DRUMS AND TUBA 8/31, EMPTY BOTTLE; 9/1, FIRESIDE BOWL These guys billed themselves as Just Drums and Tuba before adding a guitarist, who still seems a bit slighted. Really, this is a pretty dead-end way to name a band, no matter how unconventional the instrumentation–would Suicide have gotten anywhere as Keyboards and Voice? Would the Dirty Three have made it as Drums, Guitar, and Violin? Fortunately, they take the imagination they saved naming themselves and put it into their music: their latest LP, Vinyl Killer (coproduced by Ani DiFranco and released on her Righteous Babe label), jumps from restless party music, touching on Cajun and ska, to twitchy space rock. One song, “The Diagram,” is named in honor of Andy Diagram of Spaceheads–aka Drums and Trumpet–and while Drums and Tuba are still a long way from harnessing their antsy intellects to consistently inspiring music the way that duo does, good taste in heroes is always a bonus. On these odd but potentially effective bills, Unwound headlines and XBXRX (see Critic’s Choice) opens. ASHTRAY BOY 9/1, THE HIDEOUT Intercontinental and downright incontinent when it comes to retaining a permanent lineup, this American-Australian indie-pop group has perhaps seen better days in terms of consistent playing-together. But it’s never released better records than There’s Your Heart and The King’s Buccaneer, where leader Randall Lee’s pretty but biting tunes add dark hints of smart, subterranean life to a genre that’s been declared dead many times over. Both were recorded piecemeal over the years with various combinations of ten people, including Sabalon Glitz’s Carla Bruce (now Mrs. Carla Bruce-Lee). Both were released by the German label Bouncing in 2000 but have yet to be issued domestically. For the band’s California shows, longtime stateside member Dave Trumfio will join them, but for the Chicago gig the lineup is just the Lees and local drummer Geoff Greenberg. JAMES BROWN 9/3, AFRICAN FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS I’m going to assume I don’t have to explain who James Brown is. It’s been years since the Godfather of Soul has publicly sweat-slicked a stage inside the city limits, and this outdoor gig, closing out the 12th annual African Festival of the Arts in Washington Park, costs only $8. But you might want to spring for the $25 weekend pass, which is still a steal: other probable highlights of the four-day fest include Senegalese superstar Baaba Maal, Nigerian highlife bandleader Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe, and Burkina Faso griots Badenya–Les Freres Coulibaly (see Critics’ Choices), plus
