Welcome to Lazy-i, an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news.
The focus is on the indie music scene. Yes, there’s a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area, but Lazy-i also offers interviews, stories and reviews about national indie bands.
Most of the feature stories and columns in Lazy-i will have previously been published in The Reader, Omaha’s monthly alternative newspaper.
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
Tickets for the Maha Festival go on sale this morning at 10 a.m. The pricing for the one-day event Aug. 2 at Heartland of America Park/RiverFront, according to the etix website:
What do you get for the VIP? Access to the following “exclusive amenities”:
In my personal experience, the VIP tickets are worth the additional $40, especially if you dig the line-up and intend to be there all day. Unlike past Maha Festivals, this 6-band bill will bring people to the park early and keep them all day.
Read more about the line-up in yesterday’s blog post, and get yer tickets at mahafestival.com.
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If you missed out on tickets to that long sold-out Riley Kiley show slated for Sept. 17 at The Astro, you’re in luck. Mammoth Productions announced this morning that they’re moving the show to the larger Astro Amphitheater. Purchased General Admission tickets from indoors will now be honored for General Admission Lawn Access outdoors. Reserved seats from indoors will be relocated to seats in Sections 101-107 outdoors. Hope it doesn’t rain.
As a result, tickets are again on sale for this show.
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This will be a quick weekend look ahead as only one show is on my radar. Two Chicago-based post-metal instrumental bands are playing at Slowdown tonight.
The trio Russian Circles has been at it since 2004 and made a big splash with their 2008 album Station (Suicide Squeeze) that kinda/sorta defined a high-energy post-rock style more driving and less cinematic than, say, a band like Mogwai. They carry on guitar-fueled noise rock on their latest album, Gnosis (2022, Sargent House). Head-waggin’ metal instrumentals, too smart and fast for the doomies out there.
Chicago brethren Pelican is more of the same – buzzing metal instrumentals, though from my casual listening seems to have more variety and “wandering” in their compositions. As such, they’ve been thrown into every loud category, from post-metal to stoner to doom. The two tracks from their new album, Flickering Resonance (out this May on Run for Cover Records), actually have a post-grunge vibe. Lots o’ “post-s” with these bands.
Both bands with have room to roam on Slowdown’s main room stage. 8 p.m. $34.50.
And that’s all I got. Pretty quiet around here these days. Things are looking up in April, though. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend.
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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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
The line-up for the 2025 Maha Festival was announced late yesterday afternoon and it may be their best line-up ever: Pixies, Waxahatchee, Band of Horses, Magdalena Bay, Silversun Pickups and local heroes Little Brazil.
There have been accusations that I had inside knowledge of the line-up prior to the announcement, based upon my Feb. 24 predictions, but nothing could be further from the truth. It was simply a matter of deduction. Pixies have always been a favorite of the folks who ran the now-defunct Outlandia Festival — all of whom are now involved in Maha. Pixies’ tour schedule also had a nice hole on Aug. 2, which happens to be Maha’s date.
Formed in 1986 but active throughout most of the 2000s, many (including myself) have argued Pixies was the most important post-punk band of the ‘80s whose sound heavily influenced Nirvana and spawned the grunge era, pulling indie rock out of the underground and onto the pop charts.
Three of the band’s original members remain: Black Francis, Joey Santiago and David Lovering, with Emma Richardson taking over the bass chores from Kim Deal. The band’s latest, The Night the Zombies Came, was released last October on BMG.
The last time Pixies was scheduled to play Omaha was an oudoor gig at The Waiting Room, Sept. 16, 2021 – a show that was cancelled along with the rest of the band’s tour that year, likely due to COVID issues. Prior to that, you have to go all the way back to September 2010 when the band played The Orpheum Theatre. So, their return is a long time coming.
My prediction that Waxahatchee could be at this’ year’s festival was more of a wish. The band – one of my favorites – has avoided Omaha since the pandemic. The last time they played Nebraska was Lincoln Calling back in 2018. Prior to that, they played The Waiting Room way back in 2014. Their latest album, Tigers Blood, came out in March 2024 on Anti- and their due for a new LP, hopefully this year.
Band of Horses played the inaugural Outlandia Festival back in 2022. Their 2006 album, Everything All the Time (Sub Pop), contains the indie hit “The Funeral,” which has almost half a billion plays on Spotify. Their latest LP, Things Are Great (2024, BMG), continues along their dreamy, indie-jangle path.
Electro-pop duo Magdalena Bay just played The Waiting Room last September, supporting their then just-released Imaginal Disk (Mom+Pop Records). Some folks online have commented that this year’s Maha line-up more resembles an Outlandia festival, but Magdalena Bay definitely targets the younger audience drawn to past Maha fests.
Silversun Pickups should be very familiar to Omaha audiences. They just played here last April at The Admiral. Before that, they played at Slowdown in 2021, Stir Cove in 2013, Sumtur Amphitheater in 2012, Sokol Auditorium (now Admiral) in 2009, and Slowdown in 2007.
Finally, it only seems right that the Omaha band that kicked off the Maha Music Festival way back in August 2009 at Lewis & Clark Landing – Little Brazil – open this year’s festival at its new RiverFront location in Heartland of America Park.
That’s a strong line-up for a one-day festival that many feared may not return after the 2024 event was “paused.” Among the reasons given at the time: “…the worldwide festival industry has faced an unprecedented increase in costs for talent, transportation, labor, security and insurance.” There were other issues as well, including personnel changes in the Maha organization.
And now it’s back, arguably better than ever. No word yet on ticket prices, but we’ll find out when they go on sale Friday.
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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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
I’m back from my short vacation – spring ball in Clearwater Florida. Not much to say music-wise except I experienced a plethora of music styles (primarily Latin/dance/retro hip-hop) while riding in various Ubers/Lifts in and around Tampa. Can you imagine climbing into an Uber and the driver is playing The Faint?
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Speaking of The Faint, the band’s frontman, Todd Fink, has been doing a media tour of sorts in support of the “deluxe” rerelease of Blank-Wave Arcade and Wet From Birth (and the band’s upcoming tour). Among the articles:
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At least know The Faint won’t be playing this year’s Maha Festival (because they’re already playing a sold-out April 3 show at The Waiting Room).
But tomorrow we find out who will be headlining the Aug. 2 event. Other disqualified bands and my guesses as to what might be announced is right here. I’ll let you what I think of the line-up…
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You can also take the following bands off any “Maha guess” list, as they’ll be riding through town in the coming months. Here’s my updated list of touring indie bands headed our way. Get yer tickets before they’re gone.
Whatwho am I missing? Put it in the comments section.
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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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
I’ll be out of town through this weekend, so Lazy-i will be on a short hiatus, back early next week. What will I miss while away? Only one big show comes to mind, and it’s Sunday night at Reverb Lounge.
El Paso’s Lesser Care is a post-punk shoe-gaze band who gained some national attention when they toured with Chicago post-punk act French Police back in 2023. Their latest LP, Heel Turn, was released in 2024 and I can’t find a single review of the album anywhere online. Regardless, listen to the track below and make up your own mind. Omaha’s Ex Lover opens the show at 8 p.m. $15.
That’s all I’m seeing in my indie-scope. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend.
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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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
Yesterday, the fine folks who run the Maha Music Festival said they will announce the headliner for their Aug. 2 one-day event next Wednesday, March 19, with tickets on sale the following Friday, March 21.
Make your guess at the headliner. I ran down my list of guesses – topped by The Pixies, followed by St. Vincent, Black Key and Spoon – in this write-up that also discusses who won’t be headlining.
In addition the new RiverFront location, another change to this year’s festival appears to be a shift in how Maha approaches volunteers. In year’s past, the Maha Festival was buoyed by an army of volunteers – 800 volunteers helped put on the last festival in 2023.
However, a couple days ago, someone shared an email they said was mailed to past volunteers saying day-to-day operations for this year’s festival will be outsourced to a professional production company. The question, of course, is how far the message traveled down the volunteer food chain.
Maha volunteers did things as simple as answer questions, direct people to vendors and bathrooms, even help them understand how to recycle their garbage. I’d be surprised if Maha didn’t ask for at least some volunteers. Then again, were there volunteers at last year’s Outlandia Festival, which was run by the same folks running this year’s Maha Festival?
Volunteer networks do more than just provide helpful hands. They also get the word out about the festival itself, perhaps convincing friends and relatives to buy tickets. That brings up the whole question of how they’ll market this year’s Maha Festival. They’ll have to do more than rely on social media marketing, whose use and affectiveness appear to be on the decline…
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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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
I know I say this every year, but GoatFest, the annual bacchanal that took place at Scriptown Brewing Company this past Saturday, should be held every week, or at least every month, or at least once a season.
The brewery, located in the Blackstone District, was loud and packed at 3 p.m. with folks throwing back glasses of bock beer and yelling over the bands rocking out by the back exit. With their overhead doors wide open along Harney Street, the music could be heard blocks away by neighbors out soaking in the pre-spring warmth.
It reminded me of another mainly outdoor event that’s taking place this week in Austin, Texas – the South By Southwest Festival day parties. There’s something special about day drinking at afternoon rock shows. And Scriptown booking psych-rock garage bands only adds to the event’s allure.
Cowgirl Eastern certainly fit right in. The Omaha-based five-piece boasts the classic “two-drummer configuration” – the kits set up facing each other – along with two guitars and bass. It was the loudest band I’ve ever heard at GoatFest (and I’ve been to all of them), but it didn’t kill the acid-colored vibe of their ultra-vivid, fuzzed-out sound. Very ‘60s, kind of bluesy, hippie but not in a jam-band sort of way.
Despite the crowd gathered around the band, people still managed to push their way through the throng to the back exit, where just outside a temporary livestock pen held three precocious goats. Two guys who I assumed were the the goats’ wranglers discussed livestock-related issues while sunglassed hipsters held pints in one hand while petting the goats with the other.
Cowgirl Eastern was followed by another local act, Velvet Velvet, who ripped into an improvised version of “Sweet Home Alabama” as their ad hoc soundcheck, a hint of the southern-rock influenced material heard during the first part of their set, which was all I was able to stick around four, though I made a mental note to check out both bands the next time the play a proper venue.
Scriptown was designed to be a beer tasting room, not a music venue, and it was evident by the blown-out stage-right PA speaker that fuzzed up the vocals. I doubt many people either noticed or cared as they were having such a good time.
Which brings us back to the original statement – Scriptown should host GoatFest more than once a year. I mentioned this to one of the organizers, who told me the brewery does do special events during Blackstone’s “Second Saturday” efforts. Still, he wasn’t convinced they could draw such a large crowd on a weekly or monthly – or monthly – basis. He may be right, but we’ll never know unless they take the gamble, at least during the warm months…
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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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
Onward to the weekend…
There’s a sneaky good show going on tonight (Friday) at The Sydney in Benson. Finom is the Chicago duo of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart. They used to go by the name OHMME, but changed their name for legal reasons in 2022. They’ve been releasing albums on respected mid-size indie label Joyful Noise since 2020; their latest is the soaring 2024 LP Not God. They usually have a drummer in tow, so expect a full sound.
Also on the bill is Nashville-based project Brother Bird. Fronted by singer/songwriter Caroline Glaser, the band lists Mazzy Star, Cranberries and Big Thief among their influences. Their latest, Another Year, was released in 2024 on Easy Does It Records.
Wedding, a.k.a. Anna Schulte, opens the show at The Sydney at 10 p.m. $15.
That’s a late start time, probably to give folks time to enjoy the art during Benson First Friday (BFF)! Galleries and businesses up and down Maple Street are hosting art openings, including Ming Toy Gallery, 6066 Maple St. We’re hosting “The Space Between,” by artist Josephine Langbehn – large-scale interpretations painted in acrylic of cherished and forgotten images. The show runs from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Come by, see some great art, and have a drink on us!
Also tonight, Pageturners Lounge in Dundee is hosting former Nebraskan now New Yorker Stathi and Friends. Stathi’s latest album is Live at Bowery Ballroom, recorded last April when he opened for (and played with) Conor Oberst at the famous NYC venue. Show starts at 8 p.m.
Saturday’s big event is the annual GoatFest celebration at Scriptown Brewery in the Blackstone District. In addition to tapping their Goatsmack seasonal beer, they host live music starting at 3 p.m. by bands Velvet Velvet and Cowgirl Eastern. Best of all, real live goats will be parked out back for your viewing and petting pleasure. Food by Lazy Buffalo BBQ. Runs from noon to 6 p.m. This is always a good time and, imho, should be hosted at Scriptown on a monthly (weekly?) basis.
And that’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend!
PS: It’s Bandcamp Friday! If you’ve been hankering to buy some new music (like the fantastic new albums by Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory or Horsegirl), now’s the best time as Bandcamp is passing along all proceeds to the bands and their labels (many of which also are passing the cash along to the bands). Get out there and buy some music!
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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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
The Omaha Film Festival (OFF) kicks off next Tuesday with screenings at Aksarben Cinema and runs through March 16. You can read all about it right here.
A couple weeks ago, one of the festival’s documentary film makers sent me a link to an online stream of the film, The Opener, which is being screened Saturday, March 15 at 2:30 p.m.
Directed by Jeff Toye and produced by Sunya Mara – the duo does all the filmmaking – The Opener documents what happened when singer/songwiter Philip Labes was “discovered” via algorithmic chance by Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Jason Mraz. Seems Labes was doing one of his many live-stream TikTok performances and Mraz just happened to be among the 30 online listeners. As a result, Mraz invited Labes to open eight dates of his East Coast tour.
The film follows Labes as he tries to make the most of his big break. More than just a “star discovery” story, The Opener also is a comment about the perceived futility of making art, life during the pandemic (when Labes began to generate his online following), how TikTok can create stars, the generosity of fame and the outcome of persistence.
Pulling it together is Labes’ music and chipmunk-like personality. Raised middle class in Palm Springs (his father an amateur musician who also tried his hand at music in his youth), we see Labes during his shuttered COVID year, toiling at songwriting, held captive by fear in his tiny apartment.
Mraz’s influence can be heard in Labes’ music. Mostly performed alone on acoustic guitar, the well-crafted songs sounded like modern Broadway versions of nice Mountain Goats tunes (regular goers of modern musicals will recognize what I’m talking about). They’re sweet, clever, often self-deprecating life stories that attempt to capture Labes’ COVID angst.
Clocking in at an hour and 12 minutes, the first half focuses on Labes’ during COVID while the balance of the film covers the tour’s ups and downs, and the lengths Labes will go to get his music heard. Smart editing and Labes’ performances keep things moving. The only thing missing was the usual epilogue card that explains what happened to Labes after the tour. Did performing with Mraz push him to the next level? We’ll have to find out on our own.
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Joining Jake Bellows (of Neva Dinova fame) for his usual Thursday night gig at Pageturners is Boston guitarist Ethan WL. His second solo album “in the American Primitive Guitar style,” Blood Farm, was releases last summer on Carbon Records. Omaha singer/songwriter Sean Pratt kicks things off at 7 p.m. and there’s no cover.
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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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
Well, I was beginning to think Saddle Creek Records was becoming a purely nostalgia-based label.
For the past couple months our hometown record label has solely announced reissues. First were The Faint reissues of classic albums Blank-Wave Arcade (originally released in 1999) and Wet From Birth (2004), both out March 14. And then the Rilo Kiley announcements – the April 25 reissue of The Execution of All Things (originally released in 2002) and a new “greatest hits”-style collection, That’s How We Choose to Remember It, out May 9. Of course both bands will be on limited national tours.
Then yesterday Saddle Creek announced it signed singer/songwriter Dean Johnson, described as a “longstanding Seattle underground gem-turned-rising Americana star.” In 2023, Johnson released his debut full-length, Nothing for Me, Please, at the age of 50. “Dean’s songwriting reminds us why music matters, offering proof that a song can be more than the sum of its parts,” says the Saddle Creek one-sheet.
Saddle Creek begins its relationship with Johnson with the April 11 release of “Blue Moon” b/w “Lake Charles” 7-inch as part of their Document singles series. Preorder here. The A-side, which you can hear below, is an original, while the B-side is a Lucinda Williams cover.
Johnson heads out on a European tour in April, followed by a few Pacific Northwest dates. “Expect more music & news from Dean Johnson this year,” says Saddle Creek.
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Omaha ex-pat singer/songwriter/poet Kyle Harvey emailed to say he has a new collection of ambient soundscapes out today called Holographic Topographies. It’s his fourth full length under the moniker When Light.
Says the one-sheet: “Inspired by the strange, overlapping nuances of quantum physics, consciousness, technologies, astronomy, and science fiction in popular culture, Holographic Topographies was composed on a small eurorack modular system. Each track on the album was recorded in stereo as a live, single-take performance.” Order your copy here. It’s also on Spotify. Kyle also has a new book of poetry called There Without Being There, which you can order here.
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Here’s some other new stuff that’s been playing in my earbuds that escaped the delete key:
Thalia Zedek of the legendary bands Come and Live Skull has a new album out May 23 called The Boat Outside Your Window on Thrill Jockey. Known for her heavier-than-hell approach, the track “Tsunami” manages to have a sing-along melody without sacrificing the usual Zedek grit and feedback. The band plans to tour “extensively” in 2025, though no dates have been announced.
Maha Festival veterans (2018), Tune-Yards dropped new single “Limelight” from their forthcoming album Better Dreaming, out May 16 on 4AD. The track has a sweet bass line, but what did you expect from a duo who sounds like this generation’s Tom Tom Club? They also announced a limited East Coast tour.
Another Maha Festival vet (twice!), Car Seat Headrest yesterday released single “Gethsemane” from their new album, The Scholars, out on Matador May 2. The double-album is described as “a bold new rock opera.” The single itself is 11 minutes long!
Finally, Los Angeles shoe-gaze act Shunkan dropped the first single from their upcoming album, Kamikaze Girl, out May 6 on Rite Field Records. Fronted by Marina Sakimoto, the record was produced by Alex Newport (Death Cab, At the Drive-In, Bloc Party).
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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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com
I only knew Jeff Runnings through his life in music and the music itself. Some of my favorite memories of Jeff were actually our conversations over Facebook instant messenger. Jeff would usually start it, writing about something he was working on musicwise or telling me about some new album he heard that he had to share. He was remarkably opinionated – able to make his thoughts known in words of love or damnation.
It was probably because of this relationship and our past interviews conducted for local papers that Jeff asked me to lead a discussion with him in front of an audience at the now defunct Hi-Fi House – a home-away-for home for people who loved music on vinyl – way back in the summer of 2016.
Because some readers may not know who Jeff was, below are the biographical notes put together to introduce Jeff at that event, that summarized his career up to that point.
It was here that I asked Jeff to fill in what happened over the next eight years, which he did. Somewhere there’s a videotape recording of our talk, likely sitting on a shelf in some videographer’s closet.
One reason for the Hi-Fi House event was the release of Primitives and Smalls on Saint Marie Records. Unlike a lot of dream pop, the record wasn’t intended to function as a polite soundtrack for idle daydreaming. It was vengeful and acerbic, and cut deep. It showcased Jeff’s mastery of the post-punk sounds he’d been creating since the ’80s.
Jeff never quit creating music. Most recently, he was excited about his new album, Piqued, slate for release on Independent Project Records (IPR). The first single, “Batman Forever,” (Batman is the nickname for Runnings’ husband, Sean Applegate), was released at the end of January, and casts the same haunting spell heard on the best For Against albums. Jeff recorded the track, as well as the rest of the album, from his home. It’s a collection I know he’s proud of.
Our last correspondence – via email – was Jeff telling me that the US/Europe press agent for IPR was going to conduct a call with him and Bruce Licher of IPR about the “promotion machine” for the new record. He told me to stay tuned.
All of this was happening while Jeff continued treatment for the cancer that ended his life yesterday. He was more than a friend in music; he was a good person with a razor-sharp sense of humor and a heart of gold. I’m going to miss him.
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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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
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