The Men at Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop, SXSW, March 16, 2012.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The hottest shows of the weekend are happening Saturday night.

Top among them is a gig I’ve been waiting for since it was announced a month or so ago: The Men at Slowdown Jr. Here’s the weird thing about this Brooklyn four piece. I saw them play at Lance Armstrong’s bike shop, Mellow Johnny’s, during South By Southwest in 2012. I got what I expected: Chunky Bad Religion-style rock, loud and fast and raw, with dueling guitar riffs and a couple solid vocalists/screamers.

Then a few months ago, I check out (via Spotify) the band’s latest, New Moon, The opening track, “Open the Door,” starts off like a piano-driven Cat Stevens number before the rest of the band comes in and turns it into a twangin’ yee-ha. Check it out below:

The second track, “Half Angel, Half Light,” has more in common sonically with Centro-matic than any punk band.

They don’t really get heavy until track three, “Without a Face.”

The point is, this isn’t the same band I remember in Austin. The album is one of the bigger surprises of 2013. I have no idea what we’ll get Saturday night when they play on Slowdown’s small stage, but I know it’ll be memorable.

Opening the show is Gordon, one of the Omaha’s best new hopes who hasn’t played live in a few months (at least as far as I know). Get there early. In the center slot is the fucked-up wonder of Baby Tears. Epic show. $10 Adv/$13 DOS. 9 p.m. See you there.

Also Saturday night, The Lupines return to fabulous O’Leaver’s. Opening is North of Grand and The Magnolias. $5, 9:30 p.m. Grab a tiki drink and head out to the patio between sets and soak in the night.

BTW, O’Leaver’s is also hosting a rock show tonight with Rock Paper Dynamite, Witness Tree and Moses Prey. $5, 9:30 p.m. And The Nadas are playing at The Waiting Room tonight with Vago. $15, 9 p.m.

The weekend is rounded out with a pair of shows. Early Sunday evening (5 p.m. to be exact) Outlaw Con Bandana plays with The Brigadiers at O’Leaver’s. But get there anytime after 2 to enjoy some meat & fixin’s from Smoke Buds (I’m getting the munchies already).

Later Sunday night Killer Blow headlines a show at The Sydney with Wisconsin garage rockers Hue Blanc’s Joyless Ones and Silent Drape Runners. $5, 9 p.m.

Whatever you do, get out and enjoy the weather. We’ve waited long enough…

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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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Poliça at The Waiting Room, April 23, 2013.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Pixie-ish Channy Leaneagh looked like a young Mia Farrow (back when Farrow was married to Sinatra, circa Rosemary’s Baby) doing a jerky genie ballet, her tiny hands casting quirky spells on the mesmerized crowd, with a voice like a Twin Cities’ version of Bjork of Sinead. Behind her a band that consisted of two drummers and a bass player named Chris Bierden, who carried the burden of melody on his back.

As such, Poliça, who played at The Waiting Room Tuesday night to a medium-sized crowd (125?), relied more on rhythm than melody. Leaneagh also added her own sounds via a small electronics panel that housed synth samples and effects, but it was her voice at the center of it all, a cooing tone at times layered by technology. The set held a gorgeous, sexy vibe, like a deep-night strut laced with shot-gun echo, with Leaneagh leading the way through the pitch-black tunnel, holding your hand.

My only gripe — the delay in her vocals made it impossible to understand what she was singing, which likely wasn’t a problem for those already familiar with Poliça’s songs. I’m only now discovering them, so the set held a bit more mystery.

Night Moves at The Waiting Room, April 23, 2013.

Opening act Night Moves had a Beach House thing going on, especially from vocalist John Pelant, but musically it would be hard to confuse the two bands. Beach House’s music is more ethereal compared to Night Moves’ more rooted psych rock sound. The band was at its best when Pelant was given room to lean back on his guitar and open up late verses with floating solos. Laid-back indie at it’s finest.

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Kevin Coffey has a feature in today’s Omaha World-Herald that partially outlines the financial structure of the Maha Music Festival. The only thing missing is the dollar signs, though Kev did get them to cough up that year one cost $250k. The money involved is, indeed, substantial. We’re lucky to have these four talented entrepreneurs willing to take the risk. Watch for the big stage announcement this Sunday night.

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In this week’s column, with all the bad shit going down these days, should we just avoid the news? And who else gets bummed out by NPR? The story is in this week’s issue of The Reader or read it online right 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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Poliça plays tonight at The Waiting Room.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Another late-in-the-day post. Hey whaddayagonnado?

Despite the late hour I’m tossing this one online to remind you that Poliça is playing at The Waiting Room tonight with Night Moves. Poliça is Channy Leaneagh and Ryan Olson, previously of the band Gayngs. Their debut album, Give You the Ghost (Totally Gross National Product) got a massive 7.6 on the Pitchfork meter (Check out four songs from the album from the SoundCloud link, below). It’s gorgeous, and seeing them on an Omaha stage is well worth your $14. Show starts at 9.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/1878378″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]

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In other (old) news, Hear Nebraska today announced that it’s teaming up with Omaha Performing Arts and NET News to produce a “Austin City Limits-style” concert June 7 at the Holland Performing Arts Center’s 1200 Club. The performers: Saddle Creek Records’ Big Harp, Lincoln’s Kill County and the red hot Digital Leather. The show will be filmed by NET for four separate TV shows to air statewide (and possibly nationwide). It’s quite a coup for Hear Nebraska and helps galvanize it’s ever-growing rep as the state’s central music hub. Tix are $25 Adv/$30 DOS (info here).

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That greedy bastard Matt Whipkey has been riding my ass for two days to remind you that there’s only 24 hours left to get in on his Penny Park Kickstarter deal. Whipkey’s already blown way past his $4k goal (He was at $5,126 as of this writing). He says that initial $4k goal was only designed to cover half his vinyl costs. Vinyl’s expensive, folks. Especially gatefold double-vinyl. He says his Kickstarter is the best way for you to reserve your copy of his loving ode to one of his favorite teenage memories (Who else got loaded on cheap champagne at the Grove on New Year’s Eve? Ah, the memories)….

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Last but not least, tonight is the kick off the Big Al’s Free Music Festival 2013 — five nights of free music at The Hideout Lounge (320 So. 72nd St.). More info 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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship at The Waiting Room, April 20, 2013.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Every band should play one cover song during their set because the song they choose opens a hidden door into what they’re about. At least that’s the conventional wisdom. In the case of Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship, that wisdom does not necessarily apply.

Halfway through their well-attended (200?) album release show Saturday night at The Waiting Room, the band decided to play “the best song we didn’t write,” and tore into Neil Young’s “Hey, Hey, My My (Into the Black).” Fantastic rendition including blazing between-verse guitar solos by frontman Andrew Gustafson. Great song, but who would have guessed that this is the cover they’d pick? I would have guessed something by Sonic Youth or Dinosaur Jr. or even the Pixies, but an old Freedom Rock chestnut from Rust Never Sleeps? Surprising indeed, and somewhat amazing, as was the rest of their set.

Tell me if I’m wrong (my memory, it fades) but I remember Noah’s being an instrumental-only band when they first came on the scene all those many years ago. Now I can’t imagine them without vocals — lead guitarist/vocalist Gustafson has a fantastic voice — imagine J. Mascis without the croak-groan and you’re kinda getting there. He bends his notes in a similar appealing fashion that pulls everything together for this power trio. If you haven’t checked out You Need You you need to.

Back When at The Waiting Room, April 20, 2013.

I found out weeks ago that the opening slot for Noah’s would be Back When’s last-ever gig, but somehow it slipped my feeble mind. Why they’re hanging it up, I cannot say, though one (well-connected) person in the audience told me that the band felt they’d simply moved on to other things, other projects, other lives.

The irony for me is that Saturday night’s show was really the first time that I “got” what Back When was going for, and it came about three songs before the end, during an epic sonic punch-out where each member was locked into every break, every moment, as if channeling some dark, Gothic metal secret shared only by an elite circle of musicians who can hear the rhythmic language that floats beneath the surface of the chaos. Theirs was a pounding, pummeling sound, experimental on a number of levels as well as cinematic in sheer layered scope (pushed in that direction by recent videos). And of course, it could be very dark indeed. You would never mistake it for pop music.

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The line outside of Homer’s yesterday prior to the 10 a.m. opening time. Photo by John Shartrand.

Mike Fratt, who runs Homer’s Records, said Saturday’s Record Store Day was one for the record books. “Historic sales for us as well as every other retailer around the country I’ve talked to,” he said. “Loads of fun and exhausting, too. Crowds/customers were awesome, and we are very thankful for their support.”

The nitty-gritty: Homer’s sold 273 of the 313 titles they got in — double-digits sales quantities on 32 titles. “We still have quantity left on about 80 RSD items, 1’s or 2’s,” Fratt said. “We ordered some items in heavy quantities hoping we would have 3 to 6 left so there would be stock through the year, but many of those totally sold out; Mumford, White Stripes, Notorious BIG, etc.”

I didn’t get to the store until Saturday afternoon, but still managed to find the two main things I was looking for: Pulp Vs. Soulwax 12-inch and  Big Star’s Nothing Can Hurt Me. Both releases are remarkable.

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The Maha Music Festival announced its “local stage” last night, and it’s got something for everyone: Criteria will provide another in its series of amazing “occasional” performances, pop band Rock Paper Dynamite, a reunion of Lincoln indie band The Millions, the arresting chamber pop of Hers, and the winner of the OEA talent contest. And the band I guess could be considered the “local stage headliner”: Digital Leather. Yeah, the night could get weird (in a good way) if DL does its usual set closer “Studs in Love.” But something tells me there will be an Ed Sullivan-type dictum thrown out by the Maha organizers to prevent DL from playing their more racier material. Will Shawn Foree pull a Jim Morrison? We’ll have to wait and see.

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Last week I was whining about the lack of touring indie shows. This week, we’re loaded, beginning with tonight’s Johnny Marr show at The Waiting Room. Lots of buzz about this one. Tickets are still available for $25. Opening is Alamar. Show starts at 8.

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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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Here’s the weekend picks… better late than never…

Tonight at fabulous O’Leaver’s Talking Mountain returns for another retina-burning performance. I think I said earlier that the new TM album, Mysterious Knowledge / Unknown Colors, was a Slumber Party Records release. It’s not, it’s self-released and, I’m told, it’s kicking ass on its own. Opening are Lincoln band Life Is Cool and the always entertaining Pleasure Adapter, who are making a run at becoming Omaha’s “next big thing.” $5, 9:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, over at The Waiting Room, Yep Rock band Jukebox the Ghost plays with Pretty & Nice. $12, 9 p.m.

P&N are also playing tomorrow morning for line-standers at Homer’s for Record Store Day. Get in line at 9, have some coffee and donuts, and get serenaded by this kooky Boston trio.

Finally, tonight down at Slowdown Jr., He’s My Brother, She’s My Sister (Park the Van Records) headlines a show with All Young Girls Are Machine Guns. $10, 9 p.m.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/56408631″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

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Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship, You Need You (self-release, 2013(

Tomorrow night, Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship celebrates the self-release of their full length You Need You. “Some parts were recorded at ARC by Ben Brodin and other parts were recorded by JJ Idt and Matt Carroll in Matt Carroll’s basement studio called Little Machine,” says the band. The album will be released as a vinyl/cd/digital download all-in-one package for the low, low price of $15. The record maintains Noah’s Sonic Youth devotion, but adds touches of other ’90s influences, such as Dinosaur Jr. Check it out below, then order your copy or just pick one up at the show. The mighty opening lineup includes Back When, UUVVWWZ and Baby Tears. $7, 9 p.m.

And check out Noah’s just-release Love Drunk Video for “Caucasian Meditation,” below:

Also tomorrow night (Saturday) Marnie Stern (Kill Rock Stars) plays at The Barley Street Tavern with Baltimore band Roomrunner and our very own Snake Island. Here’s what Time Out Chicago said about Stern’s show Wednesday night at The Empty Bottle:

Stern’s live show is always a high-energy affair, and the single-woman-from-the-Upper-East-Side stand-up comedy (she did her classic Rodney Dangerfield impression) is just one element of her magnetism. Her dizzying, diaristic compositions and guitar work—frenetic, finger-tapped, boisterous and dense—are what enrapture those who like a dash of gleeful pop in their math rock. 

Could be interesting indeed. $10. 9 p.m.

Finally, Sunday Austin psych-rock band The Black Angels headlines at The Waiting Room with Allah-Las and Elephant Stone. $15, 9 p.m.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/79446633″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

And again, don’t forget about Record Store Day tomorrow. Go put some vinyl on.

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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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Record Store Day is Saturday. This Saturday. All the usual local shops will be participating (except, of course, for The Antiquarium, which no longer exists). Mike Fratt, who runs Homer’s, said his shop is going “all in” this year.

“We ordered about 45 percent more product compared to last year so we have a lot of product,” he said. “Well into the tens of thousands of dollars worth. We have 20 to 40 of a number of items, so we are really well stocked.”

Some things are heavily allocated, like offerings from Dave Matthews, Moby/Mark Lanegan, Sigur Ros, “so we have only a few of these,” he said. Some items were region specific, meaning primarily for the Southeast, and those items were pressed in very small quantities. Homer’s might not have those.

“Of the 350 or so titles, we probably have 325ish,” Fratt said. “As for the rest of the store, we are stocked in new vinyl and CDs at a level we have not been in almost 10 years.” He said the staff is struggling trying to find places to put all of it. While you’re in the store, check out the new custom-built vinyl browsers.

The store opens at 10 a.m., and rock band Pretty & Nice will perform for those of you who are standing in line at 9. Fratt says they’ll be doling out coffee and donuts for you greedy bastards who get there before the shotgun start.

If you’re into this, it’s worth your time to check out recordstoreday.com and see what’s going to be offered. The releases that caught my attention include a Big Star double 12-inch, Brian Eno releases, new stuff by Bowie, a Husker Du 7-inch, that Moby/Mark Lanegan release, and whatever’s being released by Pulp. Sounds like numbers will be tight on all those items, which means I’ll probably be SOL as there’s no way I’ll be down there by 10 a.m.

I told Fratt that this has to be exciting for he and his staff, like Christmas in April. “Yes, bigger than Christmas,” he said. Ho Ho Ho…

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In this week’s column, Pt. 3 of The Project series, wherein I discuss a homeowner’s trepidation about letting go of his past. It’s in this week’s issue of The Reader and online right 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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Cactus Neve Thang’s infamous Sloth album artwork

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Not much to report today, so I thought I’d post the latest from our friends over at Trout Tunes. If you were going to shows in the early- and mid-90s at such places as The Howard Street Tavern, The Capitol Bar and Grill, The Ranch Bowl, Sokol Underground or any of the other long-gone music venues that helped define Omaha’s golden age of indie music (before Saddle Creek reared its lovely head) you probably saw “Kronch” and his film crew capturing live performances for their Cox Cable access TV show, Trout Tunes. Well, good ol’ Kronch has been pulling together clips from his show and putting them on YouTube on a weekly basis.

This week’s Trout Tunes Video of the Week features Cactus Nerve Thang live at the Capitol April 27, 1994. CNT was one of the Omaha bands that got signed by Grass Records (along with Mousetrap). Their debut, Sloth, not only was notorious for its rabid, acidic take on punk (bordering on grunge) but for its album cover artwork, that rumor has it was loathed by the suits at the label who described it as one of the ugliest album sleeves they’d ever seen. Hey, it ain’t that bad.

You may recognize the band’s lead guitarist as none other than Lee Meyerpeter (or Gerald Lee) of The Filter Kings. In fact, all three members of Cactus Nerve Thang are still banging around Omaha. What would it take to get them together for a reunion? The world may never know…

Enjoy, and thanks, Kronch, for the memories:

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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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

A couple brief news items…

Yesterday Desaparecidos announced via twitter and on its website that they’ll be joining Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Alkaline Trio and a bunch of other bands at the Voodoo Arts and Music Festival in New Orleans Nov. 1. Ticket info here.

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If you didn’t get in on the early bird deal to buy Maha Music Festival tickets you’re out of luck. All the discount and bundle packages have already sold out. Man, that was fast. Advance general admission tickets are still available for $45 (It’s $55 DOS).

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The Thermals’ Saddle Creek Records debut, Desperate Ground, dropped today. Pitchfork, that all-knowing know-nothing arbiter of indie music taste posted its review of the record today as well, giving it a 5.0 rating (out of 10) — which is kinda/sorta not good. The review concludes:

“Perhaps the pileup of clichés and the numbed production is supposed to give Desperate Ground a meta context, that the endless body count has rendered Harris completely desensitized. But that’s a generous reading for an album that begins and ends with guns-blazin’ mission statements with plenty in between, so it’s more likely Desperate Ground is a failure to respond to the horror rather than an intention to reflect it.“

Ouch. By contrast, NME gave the album an 8.0 calling the it in its review “low-fi goodness.”

AllMusic.com gave the record a 4-out-of-5 star rating (here). While PopMatters also gave it an 8/10 rating.

What the f*** does Pitchfork know?

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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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Another “showless” weekend for me. And it looks like it’s going to be a showless week as well. I see nothing indie on any club schedule until Friday. Is it me or are rock shows — especially those featuring touring indie bands — becoming fewer and fewer these days?

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Speaking of rock shows, tickets to this year’s Maha Music Festival went on sale today. Get your early bird $30 GA tickets now and find out later what you’re in for. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

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Matt Whipkey’s Kickstarter campaign for his “Penny Park” double album exceeded its $4,000 goal over the weekend. Impressive. The campaign has nine days to go, so you can still get in on the deal.

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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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Dereck Higgins, space ranger

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

It’s Friday already. Here’s the weekend lineup:

Local legend Dereck Higgins (InDreama, ex-Digital Sex) is giving a free performance early tonight as the Carver Bank artist in residence. From what I’ve read, it’ll be like a “Storytellers” performance with Dereck playing songs from his five solo albums interspersed with stories about his life and his career. The show starts at 7, but get there early and buy some grub from Big Mama’s Sandwich Shop. Carver Bank is located at 2416 Lake Street.

Also tonight at The Waiting Room, Minneapolis band Now Now (the band formerly known as Now Now Every Children) headlines a show with The Lonely Forest (both bands are on the Trans label) and our very own Millions of Boys. $12, 9 p.m.

What’s that? You can’t get enough of Millions of Boys? Well good because the band is playing again Saturday night, this time at fabulous O’Leaver’s opening for See Through Dresses (another Sara Bertuldo project, which also features Matt Carroll, Nate Van Fleet and Robert Little), Dan Mariska and the Church Boys Choir and The Rest of Ray Brower. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, down at Slowdown Jr., Omaha’s favorite troubadour Brad Hoshaw opens for Minneapolis folkies The Pines (Red House Records).  $8/$10DOS, 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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.