CHICAGO UNDERGROUND TRIO 9/19, LOUNGE AX The Chicago Underground Duo is a skinny cousin to cornetist Rob Mazurek’s Chicago Underground Orchestra, which mixes funky bop and soulful free jazz on a larger scale; on the duo’s forthcoming debut, 12° of Freedom (Thrill Jockey), Mazurek and drummer Chad Taylor use vibes, piano, and bamboo flute along with their primary instruments to construct subtle, spartan soundscapes that occasionally burst into flurries of notes and beats or fill out into mesmerizing grooves. Bassist Noel Kupersmith makes the outfit a trio for this show; the album also features guest work by guitarist Jeff Parker (New Horizons Ensemble, Tortoise), who may occasionally make it a quartet. Also on the bill are Tortoise bassist Doug McCombs’s solo project, Brokeback; the percussion duo Les Batteries (see Critic’s Choice); and experimental singer-songwriter Sue Garner.
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ROY HARPER 9/19, ABBEY PUB Folk guitarist and songwriter Roy Harper, put out of commission intermittently by a circulatory disorder he claims to have contracted by giving mouth-to-mouth to a sheep (not true), has never quite gotten his due even from those who’ve heard his name dropped by Led Zeppelin or his ghostly lead vocal on Pink Floyd’s “Have a Cigar.” But over the decades he’s produced more than a dozen records of elegant, romantic, and sometimes downright visionary records, driven by a distinctly British eccentricity and a shameless, if ironic, sweetness. His latest, The Dream Society (Science Friction), borders on New Age sappiness in moments, particularly when he makes day-late-dollar-short observations like “It seems to me, admittedly from some distance, that many of the native North American people had achieved a personal level of spirituality unattained by the vast majority of those who suppressed them” in the liner notes. And yeah, his two-part paean to the erotic aspect of universal love, “Songs of Love,” is a bit of a reach. But as usual Harper’s sincerely spiritual good-humored weirdness–including the booklet, with its rambling narratives of how all the songs came to be–redeems him.
THREE DOLLAR BILL 9/19, CASA DE JOHANN There are a lot more factors contributing to the high suicide rate of gay and lesbian teens than just a dearth of pop-music role models–believe it or not, celebrity isn’t the cure for everything. What actually does seem to help is community, engaging activity, and possibly the good will and joyful noise of the band next door. This local mixed-gender “queertet,” which features veterans of the late Heterocide, can still work up to the nail-spitting rage of the former band, but for most of the tracks on its debut CD it chooses not to, opting instead for heartfelt and amiably sloppy indie pop that vents almost gently on topics like “Self-Loathing Queer,” “Retarded Drag Queen,” and “Must See T.V.” This afternoon’s “Queercore Round-up and Bring-Your-Own BBQ” also features Loraxx, the Prescriptions, and the Traitors; proceeds benefit the Chicago Metro Area Gay Youth Coalition.
