Music critics' picks

Could they eventually be bigger than Bono? Irish band

Bell X1

is already the second largest concert draw in Ireland behind U2. Their lyrical, layered productions and the melodious wail of lead singer

Paul Noonan

certainly have attracted our attention.

Get a sense of how they sound from the company they've kept, opening for Keane, Starsailor, Aqualung and Snow Patrol. Damien Rice was in the lineup of the band's earlier incarnation, Juniper. And, yes, they did take their name from the Bell X-1, the Cold War-era experimental aircraft that first broke the sound barrier.

This band sweetly exploits the options within those barriers. They'll do a free, unplugged set here advancing their latest release, "Flock," out Feb. 19 on Yep Roc.

World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St., 9 p.m. Thursday, 215-222-1400, www.worldcafelive.com.

- Laurie T. Conrad

Pig Iron Theater's Barrymore Award winner

James Sugg

spent two weeks on a freighter vessel researching his rock opera,

"The Sea."

Premiered at the 2006 Live Arts/Philadelphia Fringe Festival, it chronicles the life of a captain in search of his mermaid daughter. Inspired by Radiohead and Neutral Milk Hotel, the multi-media piece features the sights and sounds of real-life sailors, plus a band with

Victor Fiorillo

, Sugg's partner in the Brothers Suggarillo, plus

Joshua Delpech-Ramey

of the Kandy Whales and Extravagant Bastard.

Old Swedes Church, 916 S. Swanson St., 8 p.m. tonight, tomorrow and Thursday, 215-389-1513, www.old-swedes.org.

- Sara Sherr

It's hip-hop in its pure underground state when the

Ill Aphillyates

join

Kontra

and

DJ Akshun

to celebrate IA's official debut, "Come 2 the Ill Syde." Reason enough to check this set, but so is Akshun's thorough blend of breakbeats. And the rest of the bill is just as hot. Fresh emcees

Doap Nixon

,

Firm Taqtics

,

Sick Six

and

Charlie K.

will perform a cut or two, and the whole event is hosted by

Illit

. Particularly look for Firm Taqtics members

Tommy C.

and

RickRock

, as the crew is known for their high energy and sharp production. Plus, Illvibe's

DJ Skipmode

will spin sets upstairs.

Khyber, 56 S. 2nd. St., 9 tonight, $10, 21+, 215-238-5888, www.thekhyber.com.

- Damon C. Williams

Despite the increasingly exclusionary subgenres that music gets divided into these days, most younger musicians have a knack for traversing styles without tripping over such invented boundaries. That fact is exemplified by two local trombonists who are sharing a bill at Tritone.

Daniel Blacksberg has made a mark on the jazz and experimental scenes since returning to his native Philly a couple of years back. He also works extensively in the world of klezmer. His quartet, with violinist Carlos Santiago, bassist Matt Engle and drummer Mike Szekely, "draws on the myriad harmonic, rhythmic, structural and timbral approaches of jazz's pioneers from the late '50s through today." His set promises a batch of new compositions guaranteed to swing even as the reach outside the mainstream.

Larry Toft is a member of the local ensembles the Puzzlebox Experiment and, along with Blacksberg, Bobby Zankel's innovative big band, the Warriors of the Wonderful Sound. Inspired by free jazz pioneers like Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor, Toft will lead a set of his own compositions featuring Philly innovators saxophonists Dan Peterson and Elliot Levin, bassist Joe Whitt and drummer Eli Litwin.

Tritone, 1508 South St., 9:30 p.m. Sunday, $7, 215-545-0475, tritonebar.com.

- Shaun Brady

Last April,

Network for New Music

invited over 40 university-level poets and composers to a workshop, led by busy composer Jennifer Higdon and poet Jeanne Minahan McGinn, that resulted in 32 new poems. Six young composers from four universities - Melissa Dunphy, James Falconi, Heidi Jacob, Andrew McPherson, Ian Munro and Daniel Shapiro - put their favorites to music to be sung at "

Poetry Project" A Song in Philadelphia"

by baritone

Randall Scarlata

and soprano

Susan Naruck

i with the Network Ensemble, led by

Jan Krzywicki

. The program also includes a work by Higdon.

Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Broad and Spruce streets, 8 p.m. Wednesday, $25, 215-893-1999, www.networkfornewmusic.org.

- Tom Di Nardo