Thursday2
Scissor Sisters
Friday3
David Boykin Expanse
Saturday4
Tambours Sans Frontieres
Sunday5
Dum Dum Girls
Monday6
Dollyrots Cancelled
Wednesday8
Rhys Chatham, Bill OrcuttRich Corpolongo TrioMichael Rother’s Hallogallo 2010Tambours Sans Frontieres
friday3
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DAVID BOYKIN EXPANSE Saxophonist David Boykin has long embraced a fiercely independent ethos—he releases his own recordings, books his own concerts, and plays only as a bandleader. (The exception: he’ll be a sideman to his partner, jazz flutist Nicole Mitchell.) Unfortunately, that MO has prevented him from getting more widespread recognition. The new Ultra Sheen (on Boykin’s Sonic Healing Ministries label) is his first proper album since 2003 (he released a few CD-Rs in the interim) and the first recording I’ve heard where he incorporates rapping the way he does live. His dry, syllable-crammed flow reminds me a bit of the late rapper Guru, but the music’s not hip-hop flavored with jazz like Gang Starr—it’s jazz flavored with hip-hop. Boykin’s sturdy original tunes leave plenty of space for his rhymes; pianist Jim Baker, bassist Joshua Abrams, and drummer Mike Reed bang out cycling grooves as Mitchell improvises accents and lines that nicely interact with Boykin’s delivery. His lyrics are as complex as his solos, and not at all constrained by bar lines. The second half of the album offers some extended, instrumental versions of the same tracks, with crisp performances and lovely arrangements that recall David Murray’s primo 80s work on Black Saint Records. This album-release performance is part of Boykin’s annual Hereafter Fest; Sam Jewell fills in for Reed on drums. The Alex Wing Group opens. 10 PM, Heaven Gallery, 1550 N. Milwaukee, second floor, heavengallery.com, donation requested. —Peter Margasak
DOLLYROTS Cancelled. The two guys and one girl in this California trio say in their bio that they quit school and left the Sunshine State for LA when Bush won that 2000 Florida court case, out of a pre-Apocalyptic drive to carpe diem. But what comes out of their amps is pop punk that vibrates with joy. Their third full-length, A Little Messed Up (on Joan Jett’s Blackheart label), is grittier in places than its predecessors but maintains a pure and ardent Riff Randall-like devotion to the genre that harks back to a more innocent Rock ‘n’ Roll High School age. Singer Kelly Ogden even maintains her perkiness during a star turn as a murder victim on the less ingenuous CSI: New York—that fluff is woven with steel. Ramova, the Cathy Santonies, and Faggy Pussy open. Cancelled. 9 PM, Abbey Pub, 3420 W. Grace, 773-463-5808 or 866-468-3401, $12, $10 in advance. —Monica Kendrick
The Rhys Chatham Trio headlines; John Wiese and Bill Orcutt open. This concert kicks off the festival Adventures in Modern Music. Orcutt also plays a free in-store at noon at Reckless Records, 1532 N. Milwaukee. 7:30 PM, Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago, 312-280-2660 or 773-276-3600, $20, $18 members, $10 students. —Peter Margasak
