Twin Peaks at The Waiting Room, June 29, 2016.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The kids, they love their Twin Peaks. Last night’s show at The Waiting Room had all the charm of a modern day American Bandstand production.

The Chicago five-piece has evolved from the garage band that played at Midtown Art Supply a couple years ago to a full-blown stage act with four dudes sharing lead vocals. My favorite was probably the guitarist who looked like Greg Brady and sounded like Mick Jaggar or maybe the bass player who looked like Bobby Brady belting out rockers in his deep basso voice, or the guitarist in the overalls with the shag cut that fell over his eyes or the keyboardist/left-handed-guitarist in the white T-shirt who really leaned into the microphone. No wonder there were so many young girls in the audience pressed against the stage. Twin Peaks is the veritable Tiger Beat of rock bands.

They meld a ’60s rock vibe to a ’90s indie-rock esthetic. The acts that came to mind: Pavement, The Stooges, Velvet Underground, maybe the most central was mid-’60s era Rolling Stones circa “Get Off of My Cloud.” While I dig their new album, Down in Heaven, the recording seems  subdued compared to the live versions, which added manic energy. Or maybe it was the young crowd, who danced/slammed/jumped, even tried a bit of awkward crowd-surfing atop the estimated 150 or so on hand. Maybe rock ‘n’ roll is back?

Ne-Hi at The Waiting Room, June 29, 2016.

Opener Ne-Hi reminded me of a different kind of stones — The Stone Roses — thanks to the band’s awesome rhythm section — a rolling bass that owned the melody while the drummer pounded away on those heavy toms. Add post-wave guitar lines and you’ve got a band that would sound at home in Manchester as well as its hometown of Chicago. Keep an eye on them. They’re label-mates with Twin Peaks on Grand Jury Music. When is their next LP going to arrive?

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There’s a very interesting under-the-radar show tonight at Reverb Lounge. London artist Sinkane is described as “a musician who blends krautrock, free jazz and funk rock with Sudanese pop.” His last full-length, 2014’s Mean Love, was released on NYC-based independent dance-punk label DFA, who you might recognize as the label of such acts as The Rapture, Hot Chip, Holy Ghost! and most prominent of all, LCD Soundsystem, whose mastermind, James Murphy, co-founded the label. When was the last time we had a DFA-type artist in our town? Carl Miller & The Thrillers opens. $12, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, Minneapolis, MN grunge-pop band Lunch Duchess headlines at Milk Run with Apes of the State, Anna McClellan and The Way Out. $7, 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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.