Dan DeLuca's Mix Picks: Luke Winslow-King, Barret's "Blackass," Jenny Hval, "Quarry," and the Buzzcocks' 40th

Luke Winslow-King.

New Orleans-based, jazz-schooled slide guitarist concentrates on the small-combo blues on his new Bloodshot release,

I'm So Glad Trouble Don't Last Always

. Sunday at World Cafe Live Upstairs.

"Blackass." A. Igoni Barrett's shrewdly satiric paperback novel, set in contemporary Kinshasa, recasts Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis to play with ideas about racial (and sexual) identity. Its Nigerian hero wakes up to find he has been transformed not into a giant insect, but something more shocking: a white man. Graywolf Press, $16.

Jenny Hval. A song cycle about a time-traveling female vampire, Jenny Hval's new Blood Bitch sounds a little goofy, but the Norwegian experimental songwriter who cut her teeth in metal bands makes music that's intricate and enticing. She opens her U.S. tour Thursday at PhilaMOCA.

"Quarry." This Cinemax series, starring Logan Marshall-Green and based on Max Allan Collins' pulp-fiction novels, is set in 1972. A troubled Vietnam veteran returns home to Memphis and becomes a hired killer. Rich in period detail and expertly soundtracked, with music from Uriah Heep, Big Star, and Waylon Jennings. Otis Redding's LP Otis Blue plays a key role in the first episode. Friday on Cinemax and Cinemax On Demand.

Buzzcocks. The first-generation Mancunian punk band whose infectious tunes pointed the way to pop success stories like Green Day. Hopefully, the Pete Shelley-led quartet will continue its habit of bringing original bass player and longtime Philadelphia-area resident Steve Garvey onstage at this show marking the band's 40th year. Friday at TLA.