Mousetrap at The Waiting Room, Aug. 16, 2013.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Coverage/review of Saturday’s Maha Music Festival will appear in my column in the upcoming issue of The Reader. For the record, it was a heckuva show. Check out the action photos below the Mousetrap review.

Mousetrap was a blast Friday night at The Waiting Room. As was the case last time they played here, the band sounds tighter than back in its ’90s hey-day. No doubt there are some obvious differences that come with 20-odd years of life experiences.

Their sound, while as bracing as ever, at times was cast in more subdued tones. The trio played a couple dark-throb numbers that ebbed and flowed like a tide coming in at midnight carrying a body floating face-down in the bay. Black and grisly and a bit creepy. But then again, there always has been something disturbing about frontman Patrick Buchanan. On stage he comes off like a punk version of a Brett Easton Ellis psychopath. Don’t look directly into his eyes.

Bassist Craig Crawford acts as sort of a buffer/cipher that keeps Buchanan from spinning out of control, though you know if things ever got heavy Craig would say, “Sorry, pal, you’re on your own.”

You can tell they’ve only just begun with drummer Colby Starck. A seasoned veteran, he still needs push it a couple notches to match former drummer Mike Mazolla’s ferocity. That’ll come with time.

My only gripe about Friday night was the set’s length — little more than 20 minutes with a three-song encore (that included a cover of Dead Boys’ “All This and More”). Buchanan promised more new material when Mousetrap returns, probably sometime during the holidays. There’s nothing quite like Christmas with Mousetrap…

Ron Wax was up before Mousetrap and judging by the comments made outside the venue you’d have thought it was the end world. I’ve known Ron Albertson for years both as the drummer of Mercy Rule and as a fine artist (I proudly have three Ron screenprints-on-canvas hanging on my walls). I caught the last two brutal songs of their set. It was loud, raucous, noisy, ham-fisted caterwaul rock, more than a little bit weird. Gritty and unbridled, but what did you expect? My reply to the guy who said he was going to gut-punch me if I called it genius: It ain’t genius, and it ain’t supposed to be.

* * *

Now onto some pictures from the Maha Music Festival this past Saturday…

The Thermals sort of got the crowd going. Theirs is a one-note punk style, but people love it. Those who expected moshing forgot where they were.

* * *

Criteria sounded louder (and better) on Maha’s “second stage” than the Thermals did on the main stage. Might have something to do with dynamics…?

* * *

Bob Mould for me and a lot of people was the cornerstone of this year’s festival. Lots of Sugar and new stuff and even “I Apologize.” What more do you want?

* * *

For the uninitiated, Digital Leather brought a modern garage aesthetic, along with lots of cool noise. 

* * *

Our lord and savior Wayne Coyne doing his thing atop a mountain of chrome embryos, fetus doll in hand. Great lights, droll music.

More on Maha Wednesday, I promise.

* * *

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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

With the excitement building like a firebomb for next Monday’s Thermals show at Slowdown Jr., the local media is dropping new interviews left and right.

The Thermals’ Kathy Foster.

The Reader‘s Chris Aponick has an interview with Thermals’ bassist Kathy Foster that recaps the band’s relationship with Saddle Creek and why they decided to go with Creek to put out their latest LP, Desperate Ground. Foster also talks about the genesis of the album’s creation, etc. You can read it online here.

OWH‘s Kevin Coffey also has an interview Foster that also talks about the band’s Saddle Creek history. You can read that one here.

I would have loved to find out why the band severed ties with Sub Pop and walked away from Kill Rock Stars — two labels that have similar reps as Saddle Creek (though Sub Pop is more established). Is there an advantage of being on one label vs. another? At this point in their career, do labels even matter? And why not try to self release? But maybe that’s too much “inside baseball.”

I’d also like to know what’s driving the band’s current direction. For that, go here to vulture.com, where you’ll find an interview with frontman/lyricist Hutch Harris, where he talks about Porlandia (“Portland’s had a lot of attention for a while but it hasn’t grown to the point where it sucks.“), love (“We’re not running from everyone, we are destroying the whole world. And to me that was really romantic.”) and, of course, war (“What people have to be most afraid of are other people, more than the weather, nature, animals. Men are the most violent, scariest things on the planet.”).

That’s the advantage of getting an interview with the person who actually wrote the lyrics — you get to find out what the record’s about. But as a long-time band interviewer, I know you generally don’t have a choice who you’re going to get to talk to, and if you’re in a small market like Omaha, you’re bound to get stuck with the bass player.

I miss doing band interviews. Unfortunately, I don’t have anyone to write them for anymore. Maybe I should just do them for Lazy-i?

* * *

In this week’s column, why I skipped Comic Book Day (even though I love comics) and why the future of printed comics may be going the way of vinyl records. You can read it in this week’s issue of The Reader or online right here.

* * *

Two hot shows are on the docket for tonight that I talked about Monday:

Over at The Waiting Room it’s the return of Maps & Atlases. Opening is St. Paul band Young Man (Frenchkiss Records). $12, 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, at fabulous O’leaver’s, Gordon plays with D.C. band Paperhaus. $5, 9:30 p.m.

I’m torn.

* * *

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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

A couple brief news items…

Yesterday Desaparecidos announced via twitter and on its website that they’ll be joining Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Alkaline Trio and a bunch of other bands at the Voodoo Arts and Music Festival in New Orleans Nov. 1. Ticket info here.

* * *

If you didn’t get in on the early bird deal to buy Maha Music Festival tickets you’re out of luck. All the discount and bundle packages have already sold out. Man, that was fast. Advance general admission tickets are still available for $45 (It’s $55 DOS).

* * *

The Thermals’ Saddle Creek Records debut, Desperate Ground, dropped today. Pitchfork, that all-knowing know-nothing arbiter of indie music taste posted its review of the record today as well, giving it a 5.0 rating (out of 10) — which is kinda/sorta not good. The review concludes:

“Perhaps the pileup of clichés and the numbed production is supposed to give Desperate Ground a meta context, that the endless body count has rendered Harris completely desensitized. But that’s a generous reading for an album that begins and ends with guns-blazin’ mission statements with plenty in between, so it’s more likely Desperate Ground is a failure to respond to the horror rather than an intention to reflect it.“

Ouch. By contrast, NME gave the album an 8.0 calling the it in its review “low-fi goodness.”

AllMusic.com gave the record a 4-out-of-5 star rating (here). While PopMatters also gave it an 8/10 rating.

What the f*** does Pitchfork know?

* * *

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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

News…

Des Moines’ 80-35 Music Festival announced what I assume is just part of their line-up for their July 5-6 gig. David Byrne/St. Vincent is good, so is Wu-Tang Clan, but I can’t believe that’s it for big names. They also announced Deerhunter, Yeasayer, Wavves, and old-school Iowa band House of Large Sizes, along with a handful more. Seems rather light for a festival that’s been around for 7 or 8 years… Keep watching their website.

* * *

Digital Leather announced on its website that it will be opening a handful of Cursive dates in June, including a June 23 gig at The Waiting Room. DL also is listed as playing The Holland Center June 7 — wait ’til you see who else is on that gig’s line-up.

* * *

Denver Dalley and his Mac, together again…

Denver Dalley, who you know from Desaparecidos, Har Mar Superstar and years of hanging around Omaha bars, announced yesterday that there’s a new Statistics album coming out June 25. It’s called Peninsula and is being released by Afternoon Records. Check out the release page and the first single from the album, below:

* * *

Finally, everyone’s favorite touchstone of indie rock pretension, Pitchfork, is hosting a full stream of the new Thermals album Desperate Ground right here. Can an 8.0 rating be far behind? (When it comes to the history between Pitchfork and Saddle Creek, don’t hold your breath…)

* * *

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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I never said in yesterday’s review whether or not Sunday’s Ty Segall show tanked. A glance at the crowd tells me there were twice as many people there on Sunday night than at Slow Burn’s Titus Andronicus show last year.

Sam Parker, who runs Slow Burn, said the show did “very well.” “There was over 100 in advance sales for (Sunday) night’s show alone,”  he said. Here’s hoping that was enough to cover Segall’s guarantee.

Slow Burn has another show tomorrow night at Slowdown (Corrections House featuring members of Neurosis, Eyehategod and Yakuza), and then three shows in March and April, including 2012 breakout artist The Men April 27 at The Slowdown.

* * *

Eli Mardock released the first track off the upcoming EP Hamburg yesterday. It’s the title track, but Mardock said the song’s unofficial title is “Middle Finger,” and that it is, indeed, autobiographical, which will be obvious to anyone who knows the back story. It’s also pretty frickin’ good. Check it out below and come back Thursday for an interview with Mardock about the “unorthodox” marketing behind his last EP.

* * *

Speaking of new music, The Thermals’ first single off their Saddle Creek debut, “Born to Kill,” went online yesterday. Check it out below. Desperate Ground comes out April 16 on Saddle Creek Records.

* * *

There’s a big Fat Tuesday show happening tonight at The Sydney featuring Universe Contest, Guilty Is the Bear and Low, Long Signal. $5, 9:30 p.m. More info here.

* * *

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.