[ soul/pop ]

Retro-soul superhero Andrew Mayer Cohen — who derived his stage moniker porn-name-style, by combining his middle name with the street he grew up on (Hawthorne Road in Ann Arbor, Mich.) — followed his blindingly great 2009 debut with last year's equally killer How Do You Do, changing nary a lick of his effortlessly crisp, Motown-indebted approach save for the occasional nod to blue-eyed, turn-of-the-'80s yacht-soul. (He's also been slipping Hall and Oates covers into recent live sets.) Connecticut trio The Stepkids, who dropped their brief but impressive eponymous debut for Stones Throw, plough a wilder, looser, more psychedelic furrow of throwback soul, hearkening to Sly and the Family Stone's Afro-delic circus funk, the 5th Dimension's infectious, harmony-rich positivity, and the jazzy, orchestral left-field expansiveness of Rotary Connection and David Axelrod.

Wed., April 18, 9 p.m., $18, Union Transfer, 1026 Spring Garden St., 215-232-2100, utphilly.com.