Live Review: Built to Spill, Lee Ranaldo; Electric Chamber Orchestra needs your help; FUZZ (Ty Segall) tonight…

Category: Blog,Reviews — Tags: , , — @ 12:57 pm October 21, 2013
Built to Spill at The Waiting Room, Oct. 18, 2013.

Built to Spill at The Waiting Room, Oct. 18, 2013.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I received the following message via my Twitter page after last Friday night’s Built to Spill  show at The Waiting Room:

“So what B2S showed up tonight? Jam or album?

My answer: “The album version. The hits. The best B2S set that I’ve seen.”

In fact, last week’s nearly sold-out show edged its way to the top of my list of Omaha B2S shows. Doug Martsch and company played a sharp, measured set that combined the best songs from his classic albums with heavy stuff from the band’s latest. Martsch was in particularly good voice (Is it me or is his voice getting higher as he gets older?) and the band was tight as a tic. The best part, there were virtually no extended jams or drawn-out noodling like we got the last couple times B2S came through town. Instead, it was bam-bam-bam from song to song.

The high point was the encore. Forget about “Cortez the Killer,” instead Martsch rolled out a lush version of The Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now,” (complete with the trademark tremolo guitar effect). Knowing that he likely whetted our appetite for classic ’80s post-punk, he followed with a bouncing version of New Order’s “Age of Consent” before closing with his own B2S classic “Car.”
The full setlist is here.

Lee Ranaldo and the Dust at The Waiting Room, Oct. 18, 2013.

Lee Ranaldo and the Dust at The Waiting Room, Oct. 18, 2013.

Just as solid was the opening set by Lee Ranaldo and The Dust. Like I said last week, this is as close as you’re going to get to Sonic Youth around here (including Steve Shelley on drums as a member of The Dust). Ranaldo’s music is akin to the more melodic, psychedelic stuff from SY, and featured some amazing guitar solos held together with a tight rhythm section. Gorgeous, dense rock songs, beautifully played. If you haven’t already, seek out Ranaldo’s solo stuff on Matador.

I expect this show will be on my personal “best of ’13” list…

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Rock band Electric Chamber Orchestra (members of Gus & Call and McCarthy Trenching) is playing a set tonight at Pageturners. It’s a warm-up of sorts for a brief Boston tour the band is launching this Thursday. Actually, the band will be providing the “thematic accompaniment” to a couple Boston performances of Mac Wellman’s Wu World Woo.

One problem: The band needs cash for air fare, gas, food and lodging. That’s why they’ve launched an Indiegogo page to raise money to support the tour (Indiegogo is just like Kickstarter). The premiums are pretty sweet, and include McCarthy Trenching vinyl and unreleased Gus & Call material.

Get in the action NOW — There’s less than 48 hours left in the campaign.

Also tonight (and I don’t know how it sneaked up on me, I swear I didn’t see it on the One Percent Productions calendar before last week) FUZZ plays at The Waiting Room with CCR Headcleaner. FUZZ is Ty Segall and Charlie Moothart (of Ty Segall’s band). They’re touring in support of their self-titled debut album (out now on In The Red), which is amazing. This ain’t a Ty Segall concert per se, but it’s just as good. $10, 9 p.m.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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