David Nance at The Sydney, July 7, 2017.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

It’s been pointed out to me that David Nance didn’t just come out of nowhere. He’s been plugging away and putting out music since before 2013, including as a member of Simon Joyner’s band The Ghosts.

And while I knew this, my point was that it’s been within the last year or so that Nance’s profile has exploded. I point toward  Matador co-founder Gerard Cosloy who listed among his favorite recordings in 2016 Nance’s More Than Enough (Ba Da Bing Records). That captured some people’s attention, but Nance already had the ball rolling thanks to his live sets.

Last Friday night was another classic Nance performance, this time at The Sydney as part of Benson First Friday. Nance backed by a drummer, bass and someone making noises on a pedal, ripped through a solid set of songs, some of them off his remarkable new album Negative Boogie, which comes out this Friday on Ba Da Bing. The difference between this set and past Nance sets (for me) was the shorter songs. I’ve seen Nance play sets comprised of only two 20-minute noise ensembles. By contrast, Friday’s set was practically a pop concert.

His guitar work is already respected — ranging from big riffs to lead fills to walls of feedback — now his voice is taking center stage. The only comparison in my mind is early Jon Spencer, and Nance does have a similar stage appeal, albeit hidden behind that huge head of hair.

I managed to capture a couple songs on Facebook Live Friday night, which you can view below. The picture doesn’t come in focus ’til after the 30-second mark (wtf, Apple?!).

Yesterday Brooklyn Vegan premiered a track off Negative Boogie. BTW, if you missed the last Friday’s show, Nance will be playing a duo release show with Noah Sterba this coming Friday night at Reverb Lounge. Sean Pratt & The Sweats opens. Sterba’s new album, 13-Bar Blues, comes out Friday on Simon Joyner’s Grapefruit label.

Also on last Friday night’s bill was Oquoa, who had the center slot. This is one of the tightest collections of local all-stars Omaha has to offer. Now if I only knew what language frontman Max Holmquist was singing in. Max’s vocals make lyrics virtually indecipherable and are more of an additional instrument to the overall psychedelic/shoe-gaze sound.  It’s interesting, but I confess to be a lyrics dude who gets added enjoyment when he knows what the music’s about.

Speaking of undecipherable lyrics, opener FiFi NoNo provided a tense barrage of rhythmic noise, augmented by shriek/mumble/yell vocals. You either got it or you didn’t. I thought it was a weird trip.

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Matthew Sweet at The Waiting Room, July 8, 2017.

Saturday night’s Matthew Sweet show at The Waiting Room drew a respectable crowd — respectable both in size and in manner. It was nice not being the oldest dude in the room for a change. In fact, the majority of fans looked like they were in their 50s, no doubt followers of Mr. Sweet since his ’91 breakthrough album Girlfriend.

Well, those fans got what they paid for as Sweet performed the best songs from that album, including the title track and my personal favorite, “Winona.” The happy crowd sang along to all the hits, which Sweet and his band performed as if they’d been playing them for more than 20 years. My only criticism is that Sweet and his band don’t do much on stage except stand there and play, which can become somewhat boring, but the crowd didn’t mind as long as he kept playing those oldies.

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Matt Whipkey dropped a couple new tracks from his upcoming album, Driver, via his Pledge page yesterday. Matt says he likes this new pre-sale platform. Check them out.

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Speaking of new music, Under the Radar yesterday began streaming the entire new Twinsmith album, Stay Cool, which comes out Friday on Saddle Creek Records. Check out the album here.

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And See Through Dresses today is having their new album, Horse of the Other World (Tiny Engines) streamed in its entirety at Brooklyn Vegan, right here. Says BV about the record: “Co-fronted by the ethereal Sara Bertuldo and the whispered baritone of Mathew Carroll, See Through Dresses work bits of Cocteau Twins, The Cure, and other reverby ’80s bands into Horse of the Other World.”

Me, on the other hand, was mostly reminded of M83. This is definitely a change of direction for STDs. The band celebrates the album’s release Saturday night at The Waiting Room.

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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 © 2017 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Matthew Sweet at fabulous O’Leaver’s, July 30, 2014. Sweet and his plan plays at The Waiting Room Saturday and Sunday nights.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Who’s going to the horse races this weekend? Anybody? Anybody? Ah well, what else is going on? Glad you asked…

Tonight is Benson First Friday, and part of BFF is a show at The Sydney featuring Oquoa, Dave Nance Band and FiFi NoNo, who just dropped a new single (below). 10 p.m. and free, according to Facebook (though the last free show I went to at The Sydney cost me $5).

If you’re going to the Sydney, you might as well drop by The Little Gallery, 5901 Maple, at the bottom of the Masonic Lodge building. We’ll be opening a new show featuring prints by Myles Dunigan. The show runs 6 to 10 p.m. And as always, the beer is free. Come on over… More info here.

Also tonight, Lodgings is playing at fabulous O’Leaver’s. I’m told their recently released EP, Daisies, is about to come out on colored vinyl. Jump the Tiger headlines this show and St. Bernard opens. $5, 9:30 p.m.

And The New BLK is having a moving out party tonight at what will soon be their old digs at 12th and Howard. The new The New BLK will be located at 2626 Harney, about a block west of Midtown Art Supply. Anyway, the party starts at 4 and runs until 2 p.m. Performers include Digital Leather and Conny Franko. Find out more.

Tomorrow and Sunday night Matthew Sweet is playing at The Waiting Room. The two-night engagement is in support of his new double album, Tomorrow, Forever, which I reviewed here yesterday. Tommy Keene, who was releasing music on Matador back when Sweet was on Zoo, is opening both nights. Keene opened for Sweet when he played at O’Leaver’s a few years ago, and is something of a legend in his own right. Tickets for either night are $20; these are early shows with 8 p.m. start times.

Finally Sunday NYC band Rips plays at Milk Run. Their debut album was produced by Austin Brown of Parquet Courts. Thick Paint and Razors also are on the bill. No price given for this 8:30 p.m. show, so you’re on your own.

And that’s all I got for this weekend. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great 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 © 2017 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Matthew Sweet, Tomorrow Forever (2017, Honeycomb Hideout)

What goes into writing a “hit song,” a song people will sing along to or remember or select for a play list or mix tape? It’s something I’ll have to ask Matthew Sweet if I ever get a chance, but I have an idea how he’ll answer: “I don’t know. If I knew, I’d have written more hit songs.”

“Come Correct,” the 13th track on his new double album Tomorrow Forever (2017, Honeycomb Hideout) and the last song on Side 3 has all the makings of a hit song — the crack rhythm track, chop guitar, a simple melody, sing-along lyrics. It’s a great song that stood out the first time I listened to the record. You can imagine it playing on your favorite FM channel… 20 years ago, back when there was such things as a hit record.

It’s not the only good song on the album. Tomorrow Forever is a return to form for Sweet and maybe his most accessible collection since 100% Fun or that Japanese “thank you” record, 2003’s Kimi Ga Suki. Old time fans will want to know how it compares to Sweet’s magnum opus, 1991’s Girlfriend. It holds its own, though it’s not quite as accessible or an obvious classic (only time will tell).

If you’re not familiar with Sweet’s sound, it’s sort of a power-pop amalgam of The Byrds with Big Star with Teenage Fanclub with The Posies with Sweet’s unique high-end, nasal voice. You could say there’s a ’90s flair to the music. His style hasn’t changed much since Girlfriend, but then again, why should it?

The only thing holding this album back is the lyrics, which too often are overtly obtuse or speculative — they’re too spacey and ungrounded, as if trying to be psychedelic. On the other hand, almost every song on Girlfriend was memorable thanks to lyrics that something anyone could identify with — love songs loaded with pain and/or redemption. “Come Correct” of this new one scores because the lyrics are obvious and real: “Don’t dance don’t dance / Get your head out of the sand / I don’t want to be in anybody’s band.”

The same holds true for tracks like “You Knew Me,” “Carol” and “Country Girl.”  But not so much for all those time travel/inter-dimensional songs, like opening track “Trick,” or “Entangled” and “Hello,” which have a ephemeral, hippy-ish quality wherein afterward you wonder what Sweet was trying to say (if you remember the lyrics at all).

In some of his past albums (and live performances) Sweet’s guitar noodling veered dangerously close to jam territory. Not so here, where the clear, simple arrangements keep the songs focused, as if Sweet was trying to write as many hit songs as possible. There’s more than a few on Tomorrow Forever, which is more than you’ll hear on most albums reviewed in Pitchfork. Rating: Yes

I only hope Sweet uses the same restraint when he plays The Waiting Room this weekend. The last couple times I saw him perform he and his band were more focused on rocking than trying to capture the subtleties of his best songs.

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As if Lincoln Calling wasn’t big enough, this morning they announced another wave of 67 bands for the festival that runs Sept. 28-30 in Lincoln (duh), including Pile, El Ten Eleven, Mount Moriah, Umm, See Through Dresses and Digital Leather. They’re also now selling day passes that run from $29 to $34. 3-day festival passes are $59. Find out more at lincolncalling.com.

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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 © 2017 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Mountain Goats at The Waiting Room, Sept. 30, 2016. They open for Jason Isbell tonight at Sumtur Amphitheater.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Three interesting shows going on tonight. Let’s start with the most expensive one…

The Mountain Goats have a great new album out on Merge Records called Goths. It’s said to have been inspired by The Cure, Bauhaus, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Joy Division. Maybe so, but the music still sounds like the usual Mountain Goats’ fare, with John Darnielle writing and performing in his signature talk-sing storyteller style. Still, a deeper production and solid rhythm section make this a better-than-average Mountain Goats album. In fact, the record got a staggering 8.0 from Pitchfork. 

Add to that the fact that the band always puts on a great show, you have to ask yourself are they, alone, worth $40 to see tonight at Sumtur Amphitheater? I’ll leave that up to you. The headliner is former Drive-By Truckers’ dude Jason Isbell, whose southern-fried Americana sound has never done much for me. This one starts at 7:30.

If you leave Sumtur after The Mountain Goats, you’ll be able to catch one of the following shows…

Noah Sterba, formerly of Yuppies, has been playing around for a long, long time, but for whatever reason I’ve never caught his set. The other day I fell across his 12 Bar Blues tracks (originally released on cassette on legendary Unread Records) and was duly impressed. Great stuff.

Anyway, he headlines a show tonight at fabulous O’Leaver’s with the always-entertaining David Nance (the hardest working man in Omaha rock?) and Andrew Graham and Swarming Branch. Whoever posted the Facebook invitation said of Swarming Branch “You could say they aspire to become the modern Midwestern Steely Dan, even if they’ve only demonstrated a portion of the elder group’s range thus far.” What can I say, I love Steely Dan. $5, 9 p.m.

Finally, I got a cold-call email from the band Middle Folk last week about their show tonight at Reverb Lounge. I’d never heard of the band, but checked out their music, which is hook-filled folkie-Americana certainly worth the $8 cover. Check it out below. Opening is Grandpa Grew Trees, who also is a mystery to me. Show starts at 9 p.m.

That’s a lot of stuff for a Wednesday night…

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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 © 2017 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

They should move Independence Day to the first Monday of July, that way we can avoid these odd holidays in the middle of the week.  This year’s July 4th is a pain in the ass for anyone who has to work today.

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In old music news, if you haven’t heard already the July 13 Conor Oberst concert that was to be held outdoors in Benson has been cancelled. From what I’ve been told, the City put a kibosh on it citing noise complaints from the last few outdoor Benson concerts. I guess the City is OK with outdoor shows on weekends, but not on a Thursday night.

The Oberst concert had an early start time with only one opener; I have to believe it would have wrapped up by 10 p.m. Why the City is so concerned is a mystery, especially considering it has no qualms with people shooting off mortar shells at 11 p.m. during the work week.

Anyway, Big Thief was scheduled to open for Oberst on the July 13 show, and while Oberst hasn’t rescheduled at a different venue, Big Thief has, and at none other than fabulous O’Leaver’s.

Big Thief could be the most successful band on Saddle Creek Records’ current roster of touring acts — certainly it’s the most celebrated. Their new album, Capacity, has a staggering 8.3 Pitchfork rating and is listed as “best new music.” That’s rare air for a Saddle Creek band.

Tickets to Big Thief are $10 Adv/$12 DOS show and are on sale on the event’s Facebook event page. I gotta think this one will sell out…

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I’d like to tell you there was some great shows going on tonight, since we all have tomorrow off, but… nothing. And nothing tomorrow night, either.

Regardless, have a good July 4 and, as my mom used to say, try not to blow your hand off.

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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 © 2017 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.