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cvelcro lewis & his 100 proof band, tijuana hercules You don’t need to nose around in the Fat Possum trough to find jumpy, fierce, dirty blues rock that sounds like somebody put too much turpentine in the barbecue sauce: two of Chicago’s most underrated party bands are combining forces for a 500-copy split 12-inch on Original Sound Recordings and a release party that ought to lift the roof off the joint (which at the Hideout admittedly doesn’t take much). VELCRO LEWIS & HIS 100 PROOF BAND have evolved over the years from a simple and solid PBR rock band into a rattling, trippy, fuzz-toned R & B six-piece where instruments get passed around like bottles. Meanwhile, John Forbes’s junkyard-dog combo TIJUANA HERCULES just keeps on getting better at what it’s always been good at, namely finding a skanky, swampy groove and beating it till it cries for its mama. It’s as mesmerizing as minimalism but a whole lot sweatier, and even the hallucinations thus induced have trouble competing with Forbes’s endless assortment of pimpwear. On the question of which front man acts more like a demon-possessed wino onstage, the jury’s been out for a long, long time. Lewis and co. headline, Tijuana Hercules plays second, Dark Fog opens, and Naomi Walker spins. a 10 PM, Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia, 773-227-4433 or 866-468-3401, $7. –Monica Kendrick

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cjohnny drummer The latest from veteran Chicago blues journeyman Johnny Drummer, Rockin’ in the Juke Joint (Earwig), is his most satisfying album yet. He throws his hat into the contemporary soul-blues ring on funk-driven numbers like “Too Much Information,” but when he picks up his harmonica things get down-home in a hurry. On “Working With Your Mojo,” “Stress Reliever,” and “I Had a Dream,” Drummer squalls, swoops, and caterwauls like a demented rooster. He isn’t above appropriating well-worn riffs and themes, but in the great juking tradition he puts so much of his own personality into everything he touches that even the most tried-and-true ideas are practically reborn. The last time I saw Drummer, his chops (on keys and harp) were more than up to par, and his tight backing band, the Starliters, already had several of the new songs down. Leroy “Junkyard Dog” Jones, Peachez, and the Arkansas Belly Roller open. See also Monday. a 10 PM, Lee’s Unleaded Blues, 7401 S. South Chicago, 773-493-3477, two-drink minimum. F –David Whiteis

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curi caine Over the past decade jazz pianist Uri Caine has established a niche for himself that might seem like a gimmick if inhabited by a less formidable talent. Since 1997’s Primal Light, a unique and beguiling take on the music of Mahler, he’s used compositions by Bach, Schumann, Wagner, and Beethoven as the basis for radical fusions that both honor the original material and reinvent it–sometimes by merely tinkering with the feel of a piece, sometimes by smashing it into fragments that serve as building blocks for improvisations. The new Uri Caine Ensemble Plays Mozart (Winter & Winter) continues in this vein with stellar results. Playing solo on selections from the Piano Sonata in C Major, Caine seems to have internalized the work entirely–he toys with the rhythm like a cat with a ball of yarn. Just as impressive are the group performances: guitarist Nguyen Le, turntablist DJ Olive, and drummer Jim Black scream, scratch, and stutter their way through some of Mozart’s most beloved melodies, shuttling in and out of the source material with razorlike precision. For tonight’s program, called “Mozart to Mahler,” Caine will participate in a discussion with U. of C. faculty and then, in his first local appearance as a leader since 2000, perform with violinist Joyce Hammann, clarinetist Moran Katz, trumpeter Ralph Alessi, bassist Drew Gress, and drummer Ben Perowsky. a 7 PM, Mandel Hall, University of Chicago, 1131 E. 57th, 773-702-8069 or 773-702-8080, $5-$15. A –Peter Margasak

THUNDERBIRDS ARE NOW! Struggling for an identity and maybe hoping to stumble into one, this quirky Detroit-area punk-pop band continues to rummage through an early-80s grab bag on its third album, Make History (Frenchkiss): solid hooks and melodies flail around in a sea of jangly guitars, cheeseball vintage synths, and unconvinced vocals. The occasional bursts of energy don’t always seem to belong in the song they’re in, but at least that energy is real and infectious–by the Thunderbirds’ next record all this may look like steps in the right direction. The Oxford Collapse and the Narrator open. a 9 PM, Subterranean, 2011 W. North, 773-278-6600 or 800-594-8499, $10, 18+. –Monica Kendrick