We're taking a break from our two do segment this week, so instead we offer up a collection of music happening in the bay area, courtesy of the Times' weekly Soundcheck feature. This week's list is lengthy and legit, featuring lots of local shows and big-name DJs, hip-hoppers and alt-rock artists. Check it out below:

MC Chris
With Powerglove, Richie Branson
THURSDAY 8 p.m. Crowbar, 1812 17th St. N, Ybor City. $13. (813) 241-8600.
The 30-something MC Chris Ward spearheads the “nerdcore” genre, a predominantly white, suburban hip-hop category that celebrates sci-fi, gaming and other geekery. It’s Star Wars over Chandon, in other words. MC Chris began as a producer, animator and voice actor for late-night Adult Swim cartoons like Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Sealab 2021 before turning to music full-time. With merely a MacBook and a pre-pubescent voice, he’ll offer dogged jams like Tasty Face, a bath salts-inspired, cannibal-themed Carly Rae Jepsen parody (one you just gotta hear to understand).

311
With Slightly Stoopid, The Aggrolites
FRIDAY 6:30 p.m. 1-800-Ask-Gary Amphitheatre, 4802 U.S. 301 N, Tampa. $24-$68. (813) 740-2446.
Just like palmetto bugs and afternoon showers, 311 tours have become staples of Tampa Bay summers. The cross-pollinating reggae-rock act returns to the Gary, this time with like-minded cloud-music-makers Slightly Stoopid and vintage reggae-soul act The Aggrolites. 311 has exponentially strengthened its reputation as a live act year after year, trotting out full band drumlines, slap-bass solos and the kind of cool-it-down anthems that manage to overcome the aforementioned heat and bug barriers. It’s like a peaceable oceanside party that just happens to be I-4-adjacent. Slightly Stoopid has been moving forward with new album Top of the World. Slated for release next month, the disc includes guests Black Uhuru, G. Love, Fishbone, ex-Jurassic Five emcee Chali 2na and others.

Lil Jon
With DJ D.Seven
FRIDAY 11 p.m. Hard Rock Cafe, 5223 Orient Road, Tampa. $20-$30 (813) 627-7625
Lil Jon, the party boy rapper known for his thumping club hits (“Shots, shots, shots, shots, shots!”) and his screamy catchphrases (“YEEEEAAAAH! OHKAY?”) is bringing a different side to the Seminole Hard Rock Casino on Friday, spinning a DJ set alongside D Seven and VJ Kidd Leow. Lil Jon is not the pimp cup-toting crunk rapper famously parodied by Dave Chappelle anymore. His musical tastes have evolved, and he’s swapped the chalice in favor carrying a more sophisticated jeweled bottle of tequila. “I don’t even consider myself a crunk artist no more,” he said. “I play for the people. If they want to hear more commercial pop, I’ll play a little. If they’re into dubstep, I’ll play some dubstep.” If you’re lucky, you might even hear Lil Jon’s favorite remix of sugary earwig Call Me, Maybe. — Stephanie Hayes


Paul Oakenfold
FRIDAY 9 p.m. The Ritz, 1503 Seventh Ave., Ybor City. $25-$35. (813) 247-2555.
Before dance music maestros like Paul Oakenfold hit the decks, DJs were never international superstars. By the mid-’90s, the British electronica ambassador was proving an individual and a pulsating 4/4 beat could draw big all over the world. Oakenfold went on to Grammy nominations, Coke commercials and action film scores. Better still, Oakenfold has helped to usher in a 2012 where electronic dance makes up the sound of American pop and its close cousin “hip-pop.”

Toadies and Helmet
THURSDAY 7 p.m. State Theatre, 687 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. $20. (727) 895-3045.
If you owned a radio in the ’90s, you likely remember a certain screeching question posed by Vaden Todd Lewis of the Toadies: “Do you want to die?!” The stark, grungy Possum Kingdom was a huge hit, despite the fact that it had all of the ingredients of an underground anthem — a 7/8 time signature, no chorus, and nary a mention of possums and/or kingdoms. “In retrospect, I did everything I could do to not make that a radio song,” Lewis told the New York Times. The Pixies-influenced alt-rock act will release its third post-reunion album July 31 simply titled PLAY.ROCK.MUSIC. Co-headlining the show is ’90s New York alt-metal band Helmet, best known for head-down pounders Unsung and Wilma’s Rainbow. To quote those other ’90s authorities Beavis and Butt-head, “Helmet rules.”

Gavin DeGraw
SATURDAY Following Rays vs. Seattle Mariners. First pitch at 7:10 p.m. Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg. Free with game ticket. (888) 326-7297.
Gavin DeGraw describes One Tree Hill theme and mega-hit I Don’t Want to Be as “the song that changed my life and paid for all my college loans.” The laid-back pop-soul singer followed up with other sensitive earworms like Chariot and In Love with a Girl before going grittier on Sweeter last year. DeGraw also competed on last season’s Dancing With the Stars. Just one thing to note about his Trop stop: It’s been said that DeGraw is the type that likes to eat all his veggies before dessert. In other words, you may need to stick it out to the end of the set for the Top 40 charters.

Toubab Krewe
FRIDAY 8 p.m. Jannus Live, 16 Second St. N, St. Petersburg. $5. (727) 565-0551.
Asheville’s Toubab Krewe gracefully fuses rock with West African music, thanks to extended study in Mali, Guinea and Ivory Coast. African instruments like the kora (a harp-lute made from an African gourd) and soku (Malian horsehair fiddle), along with intricate percussion and psychedelic elements, play integral roles in the show. The Skipper’s Smokehouse regulars graduate to the large stage at Jannus Friday.

Pomegranates
With Kitten, The Pauses, The Happiness Machine
SUNDAY 7 p.m. The Local 662, 662 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. $10. facebook.com/thelocal662.
Cincinnatti’s Pomegranates play a skittery blend of fuzzy guitars and echoey vocals that call to mind ndie-rock favorites both old (Yo La Tengo) and new (Cults). At the other end of the spectrum is opener Kitten, whose dark, breathy alterna-pop tunes — particularly new singles Cut It Out and Sugar — owe more to Lykke Li than Katy Perry. Put them together and you’re bound for an evocative night in the ’Burg.

*Also playing:

Eliot Lipp Fri. With Sir Charles, Soft Rock Renegades. 9 p.m. Crowbar, 1812 17th St. N, Ybor City. $10. (813) 241-8600.

Lauren Mitchell Band Fri. 8 p.m. Palladium, 253 Fifth Ave. N, St. Petersburg. $12-$15. (727) 822-3590.

King of Spain Fri. With Brandon Cunningham. 9 p.m. New World Brewery, 1313 E Eighth Ave., Ybor City. $7. (813) 248-4969.

And So I Watch You From Afar Sat. With Zulu Wave, Zechs Marquise, Auto? Automatic?? 8 p.m. The Local 662, 662 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. $7. Facebook.com/thelocal662.

Daymoths Sat. With Benjamin Zero, Therapeutic Chokehold. 10 p.m. Yeoman’s Road Pub, 236 E Davis Blvd., Tampa. (813) 251-2748.

Set It Off Sat. With Goodnight Neverland, Infinity on High, Beyond Our Vision. 6 p.m. Orpheum, 1915 E Seventh Ave., Ybor City. $10. theorpheum.com.

Yoshi Gish Sat. With Virginia Rose Band, Sounds of Chaos, Sunshine and Bullets, more. 8 p.m. Gasoline Alley, 14042 66th St. N, Largo. (727) 532-0265.

Crocodiles Sat. With Eternal Summers, Thee Liquid Jesus DJs. 9 p.m. New World Brewery, 1313 E Eighth Ave., Ybor City. $10-$12. (813) 248-4969.

Rubix Cubed Sat. 9 p.m. Dunedin Brewery, 937 Douglas Ave., Dunedin. Free. (727) 736-0606.

WMNF Presents A Tribute To Levon Helm Sun. featuring Thomas Wynn and the Believers, Gypsy Wind, Ted Lukas and the Tailights, Steve Connelly and the Lesser Gods, Rich Whiteley Band, Sara Rose Band, The Applebutter Express. 5 p.m. Skipper’s Smokehouse, 910 Skipper Road, Tampa. $12-$15. (813) 971-0666.

Pomegranates Sun. With Kitten, The Pauses, The Happiness Machine. 7 p.m. The Local 662, 662 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. $10. facebook.com/thelocal662.

Static-X Tues. With Davey Suicide, Siege of Malakand, more. 6 p.m. Orpheum, 1915 E Seventh Ave., Ybor City. $20-$25. theorpheum.com.

-- Carole Liparoto, tbt*