Our picks this week include a tribute to Mannie Fresh, Faster Pussycat, Cardinal Sons, MadFro, Sylvan Esso, and The Get Busy.

Our picks this week include a tribute to Mannie Fresh, Faster Pussycat, Cardinal Sons, MadFro, Sylvan Esso, and The Get Busy.

Friday: xDefinition, MadFro, 9 p.m., House of Blues: A night of new(er) funk bands. MadFro puts a live, lean band behind rapper Slangston Hughes to good effect. (tickets) Also on Friday: Cobra Brains, Voltra Voltra, 8 p.m., Gasa Gasa (tickets); Honey Island Swamp Band, Colin Lake, 10 p.m., Tipitina’s (free); Little Radar, The Ink Sea, Slacker, 10 p.m., Circle Bar; Soul Creole, 10:30 p.m., Chickie Wah Wah; Bonerama, 10 p.m., The Maple Leaf Bar

Saturday: Cardinal Sons EP-release party, Vox and the Hound, Gold and the Rush, 10 p.m., One Eyed Jacks: The new The Echo Choir EP  by the Brothers Shirley has five perfectly realized songs that are classically catchy without sounding like echoes of a thousand other songs. I return to it for “Day of Summer” and “Meridian” and enjoy the songs that happen in-between. (tickets) Also on Saturday: Sylvan Esso, Dana Buoy, 10 p.m., Gasa Gasa (tickets); Crocodiles, Tweens, Yuppie Teeth, The Roses, 10 p.m., Siberia (tickets); The Get Busy, 10 p.m., The Circle Bar; Rotary Downs, ArchAnimals, 10 p.m., Freret Street Publiq House (tickets); The Wild Magnolias, Shamarr Allen and The Underdawgs, 10 p.m., Tipitina’s (tickets); June Squared, 10 p.m., The Maple Leaf Bar

Monday: Toto, 8 p.m., House of Blues: L.A. studio musicians came together to in the late ‘70s to briefly become the Steely Dan of soft rock—musicianly music, but without Becker and Fagen’s thorniness. There are only two original members left, but the missing members have been replaced by other studio stars. (tickets) 

Tuesday: T-Pain, Snootie Wild, Bando Jonez, 9 p.m., House of Blues: Rapper T-Pain’s largely credited/blamed for the Auto-Tune explosion, but reports from the tour say he’s an all-purpose entertainer throwing a party onstage--literally--with or without tech effects. (tickets) 

Wednesday: Faster Pussycat, The Unnaturals, 10 p.m., Siberia: When Nirvana crushed hair metal, Faster Pussycat broke up, then singer Taime Downe launched a tougher, more industrial version with a taste for lyrical sleaze. They’re touring in support of their new album, Front Row for the Donkey Show. (tickets) Also on Wednesday: Helen Gillet, 9 p.m., Gasa Gasa (tickets); American Aquarium, Tom Whall with Emily Earle, 7:30 p.m., The BEATnik (tickets)

Other Stuff

Saturday night, Red Bull Music Academy has organized “The Mind of Mannie Fresh” at The Maison. The night will showcase the artists and producers who influenced DJ/producer Mannie Fresh, including Drumma Boy, Trouble Funk, and New York Incorporated (Denny D, Mia X, Mannie Fresh, DJ Wop). I'm not sure how this night's going to go, but for me, the possibility of seeing go-go pioneers Trouble Funk is worth the price of admission; seeing Mannie Fresh get his due makes the night better. The video below takes a minute or so to get going, but it's good, and it's worth watching/listening to for the moment when the audience "ooooh"s at the groove he matches with Earth, Wind & Fire's "September."