Like Gwen Stefani and Bjork, Denali’s Maura Davis sometimes strikes you as a torch singer trapped in the wrong rock and roll century — a voice brassier and bolder than indie-rock deserves. When her group’s self-titled debut came out on Jade Tree last year, everyone wondered what the heck a trip-hop outfit was doing on an emo label. But on Denali’s new Instinct (also Jade Tree), the dance beats take a back seat to darkly dramatic crystal-palace chime and gleam, and Davis drapes her trills over her bandmates’ coldplaying like a chandelier collapsing on a fainting sofa. Denali open for Deftones and Poison the Well at the Palladium (800-477-6849) in Worcester on Monday and headline their own gig at the Middle East (617-864-EAST) in Cambridge on Tuesday.

Long before Turbonegro or Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, homocore heroes Pansy Division were playing ludicrously catchy, queer-themed punk rock that resonated with plenty of straight-guy ears. Back with their first album in five years, Total Entertainment!, they’re at Rudy’s (203-530-0833) in New Haven tonight (Thursday, November 13) and at the Middle East on Friday. Meanwhile, Portland, Oregon’s female cello-and-drums duo Discharge Information System features the best heavy-metal cello playing we’ve heard since the speedmetal chamber group Apocalyptica, only DIS are way more dirge-y and doomlike, with an extreme, free-hardcore influence that makes us think of, say, a Lightning Bolt for girls. They’re at AS220 (401-831-9327) in Providence tonight and at the Midway Café (617-524-9038) in Jamaica Plain on Friday with ex-Helium frontwoman Mary Timony, Broadband, and the Mules. And Rufus Wainwright made it back from what he infamously described as a meth-fueled descent into "gay hell" to finish his latest extravagant pop pleasure, Want One (DreamWorks); he supports the disc with a tour that hits Pearl Street (413-584-7810) in Northampton on Friday and Avalon (617-423-NEXT) in Boston on Sunday.

Devendra Banhart’s cracked folk songs harken back to the weird, old gothic Delta blues of Fred McDowell and Mississippi John Hurt, and the inspired surrealism of his lyrics has an oddly naturalistic fixation that’s reminiscent of the anthropomorphic tunes that dot Harry Smith’s anthologies. Banhart makes a return visit to the area with gigs Friday at Zeitgeist Gallery (617-876-6060) in Cambridge and Saturday at Bennington College (802-442-5401) in Vermont.

Perhaps the most accomplished beat-boxer in hip-hop, the Roots’ Rahzel can mimic not only the sound of a turntable scratching but the sound of specific songs being scratched, complete with pitch control. His tour with undie faves Lifesavas and the Spooks hits Higher Ground (802-654-8888) in Winooski, Vermont on Sunday, the Middle East on Monday, and Pearl Street on Tuesday. And English black-metal spooks Cradle of Filth get their face-paint on alongside Brooklyn goth-metal studs Type O Negative — with whom they share a sense of humor rare in metal’s nether regions — at the Palladium on Friday.