I got very little bar time in this past weekend. I did manage to catch the Malpais CD release show at The Waiting Room — but only Malpais thanks to the 2 1/2-hour Batman film. It was very well-attended (I’m guessing around 200?), all there to see Greg Loftis and his crew perform songs off a CD that I’m told has received a 4-star rating from Alternative Press — a rarity for a self-released album. From what I heard on stage (I still don’t have a copy of the disc) AP got it right. The band knows its way around a solid indie rock melody. My quibbles are with the house sound — very muddy, and Loftis’ vocals were lost in the mix. One of the bar’s regulars told me that it wasn’t the sound-guy’s fault — Loftis just doesn’t sing very loudly. Maybe so, but I’ve heard him do a fine job belting out a tune at O’Leaver’s before. As much as I enjoyed the gig, I think Loftis is the kind of guy who could do even better in an acoustic singer-songwriter setting. The title track of the new CD — “Luke Is Leaving New York,” which I’ve heard on Myspace — is a sweet little acoustic guitar-fueled ballad. The live rendition — performed by the full band — paled in comparison. Or maybe I’m just a sucker for a simple melody…

Lots of content this week on Lazy-i. Tomorrow, instead of the usual column (no column this week!) look for a feature on everyone’s favorite noise-punk band, Fromanhole, who are having a CD release show of their own this Firday night at Slowdown Jr. And then Thursday look for a gi-normous interview with Tilly and the Wall (which also will be the cover story for this week’s issue of The Reader).

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