UNDERGROUND DISCO | OFF//BEAT
w/ SANKY, Party Dad, and J.A.Z.
Fri. Aug. 14
9:30 p.m.
Free
Faculty Lounge
Low on dough, but looking to boogie? Off-the-beaten-path DJs Party Dad and J.A.Z. put their heads together to create OFF//BEAT, a special night of vinyl-spun tunes to help folks let go of life’s stresses and get down. “It’s a dance party for people who like to dance but are tired of top 40 stuff,” says OFF//BEAT co-founder Tay McNabb, a.k.a. Party Dad. “J.A.Z. and I are both really into underground alternative dance music, but there was nothing like this in Charleston.” The next event will also feature a special guest from New York City, a DJ by the name of SANKY. “He’s a well-respected fellow in our little music circle,” McNabb says. “He plays a lot of obscure, deep-digging disco.” You can also catch Party Dad’s show on theFix.fm as he takes listeners into the Land of the Good Groove every Tuesday, 8-10 p.m. —Kaleb Eisele FRIDAY
INDIE-ROCK SOUL | Adia Victoria
w/ FALINE
Tues. Aug. 18
10 p.m.
$10
Tin Roof
Last summer, singer/songwriter Adia Victoria released her debut single, Stuck In The South. The song is a swaggering stomp that throws fuzz-coated bass, a slithering guitar riff, and juke-joint rhythms underneath Victoria’s striking voice, which somehow converts the scattered jazziness of Macy Gray into something more ominous and dark. It was a stunning debut that caught the attention of everyone from Rolling Stone to NPR and Garden & Gun. Originally from the Upstate, Victoria’s recent recognition hasn’t changed her everyday world. “It’s nice that people are paying attention to my work, but as far as my day-to-day life, I still go to work and I still live at home with my mom,” Victoria says. “It’s been an interesting process to have all this national attention but not have my life really change all that much. I’m grateful for it — it keeps me grounded.” The two subsequent singles Victoria has released are quite different from Stuck in the South. “Howlin’ Shame” is an atmospheric mid-tempo song that layers Victoria’s vocals on top of each other in ragged harmony, and “Sea Of Sand” is a more direct, heavy-on-the-drums track that flirts with waltz. Victoria says that she’s guided not by a certain sound or style in her songwriting but by emotion. “I don’t really know much of the vernacular of production,” she says. “I’m not very technically versed in the studio or effects. I have to depend on the mood I’m trying to convey or the mood I was in when I wrote the song. That’s how I go about deciding how I want the song to sound, by figuring out how it feels.” —Vincent Harris TUESDAY
JAZZY IMPROV | The Lost Trophy Quintet
Thurs. Aug. 13
9 p.m.
$5
Royal American
The Lost Trophy Quintet is a recently formed combination of four local jazz-trained musicians. “We’ve been playing together in various music situations for a long time, but several months ago Ron Wiltrout [drummer] threw together a band with friends to play at Royal American, and this was the band. The four of us literally had no preparation,” says saxophone player Michael Quinn. “Our whole concept is musical conversation and improvisation. It’s just like having a conversation in any language. If there are good listeners and good contributors, then it can be good on any level.” With no rehearsals and no predefined set, the songs played on stage are all written on the spot, adding a sense of authenticity amidst nervous energy. The group, which also includes Sam Sfirri and George Baerreis, hails from a jazz background but is not defined by one specific genre. Styles vary from heavy rock to funk to “Radiohead-ish stuff.” Quinn compares the show atmosphere to five really good friends together in a room. “We are playing songs, not just a bunch of bologna. We are trying to write really good sounding songs with direction and harmony,” he says. “We are doing our best to do justice to the language of music and not trying to necessarily be showmen. This is experimental, so there’s nothing to conform to, nothing you have to adhere to, except respect for each other and for the conversation.” So how is a four-member band a quintet? According to the group, the fifth member is a “sacrificial virgin leopard.” So, there’s that. —Kalyn Oyer THURSDAY
STONER-POP ROCK | Colleen Green
w/ Elim Bolt and Tape Waves
Tues. Aug. 18
8 p.m.
$5
King Dusko
Los Angeles nostalgic indie-pop artist Colleen Green began releasing singles in 2010, with her first LP Milo Goes to Compton hitting the shelves in 2011. This year, Green dropped her third record I Want to Grow Up, an energetic, glittering collection of love songs combining pop punk, riff-heavy ’90s stoner rock, and ’60s girl-group melodies — a medley of sound that’s somehow perfect considering it’s coming from a city so historically important to rock ‘n’ roll, punk, and vocal harmonies in general. Green worked with a few friends to make the new record, including JEFF the Brotherhood’s Jake Orrall as well as Casey Weissbuch from Diarrhea Planet. Signed to Seattle’s Hardly Art records, 30-year-old Green recorded I Want to Grow Up over the course of 10 days at Sputnick Sound in Nashville. You can grab a digital or limited-edition clear wax copy with blue/pink swirl on colleengreen.bandcamp.com. Tuesday’s gig is an all-ages show. —Kelly Rae Smith TUESDAY
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