Live Review: Son, Ambulance, Little Brazil; Creatures of Rabbit (Stephen Sheehan & band) tonight…

Category: Reviews — Tags: , — @ 12:36 pm September 17, 2018

Son, Ambulance at Slowdown Jr., Sept. 14, 2018.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Son, Ambulance gets the official #Warrior designation after their show Friday night at Slowdown Jr. Daniel Knapp was involved in a car accident a few hours before the show, which left him bandaged head-to-hand. But the show must go on, as they say on Broadway, and Daniel was behind the keyboards playing with his usual panache.

In fact, everyone played with panache, in front of about 50 people, with a set that leaned heavily on older, familiar tunes. Where did all that new material go that we heard a year or so ago? Who knows. Maybe the band will roll it (or other new stuff) out when they play at O’Leaver’s later this month.

One new one they did play, titled “Fuck Trump,” felt less like a political anthem than a reflection of our current state of affairs, punctuated toward the end with a “Fuck Trump” rallying cry. Joe Knapp’s vocals, while burning with Costello snarls, were blurred in the mix so I couldn’t make out the rest of the song’s lyrics. I’d love to see a lyric sheet — or better yet, a clean recording issued on 7-inch vinyl.

Little Brazil at O’Leaver’s, Sept. 16, 2018.

Last night was the Mike Loftus Benefit Concert at O’Leaver’s. I only had time to drop in for Little Brazil’s set. The band played most of the songs off their latest album, Send the Wolves (2018, Max Trax), with a lethal intensity that eclipsed their CD release show.

Hats off to soundguy Ben VanHoolandt, who diligently adjusted the sound throughout the set to meet the band’s peaks and valleys. A typical problem at Little Brazil shows is that Landon Hedges’ vocals sometimes get lost in the mix. That wasn’t a problem last night. It’s the first time I’ve heard Landon so clearly on stage, and it made all the difference.

The crew also pulled out a couple new ones (which I believe they also played at their CD release show); the first of which features a very cool riff by new guitarist Shawn Cox, (who slayed his solos throughout the performance). LB just released their last record in June and it sounds like they’re already ready to return to the studio. I’d love to see them tour this record before they put out the next one, but we all know how god-awfully taxing touring can be, both to the band’s wallets and families.

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Special show tonight at O’Leaver’s…

Billed as “Creatures of Rabbit,” the gig is actually a warm-up for this weekend’s Lincoln Calling Festival by Stephen Sheehan and his band, which features Dan Crowell, Randy Cotton, Donovan Johnson and Mike Saklar.

Sheehan, as we all know, was the frontman to late-’80s early-’90s post-ambient band Digital Sex. He re-emerged from a performance hiatus with this new band (but with Ben Sieff instead of Saklar on guitar) last August (you can read how and why it happened, here). Catch the set before they head to Lincoln Calling Friday night. Tonight’s show starts at 9:30 with no opener. $5.

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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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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