Saturday, May 11, and Lupo's on May 13.