Laraaji & Sun Araw, On tour
Musician and mystic Laraaji was discovered by Brian Eno in 1979, playing his meditational electronic zither music in Washington Square Park. Eno invited him to collaborate, and they recorded Ambient 3: Day Of Radiance. He's seen a resurgence of interest in recent years, following a renewed interest in outsider new-age music (see last year's I Am The Center compilation on Light In The Attic), and a clutch of reissues. Originally Edward Larry Gordon, Laraaji trained as a comedian and actor (he has a small spot in underground classic Putney Swope), and after being renamed as part of his path to spiritual enlightenment, he's come to combine those two parts of his life in laughter meditation workshops, which will augment some of these UK dates with woozy West Coast synth jammer Sun Araw.
St John At Hackney Church, E5, Thu; Kraak Gallery, Manchester, Fri; touring to 8 Jun; Laugh With Laraaji workshop, Cafe Oto, E8, Wed
JLA
Linda Perhacs, On tour
For 40 years, Linda Perhacs hid in plain sight. A dental nurse when she made her first album, Parallelograms – ethereal, Californian, and strange – a dental nurse she has since remained. Parallelograms never made her a star, but the clarity of Perhacs's voice, presented in multi-tracked arrangements, made it a cult classic, adored by the likes of Devendra Banhart and Julia Holter. Both appear on her 2013 comeback The Soul Of All Natural Things, which subtly updates Perhacs's sound, although her preoccupations – the shifting energies of the universe as seen in the natural world – remain very much as they were.
Union Chapel, N1, Sun; Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, Mon; Leaf, Liverpool, Tue; Stereo, Glasgow, Thu
JR
Lorde, London
From suburban New Zealand, Ella Yelich-O'Connor specialises in an eloquent kind of alienation. In breakout single Royals, Lorde stated herself unable to relate to the elite lifestyle tropes of mainstream pop R&B, instead defining her own alternative hierarchy: less moneyed, still with its own social codes. In debut album, Pure Heroine, she expanded on the theme, discovering along the way this private world is a place a great many recognise. Poppy in sound, passionate in delivery, a little bit goth in performance, Lorde's is a romantic, intelligently stated outsider position; though, ironically, the world she once felt so removed from has since lifted its velvet rope in welcome.
O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, W12, Thu; O2 Academy Brixton, SW9, Fri
JR
Schoolboy Q, Birmingham & Manchester
A father and a gangsta rapper: can it be done? Schoolboy Q isn't just holding down the two responsibilities in life, he's doing so on his records; his pre-school daughter is in his videos, and is the first voice you hear on his major-label debut Oxymoron: "My daddy…" she says, "…is a gangsta." And is he ever. Rather than a rapper with a moral dimension like his South Central LA associate Kendrick Lamar, or a cute loser schtick like another pal, Mac Miller, Schoolboy Q is the full 92: guns, drugs, money, "adult content". Which would be wearyingly stale did not Q (real name: Quincy Hanley) get the strongest beats – check out the demented pace of his Collard Greens single – and a conviction to his delivery that serves to supercharge his more familiar content.
The Institute, Birmingham, Sat; Manchester Academy, Sun
JR
Sun Ra Arkesra, London
Outer space, ancient Egypt, synthesizers, futurism, Ellingtonian swing, and the explosive sounds of free jazz began colliding in Sun Ra's Arkestra almost 60 years ago, and continued under the Alabama-born eccentric's leadership until his death in 1993. Sun Ra would have been 100 this year, and the Barbican celebrates that centenary alongside the 90th birthday of Ra's bandleading heir, saxophonist and arranger Marshall Allen. The Arkestra were often lauded for their theatricality, but Ra was a radical pioneer of collective improvisation for large groups, an early experimenter with electronics, and a skilful celebrator of creative African-American music of all kinds. For this ambitious gig, an expanded Arkestra is supported by Woodstock-generation poet and former MC5 manager John Sinclair, performing with UK free jazz quartet The Founder Effect.
Barbican Hall, EC1, Sat
JF
Benvenuto Cellini, London
ENO's record of success in encouraging film and theatre directors to try their hand at directing opera has not been a great one over recent years, but in 2011 Terry Gilliam proved the exception to that rule. Gilliam's staging of The Damnation Of Faust was an exhilarating flight of fantasy, turning Berlioz's dramatic legend into a romp through a century of German history, all put onstage with real flair and dramatic nous. Now Gilliam has been invited back to the Coliseum to direct more Berlioz. This time, though, it's a real rarity: Benvenuto Cellini, which hasn't been seen on a British stage for almost 40 years. Built around the life of the Florentine Renaissance sculptor, it's a huge and sprawling piece, musically complex and a challenge for any director. If Gilliam gets this one right he really will have earned his spurs, and so will the tenor who sings the challenging title role, Michael Spyres.
Coliseum, WC2, Thu to 27 Jun
AC
