by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Twin Sister, In Heaven (2011, Domino)

Tonight’s show at The Waiting Room kind of sneaked up on me. Long Island band Twin Sister may fancy themselves as shoegaze, but to me they’re more of a dream-pop band. Their 2011 debut full length In Heaven (released on Domino), is gorgeous, lush, female-fronted pop that’s impossible to ignore. Synth-heavy with the occasional glowing guitar line, its disco beats and audio mood lighting would be right at home at a Loom-tastic dance club. Songs like “Bad Street” seem equal parts influenced by Tom Tom Club and latter-year dance-dub Factory Records (see Quando Quando/New Order). For those keeping score, Pitchfork gave the album a 7.8 (here), which instantly put them on the indie radar (of course). Get ready to dance (if you want to). Coney Island dreamers Ava Luna opens. $10, 9 p.m.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/16685380″ iframe=”true” /]

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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

No doubt you’ve been hearing the buzz about last week’s Lincoln Exposed festival. The shockwaves are still being felt throughout the Unicameral. Lincoln Exposed major domo Jeremy Buckley gave me the post-mortem on this year’s event. He organized the event with Dub Wardlaw from Duffy’s and Josh Hoyer from the Zoo bar.

“For the four-day weekend we had about 1,700 people (or 425 a day) paid, not including about 280 band members that got all-access passes, and about 50 other guests (media, volunteers, etc.),” Buckley said. “Venues were easily more crowded than they ever are for any given local show from 6 p.m. until the last note of the night. Best year yet, we even got the mayor out to check out Kill County and The Betties.”

He said most of the venues (Bourbon Theater front room, Duffy’s,  Zoo Bar) were close to capacity Friday and Saturday nights. The weekend’s biggest draw: Universe Contest, a band that Buckley said gets compared to Modest Mouse. “(They) used to be Gooses, couple different members,” he added. Eli Mardock was the biggest draw Wednesday night.

What’s the coolest thing about Lincoln Exposed other than the music and the booze? Like every other Jeremy Buckley production, every one of the 60+ bands and performers got paid. I know the idea of actually paying bands seems alien and strange to most of the organizers of local “festivals” held in Benson and other clubs around town, but Buckley somehow manages to get it done.

In fact, Buckley said more than $7,000 was paid out to performers and $1,500 was paid to sound personnel. Let’s review: The bars get paid, the support folks (soundmen, etc.) get paid, and the bands get paid. Everybody gets paid, including Buckley and his team. Is paying bands to play really that difficult to do? Next time you pay your $10-$20-$30 for a wrist band at local festival that doesn’t pay the bands, ask yourself where at that money went…

Fact is, paying the bands is one of the reasons Buckley is able to attract the best local bands to participate at his festivals.

So what’s the next Jeremy Buckley production? The 9th Annual Lincoln Calling Festival, coming to the streets of Lincoln in mid-October.

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Finally, it was impossible to ignore the passing of Ms. Whitney Houston this past weekend. Her career touched many lives, not the least of which includes our very own Bad Speler a.k.a. Darren Keen, who in the depths of his grief created an amazing  remix of “How Will I Know?” It was a fitting tribute… until Darren decided to attach his remix to this Vimeo video featuring Brent Star of sexyman.com. Whitney lovers may want to skip it and instead check out the remix on Soundcloud, below:

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/36481832″ iframe=”true” /]

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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 final count on my Omaha Entertainment and Arts (OEA) awards predictions: 5 for 15. Not bad. Actually, that’s appalling, but it accurately reflects my knowledge of the Benson music scene. Last night’s big winner was Galvanized Tron, who took home the Artist of the Year and Best Hip-Hop awards. I’ve never heard GT’s music before. In fact, I haven’t heard seven of the 14 winners’ music. Pleasant surprises were Conduits (best indie) and Icky Blossoms (best DJ/EDM), two bands whose music I have heard (and enjoyed) and who recently signed big fat record deals with a couple national indie labels we’re all familiar with. Least surprising: That Bright Eyes’ The People’s Key took home Album of the Year. To the best of my knowledge, Conor skipped the ceremony. Here’s the rest of last night’s OEA Award winners:

Best New Artist: Snake Island
Best Artist: Galvanized Tron
Best Cover Band: Yesterday & Today
Best Ethnic: The Bishops
Best Progressive/Experimental/Funk: Satchel Grande
Best Jazz: Jazzocracy
Best Blues: Kris Lager Band
Best Hip Hop:  Galvanized Tron
Best Soul/R&B Gospel: Lucas Kellison
Best Country/Americana: Matt Cox
Best DJ/EDM: Icky Blossoms
Best Indie: Conduits
Best Hard Rock: Broken Crown
Best Adult Alternative/Songwriter: AYGAMG
Best Album: Bright Eyes, The People’s Key

* * *

In other awards show news, legendary Omaha producer Tom Ware of Warehouse Studios went home empty handed from last night’s Grammy’s, as his work with Lady Gaga was overlooked by an academy that was “gaga” for Adele. It was fun watching Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon awkwardly accept the award for best new artist. Said Vernon at the podium: “It’s also hard to accept because when I started to make songs, I did it for the inherent reward of making songs, so I’m a little bit uncomfortable up here.” So were we, Vernon.

A still from the Chipotle commercial.

The rest was business as usual. I watched every second of last night’s Grammy’s broadcast and the most impressive moment was an animated Chipotle commercial about organic farming featuring Willie Nelson singing a cover of “The Scientist” by Coldplay. I “rewound” and watched the commercial three times.  You can check it out here.

The broadcast had an amusing ending when KMTV cut off the evening’s big finale featuring Paul McCartney and a stage filled with famous guitarists (Bruce Springsteen and David Grohl among them) so we could get an accuweather update. Apparently no one at the station pays attention to their own programming. Yet another shining example of KMTV’s rock solid commitment to becoming the worst network-affiliated TV station in Omaha. Keep it up, guys, you’ve got KPTM and the run!

* * *

If you weren’t up at the crack of dawn Sunday morning you missed NPR’s feature on Simon Joyner that aired as part of Weekend Edition. The piece featured Simon talking about his music and his life in Omaha, and included comments from Conor Oberst and myself. So if you’ve ever wondered what my voice sounds like, here’s your chance to find out as the audio story is now online. Nice work, Clay, though there’s the issue about the spelling of my last name…

* * *

Denver’s Westword has a review of Sunday night’s Cursive show at the Larimer Lounge online here. From the review:

“‘I don’t know why we don’t come here more often,’ Kasher chuckled and complimented the crowd. The rock elder statesman looked genuinely bashful as he paid his audience the largest possible compliment. ‘You guys are awesome. You should go to Omaha and teach those guys how to rock!‘” 

Really, Mr. Kasher? REALLY?

By the way, you can now hear Cursive’s latest, I Am Gemini, streamed in its entirety right here at rollingstone.com.

* * *

Tonight is officially metal night at The Waiting Room as ’80s thrash metal band Testament takes the stage with Omaha’s own metal masters, Bloodcow. $25, 9 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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Well it’s that time of year again for the Benson Music Awards, uh… I mean the Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards (OEAs).

Look, I’m so far out of the loop regarding the OEAs since I resigned as an “Academy Member” back in 2010 that I no longer get any correspondence from the organization. And I mean absolutely nothing, which is strange, because I still write about music here at Lazy-i.com and The Reader (who (I think) is still an event sponsor).

Oh well. If you want to know my gripes about the OEA’s, read my public resignation, published in my column two years ago, right here.

Nothing has changed. In fact, the whole thing has become even more incestuous. Most of the area’s best talent continues to be ignored, while bands and performers willing to “rally their fans” to vote in the “open voting” portion get nominated. Yes, I know Marq, there’s a whole process for selecting nominees that go beyond the open voting. Still, somehow the OEA’s managed to overlook some of the area’s best talent, including Darren Keen, Simon Joyner, Digital Leather, Ideal Cleaners, Skypiper, Yuppies, Depressed Buttons, McCarthy Trenching, Back When, Baby Tears, It’s True, Con Dios, Peace of Shit, Capgun Coup, Thunder Power, and on and on.

There are politics in everything, including music.

Anyway, the OEAA’s annual awards banquet is Sunday night at the Hilton downtown. And as I do every year, here are my thoughts for each music category on: 1) who will win, and 2) who should have won:

Best New Artist:
Who will win: We Be Lions
Who should have won: Icky Blossoms

Best Artist:
Who will win: Matt Cox
Who should have won: Bright Eyes

Best Cover Band:
Who will win: Secret Weapon
Who should have won: Secret Weapon

Best Ethnic:
Who will win: Donnybrook
Who should have won: The Turfmen (too bad they weren’t nominated)

Best Progressive/Experimental/Funk
Who will win: Satchel Grande
Who should have won: InDreama

Best Jazz
Who will win: Steve Raybine
Who should have won: Steve Raybine

Best Blues
Who will win: Kris Lager Band
Who should have won: no idea

Best Hip Hop
Who will win: Galvanized Tron
Who should have won: Conchance

Best Soul/R&B Gospel
Who will win: Lucas Kellison
Who should have won: Second Chance

Best Country/Americana
Who will win: Filter Kings
Who should have won: Filter Kings

Best DJ/EDM
Who will win: Somasphere
Who should have won: Depressed Buttons (also not nominated)

Best Indie:
Who will win: So-So Sailors
Who should have won: So-So Sailors

Best Hard Rock:
Who will win: Mitch Gettman
Who should have won: Ideal Cleaners (also not nominated)

Best Adult Alternative/Songwriter
Who will win: Mitch Gettman
Who should have won: Tim Kasher (not nominated)

Best Album
Who will win: Bright Eyes, The People’s Key
Who should have won: Bright Eyes, The People’s Key (Something tells me Conor won’t be there to accept his award).

Details about Sunday night’s event are available at http://oea-awards.com/

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Hey, the Grammy’s are Sunday night, too. Who cares?

Well, despite the fact that The Grammy’s have turned into an extended episode of American Idol and The Voice, I’ll be watching if only to see if Omaha legend Tom Ware picks up a Grammy for his work on Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, which is up for Album of the Year. Keep your fingers crossed, though I think Adele will ultimately take home the trophy.

The closest thing to an indie category at The Grammy’s is “Best Alternative Album,” where it’s Bon Iver, Radiohead, Death Cab, Foster the People and My Morning Jacket. My money is on Bon Iver, because he sure as shit isn’t going to win in the other categories he’s nominated in.

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So what’s happening this weekend?

Lincoln Exposed continues in Lincoln tonight and tomorrow. Details here.

Last week’s Slumber Party Showcase at the Saddle Creek Shop that got cancelled due to the snow has been rescheduled for this Saturday afternoon starting at 3 p.m. The lineup: Jasong Mountain (of Talking Mountain),  Andy Cubrich (of Family Picnic), Sam Martin (of Capgun Coup), and Bobby Rubalcava (of The West Valley/The Benningtons) and more. Come on down, it’s free.

Saturday night Dirty Flourescents, Comme Reel and Techlepathy light up O’Leaver’s for a night of midwestern punk. $5, 9:30 p.m.

And then Sunday night Hear  Nebraska is hosting a show at Loom featuring Bad Spele (Darren Keen), Machete Archive and more. 9 p.m., $5. More details here.

And finally, Slowdown Jr. is hosting an OEA after party featuring Snake Island and BASSthoven. 9:30, $5 or free if you can prove (willing to admit) you were at the OEAs.

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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

Hey, I’ve got an idea: How ’bout we never use the phrase “They’re killing it” ever again in Twitter/Facebook/anywhere? What do you say? The only phrase more annoying is “No worries.” What are we, in the Outback? STOP IT.

Thursday always has been when I’ve posted my weekly column. I figured this was a good time to explain last week’s column to those who didn’t “get it,” and there were quite a few of you. At least a half-dozen people have asked me what exactly did I mean by “the end of my first column and the beginning of my second.”

Here’s the translation: My music column in The Reader folded last week. That was it. Kaput. Over. End of story. EOL. For those who missed it, you can read the reason for that column’s demise, here.

Next week I begin writing a new column for The Reader. I don’t know what it’ll be called, but it won’t be called Lazy-i. This new column will not be dedicated to indie music, as Lazy-i was. It’ll be a general topic column focused on arts and culture and anything that I can come up with by knocking together the two rocks rolling around in my head. That new column will launch in The Reader next week, and will be exclusive content in the paper and at thereader.com — it won’t be posted here.

This website will continue in its current direction. Nothing will change. It will have the same indie/Omaha music focus that it’s always had and will be updated each weekday over my lunch hour, as it has for the past 1,000 years.

Furthermore, I’ll continue to write feature articles and interviews with bands that will appear both in The Reader and in Lazy-i. In fact, I just did an interview with Tim Kasher last night for an article that’ll be in print in an upcoming issue of The Reader, and also will be posted on this website (along with any extra interview content that wouldn’t fit in The Reader‘s article).

Again, I’d like to thank all of you for reading the printed version of Lazy-i in The Reader over the years. A couple people seemed genuinely upset about its demise, telling me “It’s the only thing I read in The Reader,” and “I’ll never pick up that paper again.” To this I say: “Thank you. I appreciate your kind words. I’m always surprised when I hear that anyone read my column (whether in print or online). But please, keep picking up The Reader. Flip through its pages. If there’s something that you’d like them to cover, interviews you’d like them to conduct, please let them know. Email the editor, John Heaston (john@thereader.com) and tell him what’s missing and what you’d like to see in his pages (which are really your pages, because you’re the customer, and the customer is always right, right?). John will listen. He has to. The only way printed newspapers are going to survive is if the folks producing them listen to their readers and provide the content that they ask for along with the content that the editor thinks they need (Quick, someone write that down and send it to every friggin’ newspaper in the country).”

Another reason you need to continue to pick up The Reader is because MY NEW COLUMN WILL BE PRINTED IN IT! But I don’t want to sound like the egotistical prick that I am. Just saying’ (there’s another phrase that should be abolished).

As I said last week, there will be some (maybe a lot) of overlap between my new column and the old one. I’m not going to avoid music topics, but I’ll also no longer avoid non-music topics. I’ve been wanting to write about local art, music, food, theater, literature, people, dogs, cops, robbers, trees, politicians, boobs, pricks, glass houses and empty buildings for years and have held back because it didn’t fit the Lazy-i format. Now I can. And with that, I’ve just given you a sneak preview of next week’s inaugural column, which remains unnamed. If you have any ideas, pass them my way.

* * *

And speaking of my continuing music coverage in The Reader, yours truly will again be covering South By Southwest in Austin. Originally, it didn’t look like I was going, but things have changed and I’ll be reporting from Austin again this year, posting daily for thereader.com and Lazy-i.com. Let’s hope the weather is better than the last time I went two years ago, when it was cold and rainy and miserable. Please, pray to your gods.

* * *

Lincoln Exposed continues tonight. Early report from Mr. Jeremy Buckley is that crowds at yesterday’s shows were at record levels. If you’re in the Capital City tonight, you should go, because there ain’t jack shit happening in Omaha tonight. Full schedule is here (in Facebook).

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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’ve been espousing this premise about the future of music and entertainment in general for the past year. It’s this: As music becomes more accessible and virtually free via Spotify/Rdio/Rhapsody (and eventually iTunes) bands won’t be vying to get you to buy their music as much as simply take the time to listen to it. With all the distractions from all the media bombarding us like radiation every second of every day, just finding time to listen to new music, and really consider it, is a precious thing, because no one wants to waste their time listening to your music if it’s shitty.

I think this future I’m describing is already here.

Last night’s inaugural meeting of the Record Club at The Saddle Creek Shop was a salvo aimed directly at this idea. The club’s concept: Sit and listen to an entire record album uninterrupted, and then afterward, talk about it. It seems simple enough, until you ask yourself when was the last time you sat and listened to a complete album uninterrupted, beginning-to-end without surfing on the net or updating your Facebook page or driving around town or shopping at Whole Foods. Just sit for 43 minutes and listen. To the whole thing. No skipping around. Top-to-bottom. Who has the time to do something like that anymore?

Believe it or not, back in the old days before the iPod, people used to do it all the time. At record stores like The Antiquarium, they sat around, smoked cigarettes, listened to records and talked about them. That’s what Creek chief Robb Nansel remembers. That’s what he’s trying to recreate at his new record shop (but without the smoking). That’s the concept behind this club. In some ways, it’s a noble if not extravagent idea.

So there we were last night at 7 at the shop, all six of us, listening to Cursive’s I Am Gemini one side at a time. And afterward, we talked about the record. Did we like it? Did we hate it? Where does it rank among the band’s discography? What the fuck does it mean? Will “kids” have the patience to listen to a concept album and “get it”? Can any of the tracks survive in isolation, out of context? Whether Nansel wants to admit it or not, it was kind of like a focus group consisting of music fans, though I’m not sure if anyone felt comfortable enough to say if they thought it sucked in front of Nansel and the record store guy (there were only three “civilians” there). But the fact is, anyone who would trek out on a snowy Tuesday night to listen to this record is probably pre-disposed to like it.

Creek is marketing this as “the best Cursive album since The Ugly Organ.” Am I the only person who liked Mama, I’m Swollen and Happy Hollow? Like I said yesterday, Gemini is a return to Such Blinding Stars-style Cursive, but that wasn’t the consensus last night, as none of the three had heard that album before (or Domestica, for that matter).

Eventually, the topic shifted to the record’s format. I love the idea of Saddle Creek releasing everything on vinyl with a CD tucked in the sleeve. Why would anyone want just the CD when you can get the vinyl and the CD for just a few dollars more? Well, that also wasn’t the concensus last night, as none of the three had a turntable, have no plans on buying one and wouldn’t know what to do with the record. They’d rather spend $10 and just get the CD. So what do I know?

Then the topic shifted to Spotify. Everyone likes it, everyone uses it, but they use it differently. I listen to full albums on Spotify. A few only listen to playlists and never listen to full releases. Then the discussion shifted to how anyone makes any bloody money from Spotify.

And so on for more than an hour. The point is, I went into this thinking it might be a long night filled with awkward and forced “conversation,” when it was actually interesting and fun. When was the last time you just sat around and talked about music?

They’re doing it again in two weeks with Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. Will more than three people show up? Who knows. But let me leave you with this thought:

I’ve heard for years local music fans and bands suggest how great it would be to figure out a way to get together and talk about music outside of a bar setting. No one’s ever figured out a way to pull it off. Here’s an opportunity to not only listen and discuss new or classic music, but to talk about what’s going on with music during a time when the very nature of how we listen to music changes every day.

And it wouldn’t kill you to listen to stop for an hour and listen to a complete album. It’s certainly worth the investment… in time.

* * *

Tonight is the kick off of the annual Lincoln Exposed festival in, uh, Lincoln. The festival runs through Saturday at three venues: The Bourbon Theatre, Duffy’s and The Zoo Bar, and features performances by some of Lincoln’s best bands.

Tonight’s line-up:

Bourbon Theatre
8:30 p.m. Strawberry Burns
9:30 p.m. Professor Plum
10:30 p.m. Sputnik Kaputnik
11:30 p.m. Powerful Science
12:30 a.m. Aren’t We All Dead

Duffy’s Tavern
8 p.m. Dean the Bible
9 p.m. Pharmacy Spirits
10 p.m. Eli Mardock
11 p.m. Orion Walsh
12 a.m. Foam_Form

Zoo Bar
6 p.m. Dr. John Walker
7 p.m. Tijuana Gigolos
8:15 p.m. Sons of 76
9:15 p.m. Hangin’ Cowboys
10:15 p.m. Lucas Kellison
11:15 p.m. Ghost Runners
12:15 a.m. Omni Arms

Cost is $6 per night to get into all three clubs, or $20 for the full week! The full schedule is on their Facebook page, here. Hey, I’d go if I lived there…

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Cursive, I Am Gemini (2012, Saddle Creek Records)

Since it’ll be discussed tonight at the event at the Shop at Saddle Creek, I figured I might as well share my initial thoughts/questions about Cursive’s new release, I Am Gemini, which comes out in two weeks, but will be available for purchase at tonight’s event.

Here they are: 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 we live in? Can the songs on I Am Gemini stand on their own, out of context, without the rest of the album? And how will a random, isolated track sound sandwiched between Lana Del Rey and Andrew Jackson Jihad during shuffle mode?

And does anyone even care about lyrics anymore?

Tim Kasher must think they do. The album comes with a “playbook” — basically a script of a play whose dialogue and direction are the lyrics of the album, so you can follow along as you sit down and listen to the album, presumably in its entirety, just like we used to back in the days before iPods.

By now you’ve already heard the album’s “plot:” identical twins — one good, one evil — separated at birth reunite at a house that they’ve inherited.  Along the way there’s angels and devils, Siamese twin sisters joined at the head, alternate-mirror realities and other assorted oddities. In the end (Spoiler Alert) the house blows up along with the main character(s). Many nods to Greek tragedies abound (thank god Tim wasn’t reading Beowulf). Some of you youngsters may want to keep your Google prompt on screen when you come across references to Sisyphus, Dionysus, Cassius, dead albatrosses and other literary tidbits.

I think there’s a Black Swan sort of dual-personality-destroying-your-evil-other thing going on. Only Kasher knows for sure, and I’m sure he’s going to get sick of having to explain it interview after interview after interview as the band tours the globe this year and next. Look, I minored in English (okay, it was at UNO) and I’m still not sure what all of it means. And in the end, does it matter? Will your typical teenager or 20-something give a shit or will they merely be entranced by the album’s meaty riffage? What you’ve heard is true about this being 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 of Cursive and The Good Life music-wise. There aren’t a lot of sing-along pop songs in this collection.

But there are indeed songs that can stand in isolation from the rest of the record (though lyrically, they don’t make a lot of sense). “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 down on tape. That said, there are a few songs that seem to act as bridges between ideas, such as “The Cat and Mouse,” which aren’t so successful by themselves.

I’m going out on a limb here guessing that the band intends to play this album in sequence on tour, just like it was recorded. Maybe they’ll also pass out playbills at every gig. Maybe there will be costumes and a live angel/devil choir.

Anyway, I’m still figuring it out. A full review will come later (probably). In summation, it’s a modern-day indie rock opera more so than a rock musical. It’s also a message to the record-buying public that albums — rather than singles — still make sense and can still provide a holistic, theatrical experience if you’re willing to invest the time and keep your twitchy fingers off the shuffle button for just 43 minutes.

Hear it and decide for yourself tonight at 7 at the Saddle Creek Shop.

* * *

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

Strange start Friday night at O’Leaver’s. Amidst the noise and chaos I didn’t get the memo as to why a guy was sitting on stage during New Lungs’ set wearing swim trunks, sun block and sun glasses reading a copy of the OWH. Irony? Maybe, considering the impending snowstorm. A living advertisement for the Men of O’Leaver’s 2012 calendar? I good idea, except I don’t think the guy is actually in the calendar (which you should check out if you haven’t, especially you ladies and you gay and/or bi-curious fellows). Unless you were in front of the mob or off to the side by the head (as I was) you never saw the guy anyway. Yeah, it was that crowded. The biggest crowd I’ve seen at O’leaver’s in a long time.

New Lungs is a fantastic band that lives off the soul of a ’90s West Coast SST hassle-core punk vibe mixed with its own Midwestern ’90s punk heritage. As cliche as it sounds, they get better and better every time I see them. Frontman Danny Maxwell is gaining more confidence with every performance. Call it swagger. Call it hubris. Call it I-don’t-give-a-fuck moxie. I like it, along with the band’s bone-rattling energy. I’m told the band has been working with Matt Carroll at his Little Machine recording studio putting down tracks for a debut album. How long must we wait for this?

So crowded was the room that I eventually found my way by the soundboard in the back, where you can move around and get a fresh Rolling Rock as needed, but behind the grand mob that stood in front of the band. As a result I heard rather than saw Digital Leather perform what (to me) was one of their longest sets, conceivably to work out the kinks before they head off on the road tomorrow for a West Coast/Texas tour.

I’m not sure what’s left to say about Digital Leather that I haven’t already said a dozen times. As a recording entity, Shawn Foree creates some of the best modern rock music heard out of Omaha (or anywhere, for that matter). I spent Sunday listening to my copy of Infinite Sun (which I finally got Friday night). Seven guitar- and keyboard-fueled rock songs that turn their back on the futility of living in these days when an infinite sun seems only to cast long shadows before dusk. That music, along with the songs on just-released cassette, Sponge, and the couple new songs off Modern Problems (which I didn’t buy Friday as I ordered a copy from the label’s website a few weeks ago — a mistake, apparently), have a playful post-apocalyptic groove that are lively and deceptively upbeat.

On recordings, Digital Leather casts an electronic sheen with the addition of synths. Live, DL is a punk three-piece — all leather, no digital. This has startled a few people who are only familiar with the recordings, me among them. But I’ve since seen the error of my ways. Last November on his It’s a Digital World blog (http://itsadigitalworld.blogspot.com/), Foree explained once and for all the difference between recorded and live Digital Leather (the lowercases are his, or as they say in the trades, “sic”):

“when you put on a record or play an mp3 or tape it’s a one on one situation: you and the artist. that’s why i make my recorded sound more intimate. when i play live, there’s a different dynamic. the music becomes a dialogue between a living audience and myself. therefore, these two sides of music, while having comparable aspects, will always contrast, rather (than), complement each other.“

But the real difference to me is the addition of the rest of the band. DL is a different sort of monster when its powered by the rhythm section of bassist Johnny Vrendenburg and drummer Jeff Lambelet. It’s a clean, powerful, breakneck sound that let’s Foree spread out on guitar and vocals in a way that he couldn’t if he were trapped behind a keyboard like he used to be. I never could hear those keyboards live, anyway, no matter who played them. There’s a reason why Foree has stuck with Vrendenburg and Lambelet over the years, a very good reason.

Anyway, I’ve been indoctrinated in the difference between the recorded and live Digital Leather. And as the band continues to tour, more and more people will be as well, but until then, there’s going to be a certain amount of shock, surprise (and disappointment) by those who have listened and loved the records and expect to hear those synths on stage. In fact I was texted by someone who was watching them play in Chicago late last year, asking me where the fuck were the keyboards. I told him that this is what you get with live Digital Leather. Suck it up, and listen.

* * *

Point of CLARIFICATION regarding tomorrow’s launch of Saddle Creek Shop’s new series called “Record Club at Shop.” I said last Friday that Cursive would be there. Cursive will not be there. Let me repeat: Cursive will not be in the house.

I thought I was supposed to moderate a Q&A with a member(s) of Cursive. In fact, the Club’s concept is for music fans to get together and talk about a specific album, in this case, Cursive’s I Am Gemini. To be honest with you, I’m not exactly sure what my role is. Maybe to just sit and listen. Regardless, we’ll all find out tomorrow. The event starts at 7 p.m. with the playing of I Am Gemini in its entirety inside The Saddle Creek Shop. Discussion will follow afterward, and copies of the album will also be available for purchase — two weeks before its street date! If anything, just go there to pick up a copy of the vinyl, which I’m told is spectacular.

* * *

Over the weekend, O’Leaver’s announced a special last-minute show that’s going on TONIGHT. It’s the long-awaited return of Ladyfinger to the house that booze built, along with Great American Desert. $5, 9:30 p.m. Call in sick tomorrow and go.

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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

My suggestion to you: Get your rock in tonight folks, because if the forecast is correct, we ain’t doing nothing on Saturday night except drinking and staring out our windows, which is a shame because there are a couple good shows that will likely get hurt by the weather.

But let’s start with tonight…

The marquee event of the weekend is at fabulous O’Leaver’s tonight when Digital Leather kicks off its “Tour” tour that will take them to the West Coast and Texas through mid-February. I’m not sure which album they’re supporting on this run since they’ve released a couple since their last road shot, but I suspect we’ll be hearing songs off their new cassette, Sponge, as well as tunes off the upcoming full length, Modern Problems (FDH Records). Opening tonight is New Lungs (D-Max of Little Brazil) and Worried Mothers. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Also tonight, Craig Finn of The Hold Steady drops by Slowdown in support of his new solo album, Clear Heart, Full Eyes. Don’t count on hearing any Hold Steady tunes, rather only the solo stuff, which is rather hit-and-miss (to say the least). Check out the Kevin Coffey’s OWH interview with Finn right here. Opening is Mount Moriah. $12. 9 p.m.

Saturday starts early with the “Songs at Shop” series, featuring Slumber Party Records. The instore concert held inside the Saddle Creek Shop at the Slowdown complex features acoustic performances by a handful of Slumber Party artists including Jasong Mountain (of Talking Mountain), Andy Cubrich (of Family Picnic), Anna McClellan (of Howard) and Sam Martin (of Capgun Coup). Performances run from 3 to 5 p.m. and are free. Buy some vinyl while you’re down there. And stay tuned for details about another very special Shop event next Tuesday…

Speaking of free shows, there’s another one later Saturday night at Mojo Smokehouse in Aksarben Village. Little Brazil, The Filter Kings and Ideal Cleaners will be blowing things up starting at 9 p.m. Fantastic line-up!

Finally, Blue Bird is headlining a show Saturday night down at Slowdown Jr. that includes Skypiper, Lawrence, Kansas, band Cowboy Indian Bear and El Valiente. $7, 9 p.m.

The only thing left to add: Snow, snow, go away… and… Go Giants!

* * *

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

This is it, the last installment of my first column for The Reader.

It began Dec. 2, 2004. I had been suggesting to editor John Heaston, literally for years, that he needed to integrate columns into The Reader, that all good newspapers included an opinionated voice willing to speak his or her mind without fear or concern of offending. The music scene needed a voice like that even more. During a time when Omaha was glowing from national praise for its burgeoning indie music scene (by then, the bloom was already off the rose), it woefully lacked a critical voice in print. Some might say it still does.

I’d already been writing music criticism on my website for years. Lazy-i.com launched in 1998 as a work-around tool. Here’s the deal: After publicists line up interviews with their bands or send out album previews, they demand “tear sheets” of what has been written – some tangible proof that they hadn’t wasted their time. Those requests would be forwarded to The Reader, where more likely than not, they’d be forgotten or ignored among the paper’s more pressing needs of the day, leaving me to handle tear sheets myself.

Instead of wasting envelopes, postage and trips to the post office, I got the idea of posting the stories and reviews online (The Reader didn’t have a website back then). I would then e-mail links to stories to the publicists. Satisfied that I was actually doing something, they would keep me (or add me) to their record label’s distro lists, resulting in dozens of manila envelopes filled with CDs landing in my mailbox every week. Because, really, it’s always been about the free CDs, right?

It didn’t take long for me to realize that I could bolster Lazy-i’s readership by adding a daily entry or web log – I guess you could call it a “blog.” My column in The Reader would simply be a natural extension of those web logs, along with original content. After much prodding, Heaston finally agreed to give it a try. Column No. 1 featured an interview with singer/songwriter Willy Mason, who had just signed as the second act to the horribly named Team Love Records – a just-launched sister label (of sorts) to Saddle Creek, owned and operated by Conor Oberst and his business partner, Nate Krenkel.

Seven years and 360 installments later, Lazy-i as a column has run its course. Heaston has suggested that Lazy-i is redundant as it appears in The Reader because most people read my music column online at Lazy-i.com. He’s wrong, of course. Regardless, given the choice of either sunsetting my website or sunsetting my column, I chose the latter.

Part of it has to do with age, I suppose. I am 46 years old, and I’m still writing about music after doing it for 25 years. I find nothing wrong with this, but there are those who have suggested that rock music (and especially new music) is only for young people, and why would a teen-ager/twenty-something give a shit what a guy in his 40s thinks about a new band or new album? Maybe they’re right, but it hasn’t stopped me from doing it, and (apparently) from people reading it.

And here’s something else – as I’ve gotten to the age where I was old enough to be the father of the bands I was interviewing, I’ve never felt awkward talking to these musicians about their music and their lives. I’ve never felt as if they were patronizing me. And while some people feel odd going to rock shows where they’re surrounded by people half their age, I’ve never felt out place. I still don’t. I don’t think I ever will.

Fact is, most people over the age of 30 have a hard time listening to new music. They’re more comfortable listening to the music they grew up listening to.  I guess I’m lucky I get as much of a thrill listening to good new music as I do listening to the hits of the ‘80s. And when I hear something I really like, I enjoy telling others about it (Because let’s be honest, writing about music is as much about ego as it is about getting free CDs).

And what’s the old saying – if you’re involved in music after you reach age 30, you’ll be involved in music your entire life. I think that’s true. Just ask Robert Christgau, who will turn 70 on April 18 and continues to write insightful, witty and relevant music reviews.

So despite the end of this column, Lazy-i.com will live on. I’ll continue to write about music every weekday, I’ll continue to review CDs and rock shows, but I’ll do it on my website. I’ll also continue to interview bands, but that writing will also appear in The Reader when space allows (because things are getting tough for the printed page, my friends. If you value printed newspapers, keep reading them. And then go to the businesses that advertise in them, and after you’ve bought something, tell the businesses you saw their ads in the paper. Do this, or else in the very near future, there won’t be any printed newspapers).

So what’s next? Like I said at the beginning of this piece, this is the last installment of my first column at The Reader. I’m going to take a week off (which I haven’t done for seven years) and then I’m going to write the first installment of my second column for The Reader.

Thanks to all of you for reading Lazy-i over the years. Thanks to John for printing it. Thanks to all the bands and labels and clubs and publicists and promoters and friends who helped make it happen. I couldn’t have done it without you.

I’ll talk to you again in a couple weeks.

* * *

That’s the big announcement I mentioned yesterday. If you read this blog regularly, not much will change. In fact, probably nothing will change, though you won’t be seeing my new column here. It’ll be exclusive to The Reader. Considering how much time I spend at shows, however, there’s bound to be some overlap whether I (or John) likes it or not. Some might say untethering myself from music in my column writing should be liberating. In fact, it’s frightening, but if you’re not taking risks, you’re not living…

* * *

Blind Pilot at The Waiting Room, Feb. 1, 2012.

Now where was I…

Blind Pilot had a triumphant return to Omaha last night. Triumphant in that it looked like they nearly sold out The Waiting Room — a huge crowd that was backed up past the sound board. I got there as they went on stage just past 10:30 (I’m loving these early weekday shows, 1%).

Their sound is a sort of watered-down version of the Avett Bros. fronted by a guy who sounds like he grew up listening to his dad’s Jackson Browne or (more likely) Gomez records. The songs were pretty enough, though none of them had a hook that stood out. At least they were short. Looking at the track listing of We Are The Tide, their latest on unknown Expunged Records, shows eight of the 10 songs are under the four-minute mark, with one coming in under three minutes — just short enough to keep you from getting tired of them. Hey, don’t knock the value of short songs, especially when you have virtually no stage presence. Strangely, as the set wore on, the songs seemed to get longer, long enough to bore, probably because there wasn’t much going on up there.

The solid six-piece is fronted by Israel Nebeker, who played acoustic guitar throughout except when he lugged out a big lap accordion for one song. The rest of the band augmented the middle-of-the-road folk rock sound with vibes, trumpet and banjo. Like I said, pretty.

Other then their appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman last month, I’m baffled as to where this massive crowd had heard these guys before. But they knew them well enough to sing the words back to Nebeker throughout the entire set. Someone told me last night that the popularity stems from Pandora, how that happens, I don’t know. Did people who set up Avett Bros or Gomez channels in Pandora get fed this as part of the mix? Ah, the mysteries of becoming a rock star in the 21st Century. While I was listening to their rather safe, unadventurous but subtly catchy music; I wondered how many more bands are out there like this, filling in the gaps for a generation who doesn’t remember the fleet of MOR bands that preceded them. Probably hundreds. Maybe thousands. And, truthfully, Blind Pilot is better than most, which is why they’re breaking through to a larger audience.

* * *

I’d be remiss in not mentioning yesterday’s announcement that Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band are releasing (via Team Love) an outtakes album along with a DVD documentary about the band directed by the band’s road manager (and Con Dios frontman) Philip Schaffart. You can get all the details here. Release date is May 15. Will this mean that MVB will get together for a brief support tour? Who knows. Rumors abound that another of Conor’s old bands may be planning a reunion tour, and in this harsh political climate, it never made more sense.

* * *

Indie folk troubadour Cass McCombs drops in tonight at The Waiting Room. Opening is folk revivalist Frank Fairfield. $10, 9 p.m.

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.