A frightening still from Plack Blague’s 2014 video for “Boyz Club.” The Blague plays Saturday night at Reverb Lounge.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

We’ve entered the black hole known as “January” — a dark, cold month which naturally invites people to stay inside huddled next to their TVs and/or fireplaces and forego traveling out into the abyss. Club owners and promoters know this, and as a result, quality indie shows (especially nationally touring indie shows) will be hard to come by over the next few weeks. Thus is life.

Still, a few local shows worth mentioning:

Tonight at fabulous O’Leaver’s, Dallas all-girl (their description) indie-punk trio The Bralettes headlines. Catchy, jangly, fun. Omaha’s The Morbs opens along with Bach Mai. $5, 10 p.m.

Meanwhile, it’s the first Friday in January and that means Benson First Friday (#BFF). The Sydney in Benson is celebrating heavy this time with some metal in the form of Lincoln’s High Ruler, along with Truth in Ruin and Bitch Dust. $5, 10 p.m.

BTW, The Sydney’s BFF featured fine artist (you know, painter) is none other than Sabre Blazek (Who remembers Machete Archive?). You can check out his art at The Sydney for free starting at 5 p.m.

And since you’re going to be in Benson anyway, you might as well swing by The Little Gallery, 5901 Maple St., for our BFF opening. It’s called “Transcendence” and features eight artist including works by the show’s curator, Marie-Elena Schembri. We’re there from 6 to 9 p.m. Stop in and say hi and have a snack and a cup of Joe!

One other show tonight: Clarence Tilton is playing a free set tonight out at Growler USA.

Tomorrow night (Saturday) everyone’s headed to Reverb Lounge for Lincoln’s favorite bondage-leather-geek-EDM-genius Plack Blague. Joining in on the fun are CBN, Glow in the Dark and Lowercase Tres. $5, 9 p.m.

And that’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section.

Lazy-i Best of 2018

Also, I still have a copy or two of the Lazy-i Best of 2018 Comp CD. The collection includes my favorite indie tunes I’ve come across throughout last year as part of my tireless work as a music critic for Lazy-i. Among those represented: David Nance Group, Courtney Barnett, Sextile, boygenius, Natalie Prass, Azure Ray, J Mascis, Caroline Rose, Parquet Courts, Little Brazil, Cursive and lots more. The full track listing is here, or listen on Spotify.

Enter to win a copy of the CD by either: 1) Sending an email with your mailing address to tim.mcmahan@gmail.com, or 2) Letting me know you want one via Facebook comments, or 3) Retweeting a Lazy-i tweet (If you use social media and win, I’ll reach out later for your mailing address). Hurry, contest deadline is Monday, Jan. 7, at midnight.

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 © 2019 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.