SOUNDTRACK ROCK | Carnaval
w/ Sleepy Eye Giant, An Era of Echoes
Sat. July 27
9 p.m.
$5
Royal American
For quite some time, Carnaval has been labeled an instrumental band. Lord knows we here at the City Paper have done it on more than one occasion. However, that label is just flat out wrong. Our bad. Yes, the Charleston-based band — Josh Pike (guitar-keyboards-vocals), Andrew Pike (guitar), Sean Fentross (bass-guitar), and Tom Gorecki (drums)— knows how to craft a solid Godspeed-style instrumental (see “Soft Kill” off of their new EP Say the Bells), but they aren’t afraid to sing a few lines (see “Clairaudience,” which doesn’t add lyrics until the final minute of the song). “Lyrics can be really cheesy,” says Josh Pike. “We like to think of the voice as more of an instrument.” And that they do on Say the Bells, a seven-song collection of moody, rain-soaked tracks. However, Pike says that there’s a beauty to the gloom. Case in point: the third song on the EP, “Apology.” Although it features a fabulously dreary, elegiac violin-guitar combo, Pike says, “It’s supposed to be uplifting in a real way,” much like how a sad movie is often a cathartic experience. “Apology” is also a pretty killer track that’s straight out of the Doug Martsch handbook. Be on the lookout for these guys. They’ve got the goods. —Chris Haire SATURDAY
WEEN TRIBUTE | Same As It Ever Was
Fri. July 26
9 p.m.
$10/adv.,$12/door
Pour House
Ween’s 1994 release Chocolate and Cheese was the high-water mark for the now-defunct band. And with good reason. Chocolate and Cheese bounces from one genre to the next, from the soul jam of “Spirit of ’76” to the pop balladry of “Baby Bitch” and the carnie rock of “The HIV Song.” And while the band is often heralded for their truly bizarre sense of humor, they’re top-notch musicians too (just listen to Dean Ween wail away on the guitar-god classic “A Tear for Eddie”). The guys in the Talking Heads cover band Same As It Ever Was know this, which is why they’ll be playing a set of Ween covers during their Friday night show at the Pour House (the band is also playing a Talking Heads-only gig at the Pour House the following night). “Many of us have been fans of theirs for 15-20 years now, and in light of the fact that the band will likely never share the stage together again, we thought it would be appropriate to tip our hats to this band that attacked its craft with reckless abandon and no apologies,” says Same’s main man Curtis Geren. “We honestly have no idea whether it will go over or not but are willing to take the chance.” Consider our fingers crossed. —Chris Haire FRIDAY
FLIP-FLOP ROCK | Citizen Cope
Wed. July 24
9 p.m.
$25
Music Farm
Hip-hop folk-soul rocker Clarence Green is better known by his stage name, Citizen Cope, and thanks to songs like “Pablo Picasso” and “Bullet and a Target” — not to mention his laid-back vibes, Jamaican influences, heavy beats, and stellar lyrics — Green has earned a following among flip-flop rock fans, the jam-band circuit, and white-boy reggae aficionados. This week Green and his Citizen Cope cohorts will swing by the Music Farm as part of their summer East Coast tour. Citizen Cope is touring in support of his most soulful album yet, One Lovely Day. Without a doubt, this latest LP is likely to compose a significant portion of his set-list at the Music Farm. And if we had our druthers, Citizen Cope would play “Southern Nights,” where Green trades in the banging drumbeats for the tender piano. Oh, and the killer cover he did of Radiohead’s “Karma Police” from the Radiodread album. —Kalyn Oyer WEDNESDAY
GOOF ROCK | Barenaked Ladies
w/ Ben Folds Five
and GusterSat. July 27
7 p.m.
$21.50-$95.50
Family Circle Stadium
We may have proven the Mayans wrong when we managed to make it through 2012 without the world coming to end, but it’s time to get ready for round two of the impending apocalypse because the “Last Summer on Earth” is coming. Of course, that’s the name of a tour featuring the Barenaked Ladies, Ben Folds Five, and Guster, and not something that’s actually going to happen — at least we hope. Either way, the Barenaked Ladies, Ben Folds, and Guster are YOLO-ing it up (seriously, they better not know something we don’t). These days the Barenaked Ladies are probably more well known for the theme song to The Big Bang Theory and their 2004 Christmas album instead of their hits “Brian Wilson,” “If I Had a Million Dollars,” and “One Week,” but they still have a legion of fans who love their on-stage shenanigans and their pop-hooky sing-alongs. —Kalyn Oyer SATURDAY
Help keep the City Paper free.
No paywalls.
No subscription cost.
Free delivery at 800 locations.
Help support independent journalism by donating today.
