*** Well, it's still hot, the air's still dirty, and we're still here. It's the summer dead zone but there are a few random gigs happening this week that could be worth a look if you're cool with leaving your AC for a few hours... *** First up is The Aristocrats at Mao on Wednesday. The Aristocrats is a supergroup formed in 2011 by a trio of session musicians with such heavy bona fides as sharing studio / stage time with Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Mike Keneally (Frank Zappa), Adrian Belew, UKZ, and more. In other words: gets proggy. Very fusiony. Technical. Precise. Like the musical equivalent of a very delicate surgery or something. They released their second album, Culture Clash, about a year ago. Here's one off that: Spicy. Jazzy. A little... crunchy? Not sure who's doing this show, but there are like 1,000 logos on the flyer so it looks pretty legit. Oh look, our logo's there too. (Grip your 180rmb pre-sale ticket here.) That's Wednesday night at Mao, starts at 8pm and they'll probably only play like a 4-hour set I'm guessing, so you can get home at a decent hour. *** Next up: on Friday, XP hosts award-winning Indian novelist and songwriter — and current M literary resident — Jeet Thayil for a special performance of his nomadic music project, Still Dirty. Jeet is originally from Kerala, India, with time spent in Hong Kong, New York, Delhi, Bombay, and many places in between. His debut novel Narcopolis — a hard, semi-autobiographical look at the ca. 1980s Bombay opium scene and its socio-economic context — was shortlisted for the 2012 Man Booker Prize. Pretty heavy read, that one. Jeet's been on the book tour trail since that one dropped. He formed Still Dirty while in Berlin in 2013, and it has popped up in various manifestations around the world since then. This gives the general picture of what Still Dirty's all about: So, Jeet is in the middle of his M on the Bund residency down in Shanghai, but he's taking the gaotie up for the weekend to drop some tunes on Bejing. Because Shanghai's simply not dirty enough. He plays on Friday night at XP with Hot & Cold (they have that India connection too, you know), Little Punk, and the super-minimal experimental improv duo of Chui Wan's Liu Xinyu and Yan Yulong. *** One more worth a shout-out this week: D.O.G.'s two-year anniversary on Saturday at Yugong. D.O.G., if you're not familiar, is the loose cabal of punk dudes responsible booking for about 80% of School Bar's shows, including that epic Punk It Spring festival in April. I've given them a fair amount of ink before, catch up here. Saturday's anniversary party gives a comprehensive snapshot of what D.O.G.'s all about: boosting ex-Joyside members' new projects (Bian Yuan, Casino Demon), pulling bands from different corners of the fractured indie rock scene who wouldn't otherwise meet onto the same stage (Da Bang, Snapline), and giving a leg up to younger bands who've cut their teeth at smaller clubs — usually School, at D.O.G. gigs (Heat Mark, Secret Club). Here's an example of the latter, Secret Club, playing at that Sound Stage show last year: So yeah, solid rock bill on Saturday night, celebrating one of the hardest working crews in the game. That's Saturday at Yugong and will run you 100 kuais at the door. *** Recap: The Aristocrats = Wednesday, August 6 @ Mao Livehouse Jeet Thayil: Still Dirty = Friday, August 8 @ XP D.O.G. 2 Year Anniversary = Saturday, August 9 @ Yugong Yishan