NEW ORLEANS JAZZ | Soggy Po’ Boys
Wed. Aug. 10
9 p.m.
Free
The Sparrow
Some bands might claim to be influenced by New Orleans, but the seven-piece outfit Soggy Po’ Boys has some serious Big Easy mojo involved in their creation. In fact, they formed on Mardi Gras in 2012. Their sound, which they call “New Orleans jazz served messy,” takes on traditional gospel (they cover “Old Rugged Cross” on their 2014 album Perhaps it is Time to Go Home), standards, and Dirty Dozen Brass Band-style second-line funk, all without the players getting in each other’s way musically. “As far as the original music that we write, a lot of the time whoever the composer is will bring something in that’s designed to leave a lot of room,” says Po’ Boys pianist Mike Effenberger. As for the band’s covers, well, they’re built for horn-heavy ensembles like this. “That stuff is designed for the musicians not to step on each other’s toes by virtue of the music itself,” Effenberger says. “There’s a lot of group interaction, so that makes it a lot of fun. Everybody in the band loves that stuff; that’s basically where all of our own stuff comes from.” —Vincent Harris WEDNESDAY
NOSTALGIC INDIE-POP | Sydney Eloise & The Palms
w/ ET Anderson, Mackie Boles Band
Fri. Aug 12
9 p.m.
$8
The Royal American
Sydney Eloise & the Palms are not just a revivalist band. The Atlanta sextet is nothing if not adept at flirting right on the line between the pop blueprints of the ’60s and the youthful snap of 2000s indie. Their debut album Faces pulls inspiration from Brian Wilson, Phil Spector’s girl groups, and Fleetwood Mac — all bound together with a Beatles-style infectiousness. But there’s also a cynical, modern pep and beachy-ness that lets the album share a seat with acts like Best Coast and Rilo Kiley. “There was a big effort to go beyond just being a pastiche or revival kind of thing,” the band says. “We wanted to use this classic-pop kind of formula as a starting point and expand on that palette where possible.” Sydney Eloise works with a sharp wit in her vocals, even when the song comes across as more chilled-out than wide-awake. Her lyrics highlight the joyful ideals of self-expression in the 1960s while still dishing out some, dare I say, disaffected, trademark millennial one-liners. “I’m not sorry for anything/ Want you to feel nothing,” Eloise sings in the tropical yet scathing track “Sorry, Not Sorry.” But underneath the nostalgia and style is a band hoping to create meaningful communication. “It’s really just a hopeful message about getting to the other side of what might seem like a major struggle at the time,” the band comments on the record. “We get to decide how we handle experiences, and we can choose to overcome them or let them control us.” —Graham Crolley FRIDAY
OLD-SCHOOL HIP-HOP | The Classics
Luis Skye w/ Damn Skippy, Little Stranger, Sheed Staggs, Preach Jacobs, Ryatt Fienix
Sat. Aug. 13
9 p.m.
$10
Pour House
Luis Skye is a founding member of the Holy City Hip-Hop Committee, along with Savage Souls, Bad Mojo, and Damn Skippy. Skye recently moved to Columbia, but his local connections run deep. And now he’s called on friends from here and Columbia to pay tribute to the music that’s influenced each artist: old-school hip-hop. “We’ll take everyone on a journey through where hip-hop came from — from where it all started and through the years,” says Skye, who’s both host and DJ. “On top of that, each artist will do a tribute of their favorite old-school hip-hop songs as well as perform some of their originals.” Besides the walk down music-memory lane, Skye wanted to organize a show that brought different types of artists from different backgrounds throughout South Carolina for this show. “I wanted to bring everybody together to form one big supergroup, so people can see the influence in that town,’” he says. Also representing Columbia are emcee Preach Jacobs, who’s helped bring such artists as A Tribe Called Quest to the capitol, and R&B singer RyattFienix, who got to go to Hollywood in recent months to compete in American Idol’s first round of eliminations. From Charleston, the show will feature hip-hop artists Little Stranger, Sheed Staggs, and Damn Skippy. Skye says, “We’re using everyone’s different talents, so if you don’t like one act, maybe you’ll like the next. We wanted to appeal to everybody — not just one group.” —Kelly Rae Smith SATURDAY
ANTHEMIC POP ROCK | The Specs
Sat. Aug. 13
9 p.m.
$5
Tin Roof
Anyone who’s a fan of full-throated, epic Queen-style rock ‘n’ roll will probably dig what Charleston’s the Specs are doing on their new EP, Signs of Life. Every song seems to try to outdo the previous one with anthemic choruses, mile-wide hooks, a massive-sounding choir of vocal harmonies, and layers of piano and guitar. It’s firmly rooted in classic-rock traditions, which is odd considering that the roots of the Specs are in more experimental music. “We started out pretty progressive,” says drummer Shawn Krauss. “But we realized eventually that it was maybe too progressive for what we were really trying to get out of our sound. We really like songwriting. We really wanted to put something together that’s lush and big and anthemic. There’s something timeless about that writing style that’s kind of gone by the wayside. I feel like what’s missing is bands striving to write timeless songs that stand up to the greats that we all grew up listening to. It’s about emotion — does the song do anything for you?” —Vincent Harris SATURDAY
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