Music Calendar

Friday May 7

Same As It Ever Was w/ Goldenrod & Allana Fugate

Cosmic Charlie’s. $8. Doors @ 8pm, show @ 9pm. 21+

Same As It Ever Was loves playing here in Lexington, where their crowds for some reason are bigger than in any other city the band passes through. SAIEW is a Talking Heads cover band that gets its name from the song “Once In A Lifetime.” (If you haven’t seen the video for that song you’re missing out.) The band does a spot-on job of covering the Heads and have put on a reliably consistent show for years. If you look away from the stage during their set you might think you’re at a real Talking Heads concert.

Equally exciting, the evening’s bill will also feature the performance of Goldenrod, one of the hottest up-and-coming local bands around. Combining 70s funk and R&B, Goldenrod make intoxicatingly lush boogie-down music just oozing with trippy soul. It’s heady enough that even if you don’t dance you’ll still enjoy getting down to their psychedelic vibe. After seeing them play at Institute 193 during Gallery Hop in April, I’m not so sure they shouldn’t be headlining this show.

Tuesday May 11

Sugar & Gold w/ The Seedy Seeds and Goldenrod

Buster’s. Doors @ 8pm, show @ 9pm. $7. 18+

Sugar & Gold are the poor man’s Hot Chip. They’re getting bigger and bigger these days, as evidenced by this Buster’s gig coming only 7 months after a moderately attended Cosmic Charlie’s gig. It still seems like a lot of people haven’t heard of them yet, but Sugar & Gold are touring in support of a new album and looking to get hot this summer on the laurels of their decadent, poppy lounge/electronica act. This is your chance to see if they’re worth the hype—or to pretend you’re at a Hot Chip show. In what is a theme this issue, Goldenrod opens!

Thursday May 13

WRFL Presents Growing w/ Three Legged Race & Palaks

Al’s. Doors @ 9pm. $5 All Ages.

Having made their name as a loud, noisy, drone-loving trio, Growing have made their mission as artists living up to their name. When they relocated to Brooklyn from Washington in 2004, their music took a turn toward more ambient, textural work (sans drummer), relying on guitar and organ loops processed so heavily there was no way you could tell what instrument you were hearing.

Subsequent releases have made it difficult to pin down just what Growing sounds like: with each release, they shift gears. Last year the band grew back into a trio, bringing in I.U.D.’s Sadie Laska for vocals and sampling duties. The addition has sent the band in a completely different direction, toward electronica.

Growing has recently signed to Vice Records, who released their new album, Pumps!, on April 6. The album is Growing’s most rhythmic and accessible record to date, making their Lexington gig one that should hold a strong crossover appeal for those comfortable with experimental music but afraid of anything associated with noise. While I’m hoping for more Pumps! material in their set, I can’t be certain what Growing will present because they’re always Growing, always doing something different. If past gigs are any indicator, it will be extremely loud.

Thursday May 13

Man Man

Cosmic Charlie’s. Doors @ 8pm. $12 for 21+, $15 for 18+

Returning for the first time since last Halloween’s sold out Fall Ball at Buster’s, Man Man finally bring their vaudeville Captain Beefheart impersonation to Cosmic Charlie’s this month, a new venue for a band familiar with Lexington crowds. Considering they’ve toured the country several times since selling out the original Dame years ago, including a headlining spot at Louisville’s Forecastle last summer, I think it’s safe to say that Charlie’s is one of the smallest venues you’ll get to see Man Man play these days. Fortunately, they’re a band that’s best experienced in a smaller venue because much of their act hinges on the expression, intensity, and interplay of bandmembers.

I’ve written 5 pieces about Man Man over the last 4 years and I don’t feel like repeating myself, so I’ll just say a) they’re probably going to be playing new material and b) you won’t be disappointed. Get there early though, because this one’s likely to sell out.