The ironically named duo BOY headlines Lincoln Calling’s Day 2 festivities at The Bourbon Theater.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

A few days ago Brad Hoshaw launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the production of his new album with his band the Seven Deadlies. You can read the details here (including some sweet premiums). Seems like Kickstarters is for presales more than anything these days, a way to pre-pay for an album and get the money in the hands of the artists when they need it most. Kickstarter takes some of the risk out of making records. Some.

Hoshaw is an enigma to me and has been since I first saw him perform all those years ago. His band’s debut album is one of the best collections of songs to emerge from our fair city. The sad part is that it never caught the attention of anyone outside of Omaha. It should have. So who’s fault is that? Well, I guess it’s Hoshaw’s, right? Why didn’t he get this record in the ear holes of the industry people who make decisions in Nashville, New York, Los Angeles, Hollywood, etc.? It’s easier said than done, and virtually impossible without the right connections. Maybe he tried.

Making a good record has never been enough to break through to something bigger than playing well-attended Omaha shows, especially if your music is written to appeal to something broader than an indie music audience. At least there’s a path with indie. There’s a chance of getting reviews of your record in the handful of “important” indie websites, and if you’re lucky, in Paste or Pitchfork. And then on from there. There is no similar path for mainstream-targeted music, and Hoshaw’s songs certainly fall into that category.

At the very least, his music is picture-perfect for use in commercials, film or television. Who else thought “Carpenter” was the perfect song for a Sherwin-Williams commercial? But for that to happen, someone in charge first has to hear the song. I’m not sure how you do that. Hire an agent? Maybe, maybe…

Anyway, the first step is still to create the music, and this Kickstarter is where you come in. Check it out and give ol’ Brad a hand.

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Speaking of songwriters who deserve to be heard by a larger audience, Jeremy Messersmith is playing Day 2 of Lincoln Calling tonight at The Bourbon Theater. Messersmith — like Hoshaw — is a mastercraft songwriter who knows his way around an infectious hook and a clever lyric.

And Messersmith is breaking through. He recently signed with Glassnote Records, whose stable of acts includes Mumford & Sons, Phoenix, Chvches and The Temper Trap. Messersmith used to just give his music away via his website. I don’t think that’ll be happening with any new material, nor should it.

Messersmith opens for German duo BOY, whose music has been compared to Feist. Check it out below.

That Bourbon show is $15 and starts at 8 p.m. The rest of the Lincoln Calling line-up is at their website, here.

Meanwhile, back here in Omaha, there is virtually nothing interesting going on except for the Record Club at the Saddle Creek Shop, which tonight features Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger. Hosting tonight’s installment is none other than Dan McCarthy of McCarthy Trenching, who will lead the discussion after the album’s play concludes. The needle drops at 7. 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.

Future Islands at The Waiting Room, Nov. 2, 2011.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

So here’s the deal: If I didn’t have a “real” job and didn’t have to get up at 5 a.m. tomorrow morning I would be driving to Lincoln tonight for the kick off of the 10th Annual Lincoln Calling Festival.

More specifically, I’d be driving up to see Future Islands, who is playing at The Bourbon Theater with Life Is Cool and Powerful Science. Future Islands’ sound reminds me of Factory Records-era post-ambient rock a la Joy Division. The trio’s sell point is frontman Samuel T. Herring, who is absolutely mesmerizing with his over-the-top theatrical performance. Or at least it was when the band played to a small audience at The Waiting Room back in 2011. You can see more detailed descriptions of that show online right here. Needless to say, tonight’s show, which starts at 9, is well worth the $10 tickets, but not worth me losing my job.

The only other show on the Lincoln Calling slate for tonight is “Troubadour Tuesday” at The Zoo Bar featuring Lucas Kellison, All Young Girls Are Machine Guns, Cory Kibler and Virtuopath. That show is $4 and starts at 9.

More details on Lincoln Calling is available from their website.

Back here in Omaha, Portland singer/songwriter Todd Snider headlines at The Waiting Room with The Coal Men. The $20 show starts at 8.

And speaking of The Waiting Room, I just noticed in the One Percent blast email received this morning that Lee Renaldo and The Dust has been added to Friday night’s Built to Spill show. Renaldo’s new album, Last Night on Earth (Matador, 2013), is about as close as you’re going to get to Sonic Youth these days. It’s a dynamic double-bill, priced at a mere $22.

Anyway… O’Leaver’s also is hosting a show tonight with Las Vegas band Rusty Maples and local act Morning at Sea. $5, 9:30 p.m.

While down at Slowdown Jr. it’s singer/songwriter Andrew Belle with Neulore and our very own Brad Hoshaw. $12, 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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

The only content you’ll find at pornmusic.com…

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

One of the most influential bands from Omaha’s pre-Saddle Creek Records era was Ritual Device.

Ritual Device was a tortured, monolithic punk rock band from the early ’90s whose sound has been described as “gutter groove;” a sort of combination of Jesus Lizard, Ministry and Nine Inch Nails (but without the synths). Ritual Device on record and on stage was a hyper-kinetic hyper-violent rock band, with frontman/maniac Tim Moss supplying the psychic pain.  Read a brief history of Ritual Device here.

Ritual Device disbanded sometime in the late ’90s when Moss moved to San Francisco where he went on to form Men of Porn (or just Porn). Porn’s music was sludge-rock/stoner rock/depraved genius. Grim and loud and heavy. The band made its way to Omaha in 2000 on a tour that turned out to be a brutal nightmare. You can read the road stories online here.

Over the years, Porn continued to perform in various incarnations, and now is reforming again, this time to play an event in conjunction with the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in England Nov. 25.

Joining Moss for this version of Porn will be Bill Gould (Faith No More), Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) and Balázs Pándi (Merzbow). Quite a line-up. Moss said though the personnel has changed, Porn is still based on the same band I saw in 2000 “though the music I’ve been doing lately has shifted some,” he said. “Usually the music is based off of what players I have with me at that time.”

So how did he get Thurston Moore to take part?

“Thurston has played with Porn before,” Moss said. “He sat in with us at an ATP in 2008. He approached me at the festival and said Porn was one of the bands he was really looking forward to seeing. He had our last album. So, I asked if wanted to sit in rather than watch.”

Moss said Porn will be doing a short European tour around the ATP gig, and Moore will play at the ATP and London shows.

So what’s Moss been up to when he isn’t “dabbling in Porn”? He says that he’s the artist manager for Faith No More and tour manager for various other bands. While I had his ear, I asked him about those Ritual Device reunion rumors that have been circling around Omaha lately. Moss said that “There’s been some talk, but I like living in the present and future.

“It’s always fun to relive old memories and conquests,” he added. “I’m happy with what became of that band. (It) helped create what I do today.”

I can’t blame him for not wanting to relive those brutal days of yesterday, but I’d sure love to see him and the band perform “Charlie Jones” again…

Here’s some Ritual Device from the old Capital Bar & Grill circa 1994…

And here’s some Men of Porn at New Haven, circa 2008.

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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.

Man Man’s Honus Honus wearing a Wolf Blitzer tunic featured on Anderson Cooper’s recent Ridiculist segment on CNN.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Onward to the weekend.

Tonight’s (and this weekend’s) marquee event is Man Man at The Slowdown. I interviewed Honus Honus the last time the band came through Slowdown back in May 2011 in support of the Mike Mogis-produced Life Fantastic (read it here). Ol’ Mogis was behind the knobs again for the band’s new one, On Oni Pond, which is more of the same pumped-up fun with dark lyrical overtones. Honus sounds just as emotionally haunted as he was back then. Will the Mogis brothers (who play on the new album) make a stage appearance tonight? Opening is Brooklyn’s Xenia Rubinos (Ba Da Bing! Records). $15, 9 p.m.

Here’s Man Man’s latest video. Pretty catchy.

While were at it, here’s what CNN’s Anderson Cooper has to say about Man Man track, “End Boss”:

Also tonight Pleasure Adapter is playing at O’Leaver’s. This will be a good opportunity to catch the band’s new bassist, some guy named Matt Maginn (yes, that Matt Maginn). Crystal Stilts was originally booked for this show, but cancelled (boo.). Opening is the comic stylings of Winslow Dumaine. Everyone’s on the list for this one, because it’s free! 10 p.m.

Saturday night is an indie music wasteland. How’d that happen?

Chris Aponick will kill me (or at least he’ll try to kill me) if I don’t mention his Super Sounds of Quentin Tarantino party at House of Loom Saturday night. The evening features DJ Kobrakyle, VJ Dinan and a twist contest (just like in the movie). This one’s free and starts at 9. What else you got to do? More info here.

Sunday night Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship returns to O’Leaver’s with Maps for Travelers. $5, 9:30 p.m.

That’s all I got. If I missed anything, put it in the comments area. Have a good weekend.

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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.

…from the This Charming Charlie Tumblr…

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

With no local music news to speak of today, I thought I’d chime in on the latest Morrissey controversy. Morrissey fans already are aware of the “This Charming Charlie” Tumblr, which marries some of Morrissey’s best lines to Peanuts cartoons. Well apparently the blokes at Universal and Johnny Marr tried to take the site down with a copyright claim. Morrissey chimed in from his unofficial website True To You.

“Morrissey is represented by Warner-Chappell Publishing, and not Universal Music Publishing, (who have allegedly demanded that the lyrics be removed).  Morrissey is delighted and flattered by the Peanuts comic strip with its use of Morrissey-Smiths lyrics, and he hopes that the strips remain.”

And remain they do. It apparently came down to a question of “Fair Use” vs. copyright claims. Both Marr and Morrissey control the Smiths’ songs’ copyright, so either can license others to use the lyrics. With Morrissey’s approval of Charming Charlie, the litigation threat, it appears, went away. Read the details (and learn a little about Fair Use) at the Tumblr site and then enjoy some Charming Charlie…

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In this week’s column, why I listen to Magic 1490 AM, the new all-oldies renegade station. You can read it in this week’s issue of The Reader or online right here.

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Tonight at Slowdown Jr., Saturn Moth takes the stage with Hussies and Manic Pixie Dream Girls. $5, 9 p.m. Check out some MPDG below…

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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.

Twinsmith

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Omaha indie band Twinsmith is seeing its first 7-inch released on none other than Saddle Creek Records Nov. 19. The tracks are “Honestly” b/w “1’30” and “Big Deal.”

“Honestly” premiered today on Minneapolis’ Radio K (right here). “Recorded and produced by Matt Carroll and J.J. Idt at Omaha’s Little Machine Studio, ‘Honestly’ – with its fuzzed-out guitars reminiscent of Blue Album-era Weezer – shows off the evolution of a band still in its infancy.” Congrats Twinsmith, and welcome to the big time.

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Maria Taylor’s next track off upcoming Saddle Creek LP Something About Knowing, titled “Tunnel Vision” premiered today on that great, gray bible of all things financial, The Wall Street Journal (here). The new album hits the streets Oct. 29.

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In other release news, Omaha proto-punkers (not sure what that means, but it sounds important) Pro-Magnum premiered two new songs on HearNebraska.org. available from their Bandcamp page (below).

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An addendum to yesterday’s Tim Kasher reviews round-up: Paste Magazine yesterday gave Adult Film a rousing 8.7 rating, concluding: “If this is a new avenue of self-loathing for Kasher, it’s a welcome change of form from the perhaps more angular output of his screaming past. His gifts for wrangling emotive detours from unlikely sonic realms is his best talent, but he couldn’t do that without his crafty capacity for language, too. Stripped of the angry adornments of his yesteryears, we now may take him at his word.”  Read the full review 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.

Peach Kelli Pop

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Tim Kasher at The Waiting Room, Oct. 5, 2013.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

So how was Tim Kasher Saturday night at The Waiting Room?

Pretty damn good, thanks for asking. Kasher’s set  drew from both solo albums, plus The Good Life and Cursive catalogs. Though backed by a ripping band that included sassy bassist Sara Bertuldo and musical genius/multi-instrumentalist Patrick Newbery (I’m not sure who was on drums, but he was awesome), the set’s tone was low-key and downright mellow.

For example, Kasher’s cover of “From the Hips” (off Cursive album Mama, I’m Swollen) took the usually rousing, bombastic rocker and re-imagined it as a quiet lullaby. In fact, there were a lot of quiet moments throughout most of the set, and maybe that was driven by the chatty crowd, who Kasher acknowledged when he sat down at a keyboard to play a solo version of a Good Life song that “none of you know.” Unfortunately, he eventually talked himself out of it, and his band instead returned to the stage to resume the usual setlist. While there  were a lot of new arrangements for older material, the tunes off Adult Film got the same treatment heard on the album.

The evening’s bright spots came during the encore, when Kasher and Co. lit into a spot-on cover of The Faint’s “Worked Up So Sexual” that got a few folks in the 200+ crowd jumping. The energy stayed for the evening’s closer, “Totally Freaking Out,” from the new album.

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Here’s some guidance for the coming week….

Pageturner’s has Colleen Lynch and Grape Soda tonight. It’s free and starts at 10 p.m.

Killer Blow headlines at O’Leaver’s Tuesday with Peach Kelli Pop and S. Pratt and the Sweats. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Saturn Moth plays at Slowdown Jr., Thursday night with Manic Pixie Dream Girls and Hussies. $5, 9 p.m.

Man Man closes out the week at Slowdown’s big room Friday night with Xenia Rubinos. $15, 9 p.m.

And Crystal Stilts plays at O’Leaver’s Friday night with Pleasure Adapter and Zachary Cole.

Actually a pretty busy week of shows…

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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.

Quasi at Slowdown Jr., Oct. 3, 2013.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

You couldn’t ask for more from Quasi last night. The duo of Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss played a set that combined their best oldies with their best newies, the whole thing capped off with a long encore that included a keyboard-driven cover of “War Pigs.”

The 40 or so on hand at Slowdown Jr. last night were treated to no less then four songs off Featuring “Birds,” including “I Never Want to See You Again” “The Happy Prole” and “It’s Hard to Turn Me On.” In between they played new stuff off Mole City including, “You Can Stay But You Gotta Go” and “The Goat.”

The set was split in two by Coomes, who played the first half behind a distorted keyboard and the second behind a distorted Gibson. Weiss was a marvel on drums and filled out the sound with harmonies.

The set had me reconsidering Mole City, an album that I initially thought was just weird. The best way to listen to it is to cut out all the wonky minute-or-less filler noise tracks and focus on songs over 3 minutes in length. It would have been a solid 10-song album instead of a so-so 24-track double.

Last night’s set blew away the last time I saw them, at SXSW a couple years ago in support of the lackluster American Gong album where they didn’t play anything off their past catalog. The best moments last night were the hits, which Coomes supplied with a weathered panache that made them sound as fresh as they did when first performed 15 years ago.

Jeffrey Lewis at Slowdown Jr., Oct. 3, 2013.

Jeffrey Lewis backed by a bass player and a drummer played a set of funny, insightful, wordy folk-punk tunes that was as steeped as much in history as politics. Twice during the set Lewis played “storytime,” paging through a couple large hand-drawn comic books, one telling the story of the French Revolution, the other a brief history of comic book pioneer Alan Moore.

Set highlight was “WWPRD” — which stands for What Would Pussy Riot Do — which was both an ode to our Soviet punk rock heroes and a lessen for up-and-coming bands to ask themselves, “What piece of your soul are you willing to sell to be a success?” Not a bad lesson.

I did catch the last two songs by See Through Dresses and they were divine, though the vocals were lost in the mix. Great band, great music.

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Let’s get right to the weekend.

Tonight at The Waiting Room it’s the return of everyone’s favorite funky, funny man, Har Mar Superstar. Opening is Lizzo (Totally Gross National Product) and Snake Island. $12, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, at the Barley Street, It’s True returns, but only as a solo outing by Adam Hawkins and as an opener for his band Eros and Eschaton. $5, 9 p.m.

Down at Slowdown Jr., Seattle’s Hey Marseilles headlines with The Apache Relay and The Big Deep. $12, 9 p.m.

BTW, it’s Benson First Friday tonight…

Saturday’s headline show is, of course, Tim Kasher at The Waiting Room. With Laura Stevenson and our very on Brigadiers. $11, 9 p.m.

Also Saturday night, it’s the return of Langhorn Slim, this time to Slowdown Jr. with his band The Law. Opening is Jonny Fritz. $10, 9 p.m.

The sleeper show of the evening is Goon Saloon at O’Leaver’s with Routine Escorts and the debut of Gramps, a band who calls among its players Love Drunk video producer Django G-S. This might require that I do some bar-hopping Saturday. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Also worthy of attention, instrumental surf band The Sub-Vectors plays tonight at The Barley Street and sitting in one song is none other than John Tingle, former guitarist of legendary ’80s-’90s post-ambient band Digital Sex. Also on the bill, Winnebago Woman and Superbytes. $5, 9 p.m.

Finally Sunday, Blind Snake plays at O’Leaver’s with Flesh Eating Skin Disease. $5, 9:30 p.m.

And the Supersuckers play at The Waiting Room with Hellbound Glory. $15, 9 p.m.

Did I forget something? Put it in the comments. Have a good weekend!

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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.

Tim Kasher, Adult Film (Saddle Creek, 2013)

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

And here’s Pt. 2 of the Tim Kasher interview. Pt. 1 was posted yesterday. Both parts are in this week’s issue of The Reader. Pick up a copy at your local news rack or bar or coffee shop or convenient store today.

Over the Edge: Leftover Kasher

Like the headline says, here’s some leftover wisdom from Tim Kasher that didn’t make it into the feature story.  I thought it would be a shame to leave it on the cutting room floor.

For example, nowhere in the feature story did I explain the title of Kasher’s new album, Adult Film, and the origin of its hideous cover art. Hopefully Eric in production has a copy of the artwork to include with this column so you can see just how repulsive it truly is. So gruesome is the cover that I almost dropped the CD’s jewel case when I took it out of the promo mailer’s envelope.

The artwork is actually quite simple — it’s a nude head-and-shoulder photo of Kasher covered in some sort of greasy, slimy substance, as if a giant woman-thing gave birth to him full-grown only moments prior to the shoot. Mixed in with the shiny, viscous substance are bits of what look like shit or placenta or snot balls. Even Kasher’s well-combed hair lays flat like it hadn’t been washed in a couple weeks. The photo is just straight fucking gross; so ugly you can practically smell it.

The art is made all the more disturbing by the placement of the words ADULT FILM in yellow all-caps on top of a black bar that blocks out Kasher’s eyes, as if to hide his identity even though his name appears right above his head.

Creepy. Needless to say, there had to be some sort of meaning behind it.

“There’s not a ton to it, and I feel like I suffer when I explain it,” Kasher said sheepishly. “I just quite simply saw the two words ‘adult film’ in my head and I separated them from what they’ve come to mean in our society. I tend to play around with words, and it occurred to me how odd those words were together. They’ve come to mean ‘pornography’ and nothing else. but if they had never been used for pornography they would conjure this gross thought; this film that people collect that gets wrinkled and corse as it goes old and untouched.

“I think (in that context) it’s fitting for the album’s subject matter. That meaning casts a wide net. It’s a catch-all for mortality and getting older, but also about career and dating and aging and whatever pursuit you happen to be in.”

He said said he’s “a little uneasy with the porno aspect” of the title. As for the guck, “It’s Vaseline and dirt; potting soil and some mulch and some green dye to give it a bit of a sheen.”

Aren’t you glad I asked?

At one point during our interview I also asked Kasher about his vocals on the album’s roaring, rolling opener “American Lit,” and told him it reminded me of something from Slowdown Virginia, one of Kasher’s first bands from way back in ’93 that some say was a starting point for what would become the Saddle Creek scene.

“That’s a relief to me,” Kasher said. “I sing lower almost always now. I’ve been having vocal issues over the last four years. I write in low registers just in case. I just can’t stay on top of it. I don’t know when it’s going to go out next, with bronchitis or something.”

That was a surprise. So was Kasher’s comments about Help Wanted Nights. I mentioned that Adult Film was my favorite Kasher album since that classic 2007 album by his other band, The Good Life. It turns out that Help Wanted Nights also was notable to Kasher, but for a different reason.

“It was the first time that I got bad reviews,” he said. “It knocked me down for like two days, and then for the next few records I watched (the reviews) a little bit more than before. It became a sick curiosity, and I got a little obsessed.”

Kasher said he eventually got past his preoccupation with critics. “I’m not going to do that anymore,” he said. “It’s not that I’m against critics, it’s that they’re not the ones who I should be writing for.”

Help Wanted Nights was actually a sort of soundtrack to an unproduced script of the same name. Written a few years prior to the album’s release, it was the first script Kasher tried to get produced, catching the interest of a handful of Los Angeles money people. Still, six years later, the script remains unshot.

“I set it aside just before I began working on (The Game of) Monogamy (Kasher’s 2010 debut solo album). It had some renewed interest for a few months.”

Kasher hasn’t given up his silver-screen dreams. “I have another script being worked on to go into production,” he said. The new one is about couple swapping — ironic, considering the title of this new album.

Kasher said the movie business is “a hard game with a lot of money involved I keep writing and handing stuff out, and here and there get reactions. I’ll cautiously kind of let it play itself out and see what happens.”

One last thing I forgot to mention in the feature: Adult Film doesn’t come out until next Tuesday, Oct. 8, on Saddle Creek Records (of course). You should pick up a copy when you go to see Kasher and his band celebrate its release at The Waiting Room Saturday night. Whatever you do, don’t judge the record by its cover.

Over The Edge is a weekly column by Reader senior contributing writer Tim McMahan focused on culture, society, the media and the arts. Email Tim at tim.mcmahan@gmail.com.

First published in The Reader, Oct. 2, 2103. Copyright © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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One of the biggest shows of the month takes place tonight at Slowdown Jr.

Some of you may not be old enough to remember Quasi and the Portland band’s seminal 1998 album Featuring “Birds,” but it was one of the defining albums of the late ’90s and the high water mark this band. Frontman Sam Coomes had just left two pretty successful bands — Donner Party and Heatmiser, a band that also featured Elliot Smith — to form this band with Sleater-Kinney’s Janet Weiss. Featuring “Birds” came out of nowhere and was a critical smash thanks to ultra cool songs like “I Never Want to See You Again,” “The Poisoned Well,” and of course “California.” Heck, every track is good.

Six more albums followed, including their just released Mole City, which came out Tuesday on Kill Rock Stars. Tonight’s show kicks off their tour in support of that album.

Joining Quasi is Jeffrey Lewis, who’s album End Result (2007, Rough Trade), is one of my faves. Lewis has recorded with Kimya Dawson and most recently with Peter Stampfel. Our very own See Through Dresses opens. You get all three for a mere $15. Starts at 9. GO!!

Also tonight, Louisville, KY singer/songwriter Cheyenne Mize (Yep Rock Records) plays at fabulous O’Leaver’s with Eli Mardock and Blue Bird. $5, 9:30 p.m.

And The Waiting Room is hosting another Songwriter Death Battle featuring 40 or so local singer/songwriters passing around John Klemmenson’s beat-up acoustic guitar for one song apiece. Hear Nebraska has the line-up info right here. $5, 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.