Focus on Pop Music

Perez Hilton Presents. Online gossip maven Perez Hilton has been sticking his nose in the music business for a few years now, whether bad-mouthing Lily Allen, squabbling with the Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am at awards shows, or championing artists, some on his own music label. Hilton brings his first tour to Philadelphia tonight, highlighted by the divine Norwegian rock powerhouse Ida Maria. (At the TLA Sept. 13)

Kid Cudi/Wale. This pair of verbally gifted, new-school MCs, from urban centers without long histories of hip-hop heroism, finally move from mixtapes to official releases this fall. Cleveland's Kid Cudi, a Kanye West protege, will drop his Man on the Moon: The End of Day this month. Then, Washington's Wale - who earned justifiable praise with his Seinfeld-inspired Mixtape About Nothing, and will front the house band at the MTV Video Music Awards tonight - will loose Attention: Deficit. (Man on the Moon on sale Sept. 15, Attention: Deficit Oct. 20)

Mos Def. Mos Def - once the most-likely-to-succeed conscious hip-hopper - chose to spend most of last decade attending to his movie-acting career, to the detriment of his rapping career. That situation is rectified with The Ecstatic, his first high-quality disc since 1999, which throws jazz, funk, samba, dub, and a fully engaged Mos into the mix. (At the Electric Factory Sept. 17)

Sufjan Stevens. Sufjan Stevens won deserved accolades for Illinois, the 2005 song cycle that made beautiful, baroque-folk music out of the history of the Land of Lincoln. In October, he'll release two CDs: Run Rabbit Run, a revamping of his 2001 electronic album, Enjoy Your Rabbit, for string quartet, and The BQE, a live recording and film of instrumental songs inspired by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, performed with three hula-hoopers called the Hooper Heroes. (At Johnny Brenda's Sept. 21-22; Run Rabbit Run on sale Oct. 6, The BQE Oct. 20.)

Mika. DayGlo pop star Mika follows his 2007 album Life in Cartoon Motion with the equally candy-coated The Boy Who Knew Too Much. The half-Lebanese, half-American Londoner, who shows the influences of Elton John and Queen, made his name with the international hit "Grace Kelly," and a sampling of his new album suggests there are more sugary hits where that came from. (On sale Sept. 22; at the Electric Factory Oct. 18)