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
Last year’s Grrrl Camp Festival, held in July at Falconwood Park, not only boasted one of the best indie lineups we’ve seen in Omaha but also proved to be an extremely well-run event… and a lot of fun.
If you missed it, the 15-act lineup included indie superstars Hurray for the Riff Raff, Indigo De Souza, Mannequin Pussy, Shannon & the Clams, Annie DiRusso, Girl Ray and Rosali, among others, all for $85 for the full weekend. Vendors surrounded the performance area in Falconwood Park, and the vibes, as they say, were nothing but good. Here’s a review.
So it’s a bummer that this morning, the official Grrrl Camp FB page posted that GC is taking the year off “to restructure organizationally.”
“GC is working on putting together a production team made up of individuals that represent communities the festival aims to serve, uplift and rock out with,” the statement read.
The statement went on to say soaring production costs across the board are making it hard to keep ticket prices reasonable. They’re looking for help with fundraising (investors, major donors and sponsors) and operations (programming and logistics support).
Last year, 1% Productions managed the festival. Is 1% too busy with this year’s Maha Festival? I do not know. No doubt 1% is part of the reason Grrrl Camp was able to book such stellar acts. Folks interested in helping Grrrl Camp return in 2026 are asked to DM or email grrrlcampfestival@gmail.com
So what does losing Outlandia and Grrrl Camp mean for Falconwood Park? Well, Falconwood continues to do events, including their annual Camp Hullabaloo and the Midwest Tacos & Tequila Fest, both held last month. According to their events page, Head East is slated for July 18, with Railroad Earth & Yonder Mountain String Band scheduled for the following night, July 19. And, of course, they still have their popular summer movie series.
Read more about Falconwood and its history in my Flatwater Free Press article, written right before the last (ever) Outlandia Festival.
. 0 0 0 .
It’s another dead week for indie rock shows, with nothing of note happening at any of the 1% properties or Slowdown.
It’s as good a time as any to update the ongoing list of touring indie shows on my radar. What am I missing?
* * *
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 more things change, the more they stay the same. In the case of fabulous O’Leaver’s, things just seem to stay the same.
Or so it seemed last night when I dropped by The Club that Cursive Built to catch a set by Anna McClellan. The post-Omaha singer/songwriter is crossing the country on tour with Matt Norman. She said from stage she’s moving out of LA and headed to the East Coast, and who can blame her?
First up for the evening was Nutrition Fun, which turned out to be a solo electric performance by Andy Berkley. With guitar in hand, Berkley rifled through a set of micro-songs, none lasting more than 30 seconds, each with its own quirky, punky, slice-of-life imagery. Fun, cool.
Matt Norman took the darkened O’Leaver’s “stage” next. Seems like the last time I was at the club they at least had a three or four colored floodlights pointed at the performers. Not last night. A black-and-white security camera was pointed at the stage area and the performances were displayed live on a large flat-screen TV mounted along the wall to the left, which actually was kind of cool. O’Leaver’s now now not to livestream every performance.
Norman’s songs, played on electric piano, were also quirky, slice-of-life ditties but felt like jaunty ’80s TV theme songs. A few songs in, McClellan joined him on stage singing harmonies. Again, lots of short, sharp songs (and another short set).
Finally, at around 10:30, McClellan took her place behind the same electronic keyboard for a solo set taken from her most recent album, Electric Bouquet. Norman squatted off stage left and sang harmonies. Two standouts — along with set-closer “Omaha” — were new songs “Veronica” and “Restless,” that have me looking forward to her next record.
. 0 0 0 .
This 4th of July weekend looks rather weak for shows. Only one of note. It’s back to O’Leaver’s Saturday night for an electric evening of music headlined by post-Omahan Darren Keen a.k.a. PROBLEMS. Keen’s music is a kaleidoscope of synth sounds and beats augmented by his often humorous vocals. Darren’s always entertaining.
Also on the bill is Laserbulb, an electronic project by Clark Baechle of The Faint. Baechle is another post-Omaha guy, now living in Philadelphia. While researching this blog entry, I fell across Baechle’s music producer business page. “Whether it’s polishing up a band’s rough demo, programming synthesizers, or actualizing sounds and ideas that only exist in my head, there’s just nowhere else I’d rather be,” he says on the website, which also includes a number of music examples. There’s not much info about Laserbulb aside from the Bandcamp page.
DJ Beetlebitch opens this one at 9 p.m. and (as per usual) there’s no cover. Expect the healthy crowd to include plenty of old scene faces out to welcome back an old friend.
That’s all I got for the weekend. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a happy holiday.
* * *
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
Tonight’s keynote show is Anna McClellan at fabulous O’Leaver’s.
The former Omahan who now lives in Los Angeles (or at least I think she still does) released her fourth studio album, Electric Bouquet, last October on Father/Daughter Records. Like her past albums, it’s a collection of personal, almost-confessional, mostly piano-driven indie folk that captures her unique style, or as Pitchfork said in its review of the album: “Her ramshackle arrangements and quivering voice channel a warmly human outpouring of emotion.”
McClellan and her band, which included Dan McCarthy, James Maakestad and Pearl Lovejoy Boyd, just played at Slowdown May 17 (review here). It’s nice to see her back at O’Leaver’s.
Also listed on tonight’s bill is Nutrition Fun, a project that, in the past, has included McClellan. The project’s most recent recording (as far as I can tell) was Songs for Carlita, released by Chris Fischer’s Unread Records on cassette back in December 2020. Clearly a DIY / lo-fi effort, the album featured McClellan along with Andy Berkley, Hootie Erickson, Ryan McKeever and Noah Sterba. But there are a lot of Nutrition Fun Bandcamp entries and the lineup seems to ebb and flow from recording to recording, so I have no idea who’ll play in that band tonight.
San Francisco singer/songwriter Matt Norman rounds out tonight’s bill, which is slated for 9 p.m. and is free.
But that’s not the only show tonight. Over at The Sydney in Benson, Denver indie funk band Tonguebyte headlines a show that includes bands Amphibaphobia and Infielder, 8 p.m., $10.
* * *
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
A friend of mine who lives in Utah asked how “Ringo and friends” were last Friday night. “Did you get the idea folks were excited to see a living Beatle, or were just there for the fireworks?”
No doubt some folks there were excited to see a Beatle, and most of them were up by the stage. I never got anywhere near the front of the enormous crowd, having entered the seething, sweat-slicked morass at around 9:30 to the strains of Ringo’s “Photograph” (which just so happens to be my favorite Ringo song, co-written by George).
I had heard the rest of the concert from my back yard as, for some reason – maybe it was something in the winds – this was easily the loudest Memorial Park Concert in recent memory… as heard from my house about a half-mile away from the stage.
Earlier that afternoon, while working on my laptop in the back yard, I experienced the funk-intensity of the All-Starr Band’s soundcheck in the form of Average White Band’s “Pick Up the Pieces,” played over and over and over as if the band was performing on the other side of my fence. I now know how Noriega felt during the 1989 Panamanian standoff when U.S. forces tortured him day and night with loud rock music outside the embassy where he was holed up. At least Noriega got Van Halen and GNR. After a half-hour of AWB, the music stopped, then five minutes later on came Toto’s “Rosanna,” on repeat. I took shelter inside.
The Omaha World-Herald didn’t even try to estimate the concert’s crowd size, simply saying “Thousands came to see a former Beatle…” but if I had to guess I’d say it was well over the usual 50,000 who usually attend these concerts. Ringo and his band sounded great, and it was inspiring to watch the 84-year-old on stage singing as if he were still in his 30s, doing jumping jacks in the sweltering heat clad in a denim jacket.
Except for two people (me and Teresa), I can’t tell you how many were there for the music, the fireworks or just to see a functioning Beatle in action; but I can say the fireworks were impressive….
. 0 0 0 .
This being Independence Day week, it’s looks thinner than usual show-wise, especially if you like indie music. There’s Fishbone at The Waiting Room tomorrow night. The Sydney has a semi-interesting indie band Thursday night called Tonguebyte. And Anna McClellan also plays at fabulous O’Leaver’s Thursday night with Nutrition Fun, which was the name of a band she was in with Noah Sterba and others who released a couple albums on Unread Records before the pandemic. More on those shows later…
BTW, The Slowdown has no shows at all booked until July 10 – what’s that all about?
* * *
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
Another quiet weekend for indie music. Frankly, it’s been a quiet month for indie, and things don’t really start to pick up again until August, with only the July 20 Built to Spill show on my radar (and how many times have Doug Martsch and his crew been through here in the past five years?).
Meanwhile, the preponderance of children driving golf carts throughout my neighborhood can only mean one thing: The big Memorial Park Concert is tonight, this year featuring Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band.
I’m not positive who’s playing in Ringo’s band, though Wednesday night in Charlotte, North Carolina, his band consisted of Colin Hay (Men at Work), Steve Lukather (Toto), Hamish Stuart (Average White Band), Gregg Bissonette (David Lee Roth, Joe Satriani), Warren Ham (Toto, Kansas) and Buck Johnson (Aerosmith).
The set list consisted of Beatles and Ringo songs, along with covers from Toto, Men at Work, Average White Band and rock classics. You can see the 21-song setlist here, which closed out with (of course) “With a Little Help from My Friends.”
The concert kicks off at 6:45 with Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs, which is truly an unfortunate band name. BTW, “dirty knobs” is supposed to be tech slang for a broken amp dial? Really?
Campbell, as you know, was a long-time member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and co-wrote a number of their hits, including “Refugee,” “Listen to Her Heart” and “All or Nothin’,” all of which they’ll likely play tonight, along with songs off the band’s own albums. Their biggest hit on Spotify is “Fuck That Guy,” which is perfect for a family gathering in the park.
Ringo and his blokes go on at 8:30 and fireworks are scheduled for 10 p.m. As always, it’s free.
But it’s not the only legacy act playing in Omaha tonight. Over at The Waiting Room, one-hit wonders Tripping Daisy plays. The band had a modest hit on MTV with “I Got a Girl,” off their 1995 album I Am an Elastic Firecracker. They broke up after guitarist Wes Berggren died in 1999. The rest of the band, including frontman Tim DeLaughter, would go on to form the much more interesting chamber-pop act The Polyphonic Spree.
Tripping Daisy reunited in 2017 and officially reformed in 2024, with plans for touring and writing new music. Opening the show at 8 p.m. is Houston-based garage band Jumprope. $34.
Tomorrow night (Saturday), Omaha fuzzed-out shoegaze band Dream Ghoul plays at fabulous O’Leaver’s. A project of singer/songwriter Max Holmquist, the band released its debut LP, A Forgotten Future, this past December. Joining them is Colorado band Flesh Tape, who cites Lilys and Sonic Youth as influences for their ‘90s-flavored shoegaze. This one’s free and starts at 9 p.m.
Finally, Sunday night Catskills-based alt-country singer/songwriter (and harpist!) Mikaela Davis headlines at Reverb Lounge. Her 2023 LP, And Southern Star, was released on Kill Rock Stars. Opening is Burlington, Vermont, singer/songwriter Lily Seabird, whose new album, Trash Mountain, was released in April on Lame-O Records. $25, 8 p.m.
And that’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend.
* * *
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
This is part 2 of the mid-year album reviews round-up (Pt. 1 is here), wherein I point in the direction of albums that somehow floated through the thick moss of my email and/or Spotify playlists to stand on their own as notable additions to my personal 2025 indie music catalog. Some are better than others; all are worth checking out, some deserve a download. But you be the judge…
Wishy, Planet Popstar (Winspear) – It’s time to reconsider the EP and Wishy’s Planet Popstar, released this past April, is a stellar example of this format. Only six songs, no filler, the album is unevenly split between the band’s two primary songwriters and vocalists — Kevin Krauter and Nina Pitchkites. Both came from separate projects and approached Wishy as a sort of “twee pop” experiment (according to this insightful interview in First Revival). That said, Planet Popstar sounds more like stripped-down indie rock than any K/Slumberland stuff I grew up with. Some folks file Wishy under the shoegaze category, but that’s not right either.
Album opener “Fly” and the dreamy “Chaser” – both Pitchkites-led outings – are flawless indie pop songs bound to catch the ear of savvy college radio programmers. Pitchkites’ pitch-perfect vocals sound pure and untouched.
On the other hand, the Krauter-led songs, while no less poppy, feel slightly over-produced with Krauter’s vocals sometimes lost in buzzing studio effects. The title track, for example combines metronomic percussion with fuzzed-out guitars and even more fuzzed-out vocals. The fuzz is pulled back on the band’s primary single, “Over and Over,” though Krauter can’t help but lay on the vocal effects, giving both tracks a nostalgic ’90 sheen.
They could have stopped after those four songs, but tacked on two more Krauter-led tracks, including the dreamy beach-combing closer “Slide.” Press photos show a five-piece band but the EP sounds like it was a Pitchkites / Krauter studio project, and that’s part of the charm.
Six songs is plenty but what’s the old adage about leaving them wanting more? For those who are, or who want something physical to add to their vinyl collection, Planet Popstar was combined with 2023’s MBV-flavored shoegaze collection, Paradise EP, for the LP Paradise on Planet Popstar. I’ll stick with the EP, thanks.
Dutch Interior, Moneyball (Fat Possum) – After hearing the single “Fourth Street,” I was ready to compare them to Pavement, but upon further examination, Dutch Interior has more in common with alt-country playthings Wilco. For every indie-slacker track (“Canada,” the aforementioned “Fourth Street,”) there are a few dusty, pedal-steel powered country songs (“Horse,” “Christ on the Mast,” “Sweet Time”). I may have been momentarily fooled by the vocals — everyone has a laidback Malkmus delivery — but ultimately, it’s the Tweedy twang that wins out.
Arcade Fire, Pink Elephant (Columbia) – Remember when these guys were the next big arena act to emerge from the indie Petrie dish? Their plans for world domination were no doubt hampered by Win Butler’s controversies, which he seems to have emerged from somewhat unscathed (judging from the recent SNL appearance). I lost track of them after 2015’s Reflektor, though since then they released at least three more LPs, including 2022’s WE, which sported the single “Unconditional (Lookout Kid).”
In contrast with their first three albums, Pink Elephant is by-the-numbers and less collaborative, feeling more like a Win Butler/Régine Chassagne side project. You’ll recognize their trademark melodic through-lines and there are a couple standout tracks (“Year of the Snake,” “Circle of Trust”), but overall, this album feels like a placeholder for whatever comes next.
Horsegirl, Phonetics On and On (Matador) – The Chicago trio pulls back on the noise heard on their 2022 debut, Versions of Modern Performance, for a stripped down collection that has more in common with mathematics than phonetics. Each song is tightly wound, controlled, with minimalist rhythms and repeated guitar lines (they say they were heavily influenced by Kraut rock’s rigid structures). They somehow always grow an ear-worm melody out of each granite-tight arrangement. The result can feel constrained and limiting, kind of like when you watch electronic artists perform live knowing they’re confined by the limits of their synth programming. While there’s joy in repetition, I’d rather hear these women break out of their rhythmic shackles.
More reviews to come…
. 0 0 0 .
Tonight at Reverb Lounge, Atlanta-based self-proclaimed emo artist Michael Cera Palin headlines. While his music does have distinctively emo elements, there’s more than a little Wheezer influence, especially on his latest album We Could Be Brave (2025, Brain Synthesizer). Tongues of Fire and Valley Street also are on the bill. $22, 8 p.m.
Meanwhile, around the corner at The Waiting Room, The English Beat play another return engagement. Locals The Bishops opens the show at 8 p.m. $35.
* * *
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
If my records are correct, it’s been a number of years since Har Mar Superstar played in Omaha. The artist formally known as Sean Tillmann used to practically hang out in Omaha back in the city’s indie salad days of the early 2000s. In fact, former Omahan and member of the Conor Oberst’s Desaparecidos, Denver Dalley, toured as part of the Har Mar Superstar experience.
In addition to his musical adventures, Tillmann began popping up on the silver screen, snatching small roles and cameos in movies such as Drew Barrymore’s Whip It and Ben Stiller’s Starsky and Hutch remake. His last album was 2021’s Roseville (Love OnLine Records), and this year he returned to the road with selected dates throughout the U.S. (including a show in Tokyo). Tonight’s gig at Reverb Lounge appears to be a one-off.
From a press release issued back in March, Tillmann said: “Omaha is a really important place to me and the development of my music. I wrote many early Har Mar songs there with the guys from The Faint and spent a lot of time immersed in the very thriving scene they cultivated starting in the mid-90s. I’ve always loved playing there.”
Tillmann has always had an uncanny knack for writing hook-filled pop songs, and his high-flying shows border on cabaret. This one could act as a homecoming of sorts, and will likely be crowded. Opening at 8 p.m. is DJ Tayboosh. $25.
Also tonight, the all-female Led Zeppelin tribute act, Zepparella, performs at The Waiting Room. Opening the show is the midwest power-trio Bad Bad Men. 8 p.m. $25.
Meanwhile, across town at fabulous O’Leaver’s, In Tongues headlines. The band features long-time LinOma indie-punk veterans Robert Little, Jason Ludwick and Boz Hicks. Jar and BareBear also are on the bill. This one is free and starts at 9 p.m.
Tomorrow night (Saturday) it’s back to O’Leaver’s for Wedding, a project fronted by Anne Schulte. However, the Facebook invitation says it’s “Wedding w/Pearl Lovejoy Boyd, Susan Sanchez, Stephen Bartolomei.” So I’m not sure what that means. Chicago indie folk act Tall Pines also is on the bill. This one’s also free and starts at 9 p.m.
Finally, The Joslyn Castle has begun hosting programming in its “historic” carriage house. Saturday night they’re they’ve got a concert with California synth duo System Exclusive. Joining them are locals X-ID and Specter Poetics. Tickets are $17.85 (available here) and the show starts at 7 p.m. I haven’t been to the Joslyn Castle carriage house in decades, but if it’s the same as it was back then (dinky), this show could be packed.
And that’s all I’ve got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend.
* * *
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
Singer/songwriter Ben Eisenberger (Hussies, FiFi NoNo, Screaming Plastic) just announced the Aug. 1 release of his next solo album, Ben Eisenberger Chamber Group, along with the first single, “Controlling.”
Recorded throughout last year at ARC Studios with Adam Roberts, the album was produced and mixed by local studio vet Ben Brodin and mastered by Carl Saff. This isn’t Eisenberger’s first album. “My previous releases were either very soloistic, or scrapped-together, and I wanted this record to feel more like a ‘band’-style project, and the result is a nice mix of what each player brings to the table (folk, classical, free-improvisation),” he said.
Joining Eisenberger on the album are Colin Duckworth, pedal steel, guitar, mandolin; Phill Smith, percussion; Lillian Kraft, keyboards, and Michael Frederickson, bass. Preorder the 12-inch vinyl at Eisenberger’s Bandcamp page.
You can get a sneak peek of some of the new songs tonight at Reverb Lounge when Eisenberger and his new band perform along with Chicago-based singer/songwriter Amanda DeBoer Bartlett. Fiddle in the Middle opens the show at 8 p.m. $17.
. 0 0 0 .
Yesterday, Independent Project Records released the second single, “Heretofore,” from Nebraska legend Jeff Runnings’ upcoming album, Piqued.
“‘Heretofore’ has all the murky, abstract-yet-stripped-down allure of lifelong favorites of For Against frontman Jeffrey Runnings, like Section 25 and the Comsat Angels, aptly recorded on an old 8-track tape machine,” says the track’s liner notes.
Jeff passed away in March after a battle with cancer. This posthumous album will be released July 11 in a variety of formats and can be pre-ordered from the IPR Bandcamp page.
. 0 0 0 .
Finally, Saddle Creek Records announced that its latest signing is Seattle-based singer/songwriter Dean Johnson. Saddle Creek already released a 7-inch single by the 52-year-old singer/songwriter as part of their Document Series in March.
I Hope We Can Still Be Friends is Johnson’s second album (the first on the Creek) and is scheduled to drop Aug. 22. Says Saddle Creek: “Across 11 tracks, Johnson’s haunting tenor vocals crest over muted instrumentals peppered with brushed drums and slide guitar swells.” Preorder the album here.
Check out the first single, “Before You Hit the Ground,” below. You’ll get a chance to see Johnson up close and personal as he’s been added to the Sept. 17 Rilo Kiley show at the Astro Amphitheater.
* * *
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
Just a couple weeks after the organization publicly acknowledged it had taken the defunct Omaha Girls Rock! program under its wing, Grow Omaha reports The Bay (formerly known as Rabble Mill) has plans to renovate the old Larkin’s Parkin building at 6120 Military Avenue in downtown Benson.
According to the Grow Omaha report, the building’s first floor will house an indoor skate park while the second and third floors will house classrooms, office space, a performance stage, fashion room, sound production studio and an “esports room.” Grow Omaha says the proposed project site is under consideration for rezoning from “general industrial” to “neighborhood business district.”
I reached out to officials at The Bay, who had no comment. That said, the project has been rumored for years, and earlier this year, The Bay opened offices in the former B Side storefront, which is located in downtown Benson next door to Virtuoso Pizza.
If Grow Omaha’s report is accurate and the project moves forward, it would represent a substantial investment in Benson and would have a major impact on one of the city’s most vital entertainment districts.
Some background: Old-timers will remember the building, located across the street from Reverb Lounge, as having once been a Chevy dealership way back in the previous century. Then, about a decade ago, John Larkin converted the building into a short-lived valet parking service in an effort to fill the ongoing need for parking in the overcrowded Benson District. The building appears to have sat vacant for a number of years.
Grow Omaha, founded by Jeff Beals and Trenton Magid, has been publishing economic development news for over 20 years, and has recently expanded to cover entertainment and dining news as well. Their website is at growomaha.com.
And as I said in last week’s write-up, The Bay (formerly known as Rabble Mill) is a multi-program organization based in Lincoln and Omaha that acts as a sort of interactive hub, offering kids training and guidance to help them contribute to the workforce and the community. They do it through art, music, fashion, gaming, and perhaps what they’re most known for – skateboarding. If you’ve been to any large youth-focused event over the past few years, you’ve seen The Bay’s skateboarding outreach project.
* * *
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
We’re already halfway through a fairly good year for indie album releases, though there hasn’t been a single overpowering album that’s made an impact on the national psyche like, say, records released in 2024 by Charli XCX, Cindy Lee, Fontaines or The Cure (and the list of 2025 local indie releases through May is all but non-existent – what’s happened to our local indie scene?).
I thought maybe the new Perfume Genius album (Glory) or Sharon Van Etten album (Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory) would crack through the indie glass ceiling and make waves in “greater pop culture,” but while both are, indeed, very good, they still remain firmly buried in the indie ghetto micro-niche.
Anyway, for your gatekeeping pleasure, below are some albums from the first half of the year that deserve your attention, just as they’ve caught mine.
Florist, Jellywish (Double Double Whammy) – The album by the Brooklyn-based quartet fronted by singer/songwriter Emily Sprague is a quiet meditation on her life and world view. While the mostly acoustic music couldn’t be any prettier or more comforting, there’s a thread of deep anxiety that winds through the entire album that no doubt reflects a generation’s angst as it wonders how it’ll survive in a post-global-warmed-over world divided by polarized political discourse. As their song goes: “It’s been a good time in the right places / It’s been a bad time for a lot of humans.”
Sextile, yes, please (Sacred Bones) – LA-based trio has emerged over the past few years as EDM giants, thanks to their knack for creating irresistible beats and synth sounds reflected in sonic chrome. But while their previous album, 2023’s Push, leapt atop their most infectious single, “Contortion,” yes, please is more focused on creating dance-enabled slogan-themed anthems like “Women Respond to Bass,” which, while true, is hardly a revelation. And while it feels like we’ve heard most of these synth sequences before on their previous outings, yes, please rewards repeated listenings thanks to clever nuances that sneak out of the cracks. When the band stretches out of its confort zone, on tracks like trance-inducing “Soggy Newports” and pop candy “Kiss,” we get a glimpse of where they could be headed.
Perfume Genius, Glory (Matador) – Early singles “It’s a Mirror” and “No Front Teeth” gave the impression this album was destined to make frontman Mike Hadreas the rock star he deserves to be. But after those opening tracks, things return to the familiar, moody, lilting territory he shares with acts like Sufjan Stevens. Hadreas has a way for making gorgeous, anxiety-driven song-poems (“Mr. Peterson” from his first album is still my favorite), but I know there’s a complete, muscular indie rock album still waiting to turn him into an arena act.
Palmyra, Restless (Oh Boy) – The Richmond trio’s sound is indie-folk or indie-country or, maybe even emo-folk. With upright bass, electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin and banjo — along with the layered three-part harmonies — it’s easy to lump them in with dusty crooners Avett Brothers, but Palmyra’s songs are way more poppy and hook-filled than anything by those old sad sacks.
They wisely add a solid drummer to these recordings, pushing the album away from traditional folk and toward more approachable indie singer/songwiter stuff by the likes of, say, The Frames’ Glen Hansard, alt-country legends The Silos, or London alt-folkies Flyte, thanks to their uncanny knack for finding ear-worm melodies for songs about surviving breakups and overcoming loneliness and identity struggles. Pained confessional “Shape I’m In” feels emo until you realize singer Sasha Landon is describing his life-long battle with manic depression. Standout “Palm Readers” sounds like a Mountain Goats chestnut until they belt out the chorus that turns it into an anthemic confessional.
Rounded out by Mānoa Bell and Teddy Chipouras — all three contribute songs — there’s not a bad tune in bunch. Maybe there’s something to this whole emo-folk thing….
More to come…
, 0 0 0 .
Tonight at Reverb Lounge, which has become (or maybe always was) the home for touring indie acts, Oklahoma singer/songwriter Samantha Crain headlines.
Crain, a prominent Choctaw Nation songwriter and three-time NAMMY (Native America Music Award) winner, is a tour veteran and first-string collaborator, having toured with everyone from Avett Brothers to Racheal Yamagata. Her vocals can be heard on albums by First Aid Kit, Wild Pink and Murder By Death, among others. No doubt her music was influenced by all those collaborators, along with a healthy dose of Kate Bush.
Her latest LP, Gumshoe, dropped this past May on Real Kind Records and continues in an upbeat, indie-pop direction. Opening for Crain is Alaskan singer/songwriter Quinn Christopherson, whose latest LP, Write Your Name in Pink, was released in 2022 by PIAS. 8 p.m., $22.
* * *
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.
Recent Comments