by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Released Feb. 21 on Saddle Creek Records, Cursive’s I Am Gemini is more than your typical concept album, it’s a full-blown 2-act play – or more specifically – a 2-act opera, whose plot would have been right at home performed either in ancient Greece or as an episode of The Twilight Zone.

The “official interpretation” via the record label: “I Am Gemini is the surreal and powerful musical tale of Cassius and Pollock, twin brothers separated at birth. One good and one evil, their unexpected reunion in a house that is not a home ignites a classic struggle for the soul, played out with a cast of supporting characters that includes a chorus of angels and devils, and twin sisters conjoined at the head.”

The album comes with a Playbill-style lyrics booklet that reads like a script complete with stage direction. But even if they follow the album’s lyrics word-for-word, fans will come up with their own interpretation of the album’s meaning. For example, this intrepid reporter was reminded of the schizophrenic 2010 Darren Aronofsky film “Black Swan.”

“Black Swan is a good example of how stories of duality are told,” said Cursive frontman and songwriter Tim Kasher over a PBR at the Old Dundee Bar & Grill a couple weeks before the band headed out on tour. “I hadn’t thought of ‘Fight Club’ as an example until an interviewer brought it up, but that’s essentially it. Those are stories about one person split into two.”

Cursive, I Am Gemini (2012, Saddle Creek)

At first, I Am Gemini feels like a departure from Kasher’s usual navel-gazing lyrical content. The band’s landmark album Domestica, for example, allegedly focused on Kasher’s painful divorce; 2003’s The Ugly Organ was an exploration in creative self-loathing, while Kasher gave us his views on organized religion on 2006’s Happy Hollow. By contrast, I Am Gemini, with its good-and-evil twins and sisters with conjoined heads, seems like complete fiction… or is it?

“It’s important to note that it is really personal and based on a self-referential story,” Kasher said, “In the past, the lyrics were so literal or so thinly veiled to the obvious. This time it was a lot of fun to expand into something more fictionalized.”

But can a concept album this tightly drawn, where each song is dependent on the other to tell a cohesive story, be successful in this singles-driven iTunes era? Can songs on I Am Gemini stand on their own, out of context, without the rest of the album, and is Kasher confident that listeners will take the time necessary to sit down and absorb the album in its entirety?

“I’m not confident of that at all,” he said. “A lot of this is my personal interest in tackling a full story in an album, and I’m still scared having done it, but I’m glad I pushed myself a little further. A really small percentage of people will really appreciate it, and I really appreciate those people. I’m glad they’re there to take it on. But I think (the songs) can still be presented separately.”

Kasher said he considered each song as a self-contained short story, but added, “It’s been troubling releasing (songs) out of context of the album for premieres. I feel like they’re part of a whole, which goes counter to what I’m saying about them being able to survive on their own.”

There are indeed tracks that can stand in isolation. The album’s first leaked track, “The Sun and Moon,” taken completely out of context can be read as a love song of sorts. “A Birthday Bash” has one of the better guitar riffs Cursive’s ever put on tape. Still others act more like bridges between ideas, such as “The Cat and Mouse.”

So far, critics have been split on whether or not the concept worked. Indie taste arbiter Pitchfork called it “the weakest Cursive album by a disheartening margin” and summed it up as “Kasher talking to himself,” while AV Club called it “forceful; a demanding rock-driven opus” and Paste said, “Musically, the band is at their most adventurous, albeit not their most accessible.”

All agree that I Am Gemini is the hardest Cursive album since Domestica. It is brutal, but even more than that, it’s proggy — proggy enough to make the members of King Crimson and Roger Waters blush. At the very least, it’s an about-face from the apparent convergence music-wise of Cursive and Kasher’s other band, the more singer-songwriter based The Good Life. Kasher agreed.

“The last couple records, we were trying to marry those different styles and make a more diverse record,” he said. “This time around at the very onset of this album I thought ‘I’m going to do a Cursive album.’ It was right for this time in my life and for the other guys in the band. We decided if we’re going to do it, let’s do it full on. Let’s write something that fits into the rock category, something to listen to on a Friday night.”

Those “other guys” are Cursive’s core members, bassist Matt Maginn and guitarist/vocalist Ted Stevens, along with drummer Cully Symington and keyboardist Patrick Newbery, who played horns on the last two albums, but switched when Kasher once again moved away from less traditional instrumentation as he did when the band stopped using cello after The Ugly Organ.

“When we moved away from cello, it was a taste decision,” Kasher said. “At an early point, I thought cello would be a really good thing to have. By the end of it all, it was so overdone and we needed to move onto something else. Along those lines, we’ve done horns for the last couple records, and it felt like we’d done enough of it. It’s nice to not have to be bound by these additional instruments.”

Something tells me fans won’t be missing them when the band hits the road.

And despite the theatrical nature of I Am Gemini, Kasher said he has no intention of recreating the opera on stage by performing it sequentially. “We respect the ticket holder,” he said. “We’re still playing under the name Cursive, and that implies our full catalog. We’re happy to play the proper hits and some fun, deeper cuts, what we garner as the taste of the avid Cursive listener.

“We’ll be playing ‘The Martyr’ on this tour every single night, just like we have for the past 12 years,” he added. “It’s a moment in the set where we’re feeding off the energy of the people that are excited to hear it.”

Cursive plays with Ume and Virgin Islands Saturday, March 3, at Slowdown, 729 No. 14th St. Showtime is 9 p.m. Admission is $13 advance, $15 day of show. For more information, call 402.345.7569 or visit theshowdown.com.

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Laura Burhenn of The Mynabirds is part of a panel that will be discussing “women in performance” this evening at House of Loom. Also on the panel are Susann Suprenant of ætherplough, Felicia Webster (aka WithLove) and actor Kirstin Kluver. The band Howard will be performing after the panel. The free event starts at 5 at House of Loom, 1012 Howard St.  For more info, go to houseofloom.com.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

With nothing else going on today, I thought I’d pass along this new wrinkle on digital downloading that could quicken the already rapid erosion of the music industry…

A few weeks ago, a district court judge denied an injunction by Capitol Records against a company called ReDigi in an effort to keep that company from facilitating the sales of used mp3 files.

You read that right. ReDigi is a company/website that enables its users to sell their used digital music files to each other. USED digital music files. Let’s say, for example, you purchased the new Leonard Cohen album from iTunes. Whether you listened to the downloaded music files or not, the tracks are now considered “used files,” just like a used CD. And just as you can sell a used copy of the new Leonard Cohen CD, you can also sell your used Leonard Cohen digital files. Never mind that there is absolutely no wear from using a digital file.

The premise seems absurd until you begin to realize that what you’re really acquiring is someone’s license to listen to mp3 files on your personal computer or iPod. ReDigi is supposed to facilitate not only the transfer of the file from one person’s computer to the next — along with the associated fees that are split between the seller, ReDigi and the record label — but it also is supposed to delete the file from the seller’s hard drive or at least make it impossible for him or her to listen to the file again.

When you think about it strictly from a licensing standpoint, it kind of makes sense, but the more you think about it, the more the cracks appear on the concept’s surface. Who’s to say that you didn’t make a copy of the files and place them on a thumb drive or burn them onto a CDR? And does it really matter that you still own a copy of the file? Whenever you bring a box of used CDs to Homer’s to sell, do they ask you if you’ve destroyed all the copies of those CDs that you’ve ripped to your hard drive? Of course not.

The idea of reselling “used” mp3 files – if proven legal (and it still hasn’t been) – could screw up every digital entertainment business model that currently exists. If a court says we can sell used mp3s, then why can’t we just give them away? And if we can, what was that business with Napster all about a decade ago?

But let’s take it to the next level. I recently bought and read a digital copy of Game of Thrones for my Kindle reader on my Mac. I liked the book, but I’m never going to want to read it again. Shouldn’t I be able to sell my “used” digital version of Game of Thrones to someone else, just like I could sell a used copy of the book on eBay? And if that’s the case, shouldn’t the same concept hold true for digital video? If you can sell used DVDs, why shouldn’t you be able to sell “used” digital movie files stored on your “cloud server”?

This could get ugly…

Here’s a good summary of the recent court decision from ExtremeTech.com.

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Pitchfork Music Festival, which is quickly becoming one of the largest festivals in the Midwest, announced its initial lineup for the event to be held July 13-15 in Chicago. Among the bands: Vampire Weekend, Feist, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Hot Chip, Araabmuzik, A$ap Rocky, The Field, Liturgy, Kendrick Lamar, Grimes, Cloud Nothings, Tim Hecker and Willis Earl Beal.

What, still no headliner? Of the bunch, the ones that pique my interest are Grimes and The Field, two bands that would have a hard time selling out a show at The Waiting Room let alone Chicago’s Union Park. Even Cloud Nothings would be a stretch at Slowdown. I suspect they’ll be adding even larger names to the lineup… eventually.

That said, I’d love to see any of these band play the MAHA Festival. Tix are $45; 3-day tix are $110. More info at pitchforkmusicfestival.com (eventually, right now the site is merely a photo of a bunch of eyeglasses and link to an email address).

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I had no music experiences this weekend other than putting together a Cursive story that will go online here in a couple days in support of this Saturday night’s show at Slowdown. It should be a hoot, and is really the only rock show on my radar this week.

So with that in mind, check out this new video by Digital Leather for their track “Enzymes,” filmed in one take in the basement of fabulous O’Leaver’s. It’s here at Vimeo; here at Love Drunk:  and here at Hear Nebraska. I would have embedded the damn thing but Vimeo won’t let me, the jerks.

By the way, DL has just been booked to play Slowdown April 5 with Los Vigilantes and Yuppies…

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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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

There are no touring indie bands playing here this weekend, which means another weekend of local-artist shows. Tonight, pickins are slim. I suggest getting your drink on at O’Leaver’s where Tyrone Storm, a.k.a. Roger Lewis, will be spinning the dark gaze stuff from 9 til 2 a.m. Glug-glug… And, of course, there’s always The Brothers and Krug, and so on.

There are more opportunities for live music Saturday night. All Young Girls Are Machine Guns open for Anniversaire and Lincoln band The Sleepover at Slowdown Jr. This could be my inaugural exposure to AYGAMG, who won an OEA Award for best songwriter this year.  $7, 9 p.m.

Over at The Waiting Room Saturday night Snake Island, Landing on the Moon and Traveling Mercies open for Rock Paper Dynamite, another 2012 OEA Award winner. $7, 9 p.m.

All you Lincoln folks will be getting your first chance to Simon Joyner in a Lincoln club in a decade this Saturday night when Simon rolls into the Zoo Bar with Kill County. To mark the occasion, Lincoln music legend L. Kent Wolgamott has an interview with Simon in the current issue of the Lincoln Journal Star‘s Ground Zero, which you can read online here. 9 p.m., $8.

And I guess there is one touring act coming through on Sunday night (though I wouldn’t consider them “indie”). The Reverend Horton Heat is playing at The Slowdown with Larry and His Flask and Godamned Gallows. $20, 8 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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Tennis at Slowdown Jr., Feb. 22, 2012.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Tennis (the band, not the sport) epitomizes the whole idea of bands coming through a town again and again, slowly building up a following each time. When they played here to 2010, there was maybe 50 people at Slowdown Jr. despite the fact that the band had already been reviewed in Pitchfork and other publications. The crowd grew when they returned last year. And then… last night. There was well over 200 people at Slowdown Jr. — it was packed.

Now a four-piece, Tennis came on a little after 10 and played about an hour’s worth of what can only be described as roller rink rock — cute, punched-up sock hop music with a 2-1 back beat. Most of the evening, tiny Aliana Moore with a waist no larger than a coffee can stood behind her keyboard and sang while her hubby bounced around next to her riffing on electric guitar. A third guy switched between guitar and a second keyboard. Their music was pleasant and hookless, easy to listen to and easy to ignore. Maybe that’s the appeal, though the band had its share of listeners doing a half-hearted grind near the stage.

So what explains the big crowd? Someone said it was a Pitchfork effect, which doesn’t quite work because Pitchfork gave their new Patrick Carney-produced album only a 6.3 (the debut garnered a 6.2) — well below the hipster must-see radar. They don’t have anything that you could mistake for a “hit,” and I’ve never heard their music used in a commercial or movie. The only explanation that I can come up with is the model in which all bands build their dreams — constant touring. That said, there are countless stories of local non-Saddle Creek bands (and a few Creek bands, too) that have toured consistently for years and still play to empty rooms (though they haven’t been reviewed in Pitchfork). Who knows, maybe Tennis also is hearing its share of crickets on the road, though I doubt it.

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For those of you who are wondering, my new column launched in The Reader two weeks ago. The latest installment came out in today’s issue, and takes you on a wondrous journey through fabulous Crossroads Mall. Pick up a copy at your favorite bar or convenient store.

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Tonight Brad Hoshaw and Travelling Mercies play at The Side Door Lounge, 3530 Leavenworth. Also on the bill are traveling folkies I Hate You Just Kidding, who count among their influences Mayday’s Old Blood album. 9 p.m., absolutely free.

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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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The Saddle Creek SXSW game plan is beginning to take form. We now know that The Mynabirds and Big Harp are both going to Austin this year. Glancing at their Saddle Creek tour calendar, Creek’s newest recruits, Icky Blossoms, is slated to play at Austin’s Waterloo Records March 15 as part of a showcase. And PUJOL was invited to SXSW a long time ago.

On the other hand, we know that Cursive won’t be there. Neither will Bright Eyes after last year’s appearance. Still, Creek’s presence is pretty strong, and who knows who else will join the party. The label has yet to announce if it will be hosting an actual showcase (though I assume it will).

Another familiar face, former Omahan Jake Bellows, tweeted that he’s headed to SXSW. And local band Blue Bird continues to be in the running for a SXSW spot as part of this promotion. Beyond that, I can’t see anyone else from Omaha making the trip this year… so far.

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Looks like Kansrocksas has gone belly up, for now. Organizers are saying (here) that they’re taking a year off while the Kansas Speedway undergoes a construction project, and that they’ll be back better than ever in 2013. I’ll believe it when I see it. Rumor has it that their “successful inaugural” year lost north of a million dollars.

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Tonight at Slowdown Jr., it’s the return of Tennis. The band first came played the Slowdown Jr. stage in August 2010 (review here). That was the couple’s third show ever. They returned in February 2011 (interview here). And now they’re back again supporting a new album, Young & Old, produced by Patrick Carney of The Black Keys. They’ve lightened their retro jukebox sound for something more streamlined and indie. The result (at times) is reminiscent of The Sundays (or at least Aliana Moore is beginning to sound like Harriet Wheeler). Betsy Wells opens. 9 p.m. $10.

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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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

It’s funny and sad where we’ve come in terms of generating interest in indie music. Just a decade ago, finding the best new music was something of a challenge; and if you lived in Omaha, it was practically hidden from sight. Today, everything’s at our fingertips. All you need is someone to point the way.

Unfortunately, from an indie music standpoint, that someone continues to be Pitchfork. As it’s been for a few years now, a review in Pitchfork can help make or break an indie band. For a new band, it can mean the difference between having your music heard and people coming to your shows… or being unheard and unseen. For more established bands like Cursive, Pitchfork won’t break them to a new audience as much as: 1) support a listener’s already-formed notion about their music, or 2) cast doubt on the listener’s own taste.

For Pitchfork‘s review of I Am Gemini, posted yesterday, the effect is the latter. The 4.7-rated review opens with this salvo: “Credit where due: I Am Gemini is Cursive’s weakest record by a disheartening margin…” The opening sentence of the next paragraph gives you a footing as to the reviewer’s past experience with Cursive: “…even while Cursive’s Domestica and The Ugly Organ remain some of the most purposefully narcissistic albums to ever bear the emo tag, their lyrical acts of emotional martyrdom understandably inspired an intense cult.” Yikes…

But it’s not all negative… or is it? “Conceptual tomfoolery aside, the music aligns with Kasher’s increasing tendency to sand off the edges of his prickly attitude and serrated vocals, and I Am Gemini is by far Cursive’s most playful record and almost fun at points.”

The review concludes with: “At one point on ‘Wowowow,’ Kasher sings in puns taken from Cursive titles, and this kind of meta exercise makes a sad kind of sense within the context of I Am Gemini’s impenetrability. After all, main characters like Cassius, Pollock, Young Cassius, Young Pollock, and the Narrator are all voiced by the same guy the same exact way, a more concrete way of essentially pointing out that the whole of I Am Gemini is Kasher talking to himself.”

After reading that, Cursive should be happy to have received a rating as high as a 4.7. Keep in mind that the rating will be the only thing non-fans will ever see. Only Cursive fans will read the entire review, because no one reads Pitchfork reviews anymore, they just look at the number. I take that back. People will read a Pitchfork review if the rating is as low as 2.0 or high as 8.0. Anything in the middle is ignored.

Upon hearing the review, I can imagine Tim Kasher shrugging and saying, “Hey, whattaya gonna do?” There’s nothing you can do about a bad review other than bite down and move on. Kasher knew he was taking a risk with this one; people are either going to get it or they won’t. And in fact the record has received its share of accolades. Drowned in Sound gave the album an 8 out of 10, calling it a “monumental return for Tim Kasher…” adding “This beautifully dark fairytale of a concept album is as heavy as the Cursive of old, ingenious, and just as lyrically surreal as you could hope for.”

Paste Magazine gave the album 7.8 out of 10 with the comment: “Musically, the band is at their most adventurous, albeit not their most accessible,” and recommending repeated listenings — good advice, but will anyone take it in this ADD/Spotify age?

AV Club gave it a “B,” calling it a “forceful, a demanding rock-driven opus…”

On the other hand, the Boston Phoenix gave it 2.5 stars out of 4. The reviewer, who can’t seem to get over the loss of Gretta Cohn, called the record “the most musically conventional record they’ve ever made; it also bears the burden of putting across Kasher’s most preposterous story ever.”

But in the end, it’s the Pitchfork review that carries the most weight if only for the fact that a high Pitchfork rating could have been enough to get a non-fan to check out the record on Spotify or whatever subscription streaming service they use. Not that it matters, because despite the fact that the record dropped today, I Am Gemini is not available in its entirety on Spotify, and may not be for a while…

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I almost forgot to mention: Tonight at the Shop at Saddle Creek it’s the second meeting of the Record Club @ Shop. Tonight’s record to be played in its entirety: Neutral Milk Hotel’s classic In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. It all starts at 7 and will be followed by a short discussion afterward. For more info, go here.

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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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks at The Slowdown, Feb. 17, 2012.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

We got there early for last Friday’s Stephen Malkmus show at The Slowdown so we could sit along railing, but as 9 o’clock began to roll around and opening band Nurses took the stage, I realized that this would probably be another in a series of disappointing turn-outs for an act who’s following is anchored by his past in a classic ‘90s band. Malkmus has been doing his own thing for a decade now, putting out solo albums along with his backing band, The Jicks, that can hold their own with anything Pavement released (or at least released toward the end of their run). He’s made a name for himself, but he still can’t sell out The Slowdown, or even draw a crowd large enough to require opening the balcony.

Or maybe everyone was just arriving late. Nurses came on just after 9 playing to a half-filled floor.  We sat around after their set trying to figure out who they reminded us of. The consensus: Vampire Weekend meets Tokyo Police Club with the vocalist from Band of Horses. There was nothing terribly unique or striking or identifiable about their sound, other than it epitomizes the same sort of “vibe” music that was popular a couple years ago (and I guess still is today, at least on Sirius XM).

Malkmus and Co. hit the stage at their scheduled 10:15 start time. Despite being in his mid-40s, he still looks and acts like a guy in his late 20s, early 30s fronting a northern California indie rock band in his worn T-shirt, jeans, Adidas and winged, fly-away haircut. He opened with “Jenny and the Ess Dog,” a song he had waited until the encore to play the night before in Denver. And other than “Tigers” and “Gorgeous Georgie” off the new album, I couldn’t tell you the names of many of the other songs he played, though they all sounded familiar and good. Live vs. recording, Malkmus takes short songs like “Tigers” and “Senators” and “Baby C’Mon” and stretches them into longer jams that lean heavy on his own slinky guitar solo prowess. With three backing Jicks, the songs sounded lean and mean, with plenty of room to breathe.

By the end of his set, I’d noticed the floor was now completely filled. He came back and did a couple more songs including a loose, half-ass version of “Wild Thing” that reflected the loose, half-assed — and above all — fun vibe of the entire evening, a casual set of music played by one of the better indie songwriters of his generation.

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Do you think in this day and age that anyone will ponder whether The Faint “sold out” by licensing the use of their 2004 song “Desperate Guys” for use in a new Kohl’s commercial (above)?

My take: Who in the hell cares? How do you expect anyone to make a living making music these days when you can’t sell your CDs and Spotify “pays” you 1/100th of a penny each time someone streams your songs? The Kohl’s commercial is no more or less tasteful than your typical music video, and how else is the band going to get their music heard, especially since they no longer perform live (or at least have no plans to in the immediate future)?

With the music industry on life support, licensing is one of the last bastions of income for bands, and even that will eventually go away when Madison Avenue realizes that bands will pay the advertisers to use their music in commercials. Better get in on it while you still can. Instead of their fellow musicians pointing an accusing finger and saying “How dare you,” they’re more likely to ask “How did you?” or “How can we?”

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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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I blogged this because it’s too long to post in Facebook and the story isn’t online at Rollingstone.com

There’s an interesting interview with Saddle Creek’s Robb Nansel in the new Rolling Stone (with Paul McCartney on the cover). The article focuses on the inevitable death of the Compact Disc, and opens with Robb and Laura Burhenn trying to find a John Prine CD in Leesburg, Virginia, for Laura’s step father. They come back empty handed. Nansel then goes on to talk about how Saddle Creek always debates whether or not to press CDs when it comes to put out a new release.

What the story forgets to mention is that Nansel and Saddle Creek just opened a new record store that focuses on vinyl (the Shop at Saddle Creek). That would have made for a clever twist on what turned out to be a rather dire article that predicts the end of the CD within five years.

Anyway, look for it in the news section of the new Rolling Stone. And look for a full  review of last nights Malkmus show at Slowdown right here on Monday, with a couple photos. (Spoiler alert: It was a great show).

I’m still debating whether to go to The Brothers or The Sydney  tonight…

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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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

So here’s the plan:

Start out early tonight with beers at House of Loom, where the guys who run The Antiquarium Record Store will be spinning sides from 5 until 8. Very chill.

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Mirror Traffic (Matador, 2011)

After that, head over to The Slowdown for Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks. The band’s new album, Mirror Traffic, was one of my favorites last year. In addition, a couple weeks ago I got my first release from the Matador Records “Singles Going Home Alone” 45-inch record club. The debut is SM&tJ doing a sweet cover of L.A. Guns’ “Wheels of Fire.” The flipside is a L.A. Guns’ cover of “Gorgeous Georgie” from Mirror Traffic. If you’re not in the club, you can join for $45 for a year’s subscription (six singles). Which brings up this question (again): WHEN WILL SADDLE CREEK START ITS OWN SINGLES CLUB? Get on it, folks.

Anyway… Opening tonight’s show is Nurses. The Dead Oceans artist just got off the road with Mountain Goats. You can check out their latest video on vimeo, here:  $18, 9 p.m. See you there.

After Malkmus and Co. wrap things up, get your nightcap at O’Leaver’s, where Lightning Bug is playing with Bear Stories, Lindsay Donovan and Dojorock. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Also tonight, Underwater Dream Machine and Ragged Company are playing at The Barley Street Tavern with The Fucking Doneofits and Tenderness Wilderness. $5, 9 p.m.

Tomorrow night’s much less hectic.

Davey & the Dicks are headlining a show at The Brothers with Dirty Talker and The Lupines. I don’t know who/what this Davey/Dicks is. Are they associated with the original Dicks hardcore punk band? That Davy didn’t have an “e” in his name. Anyway, I can tell you that The Lupines features John Ziegler (Brimstone Howl), Mike Friedman, Mike Tulis and Javid Dabestani. Here’s a review of their debut show at O’Leaver’s last November. 9 p.m., $5.

Also Saturday night, The Filter Kings return to The Sydney in Benson with School of Arms, $7, 9 p.m.

* * *
The new full length by Digital Leather, Modern Problems, is just beginning to get the raves it deserves, like this review from Germany’s Musik Magazin Medienkonverter. I can’t read German, so I thought I’d drop the review into Yahoo’s old Babel Fish translator. Here’s what I got on the other side:

The output of Digitally Leather alias Shawn Foree is enormous – published alone 2011 a EP, a single and tape, follow now already a new album: Decaying of Problem is produced the successor of the 2009 published LP Warmly Bread ago and contrary to its predecessor still more consistently, taken up with a tape recorder in Foree’s bedroom, coly-ordinated to only few takes. 

You get the drift. Babel Fish don’t translate so well. Regardless, the review is still better than anything on Pitchfork.

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Finally, you may have noticed that the Bad Speler remix of Whitney’s “How Will I Know?” posted on Lazy-i Tuesday became “unavailable.” Darren Keen, the bad boy behind Bad Speler, said he received notification from Soundcloud telling him that the track “infringes on someone else’s copyright,” and hence, they pulled it from their site. That said, you can still download Darren’s remix at the Illegal Art website, where they’ve been posting a new Bad Speler remix on a weekly basis. Check it out (just don’t tell Whitney’s people…).

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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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.