Good news for all of you whose friends went home and left you for the summer: Chapel Hill’s fun level might be seasonal, but good local music is perennial.
Summer in the Triangle is a great time to see the acts that don’t attract the usual collegiate crowd.
Haven’t been to the Cave or Local 506 yet? Support your local artist community and catch a show for less than $10 on the weekend.
Birds and Arrows | Local 506 (May 7): Andrea and Pete Connolly of Birds and Arrows are two of the Triangle’s nicest, most down-to-earth musicians. If it’s not clear from their joyous yet polite stage presence, check out their album.
With a warm cello and a gently strummed guitar, Birds and Arrows’ music is soft and melodic. A Saturday night at Local 506 will celebrate the band’s newest album, We’re Gonna Run.
Make sure you pick up some homemade merchandise – from hand-sewn album sleeves to hand-painted t-shirts, Birds and Arrows has truly unique swag for its fans.
Gray Young and Justin & the Mary Annettes open. 9 p.m., $8
Mugu Guymen | Nightlight (May 16): If you’re looking for a band you truly haven’t heard before, weird doesn’t even begin to describe Mugu Guymen. Its live show is an improvisational barrage of atonal, distorted guitars stuck in a feedback loop. Shrieking pitch swoops are barely heard under the constant crash of symbols. If Hell ever needed a theme song, Mugu Guymen might perform it.
Opener Clang Quartet carries only a slight misnomer – the one-man band might be three members short of a quartet, but Scotty Irving constructs a full-bodied sound with his bizarre homemade instruments.
