Cold call: Stray Radio ‘Afraid of Heights’… from Poland…

Category: Reviews — Tags: , — @ 8:35 am January 31, 2024

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

That’s it for January…

Writing about music means getting a few hundred (thousand?) pitch emails from promoters and labels per week. All get opened… if only to see if the act is coming to Omaha. If the record label is an indie favorite, or the band is familiar, the music may get a spin. Everything else gets the delete key. 

But every once in a while a band sends what appears to be a personal letter asking for a listen. The following ended up in the in-box this morning, f’r instance:

Hi, 

We are Stray Radio, an alternative rock band from Poland. We’ve just released a new album called “Afraid of Heights”. Maybe you will be interested in giving it a listen.

Cheers from Poland!

Is it really from Poland? Who knows. Maybe, maybe not. The internet is a wonderful, horrible thing. And despite all the phishing warnings about never clicking a link from someone you don’t know (especially if it’s a tinyurl), the plunge was taken.

Stray Radio hails from Bielsko Biala, Poland, according to their Bandcamp page. The band consists of Jan Cembala – vocal; Natalia Maliniewicz – guitar, Piotrek Góra – guitar, Marcin Maliniewicz – bass, Mikołaj Kowalczyk – drums. “All song written by Stray Radio, Mixed & Mastered by Marcin Maliniewicz, Drums recorded at Czecho Sound, Cover Design by Jan Cembala, Cover art taken from William Baxter Closson, Night Moths.

That’s all fine, but is the music any good? Frontman Cembala is at his best when he’s not trying to emulate Jim Morrison. Just be yourself, Jan, like on tracks “Candy” or “Monday,” which are the least affected of the bunch. Clearly these guys have listened to their share of the Velvets and Iggy, and I can imagine them playing a darkly lit underground pub in, say, Katowice, each member with a cig hanging from his mouth, a lonely couple dancing close in the muted light. There are also some unfortunate metal-esque moments that remind me of ‘90s grunge, which I could have done without. 

Look, I’m part Polish and the rules are very clear that when you get a cold call email from one of your Polish brethren you take it, and I’m not sorry I did… But I wonder if they’re really from Poland…

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

PROBLEMS, Mesa Buoy, Healer, Jaime Wyatt Saturday…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , — @ 7:33 am January 26, 2024

PROBLEMS drops by O’Leaver’s Saturday before heading to New Zealand.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Just for giggles, I took a look at what was happening music-wise last year at the end of January and believe it or not, it was even quieter that this year. The biggest gig was that weird, improv, jam performance by Conor Oberst at the B-Bar where boy genius sang news stories from random magazines backed by an all-star band that included MiWi La Lupa, Cubby Phillips and The Sydney’s Zach Schmieder, among others. I was not in attendance, but it’s an example just how desperate we can get for entertainment during the darkest nights of January. 

Needless to say, things ain’t that bad this year. No, there’s nothing happening tonight, but Saturday you got choices. 

Top of the list is a barn burner at fabulous O’Leaver’s headlined by former Nebraskan now Chicagoan Darren Keen a.k.a. PROBLEMS as he prepares to head down under for a tour of New Zealand. Joining Darren at the Club Saturday night is guitarist Jim Schroeder’s project, Mesa Buoy, which in the past has featured such notables as Kevin Donahue, Colin Duckworth, Patrick Newberry, Michael Overfield, Megan Siebe and David Nance. I have no idea who’s playing with Jim for this gig, but if he only gets a few of those folks, we’re in for a treat. Opening the evening is Dan Brennan’s noise-rock project Healer that features Rick Black and John Svatos (of Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship) and Joe Mickeliunas (of Back When fame). Old-fashioned start time of 9 p.m. and cost $10 to get in. 

Also Saturday night, Reverb Lounge is hosting so-called West Coast country artist Jaime Wyatt. I say “so-called” because I’ve been listening to her latest album, Feel Good (2023, New West), and it falls closer to retro-soul or roots/blues rock than C&W, which is a nice way of saying I didn’t get car sick listening to it (as I do with country music). If you like Natalie Prass you might dig this record. (But I can’t say the same about her previous album). Connecticut country-folk dude Joshua Quimby opens at 8 p.m. $25.

And that’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend. February is just around the corner…

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

Currently listening to: new Hotline TNT, Uranium Club, Mary Timony, Pete Yorn…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , — @ 8:34 am January 24, 2024
Minneapolis Uranium Club at Pet Shop Gallery Dec. 9, 2017. They’ve got a new album coming out.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

As we wait for February and touring bands to return to Omaha, we’re left checking out new music, of which there is much. Here’s a sampling:

Hotline TNT played a rad show at Reverb last year. They’re still out plugging away at their most recent album, Cartwheel, and yesterday dropped a new video for the track “Stump.” 

This song came to be in just one afternoon when I was reflecting on a game of cards I played with my family in Minnesota. I’m glad we finally made a video for it because the man who seduced us all with the biggest Billboard smash of the 20th century (Rob Thomas) posted the track on his Instagram story and that was all I needed to know we made a hit.”

A few years ago, Minneapolis Uranium Club showed up in Omaha and played a head-spinning show at Petshop Gallery that is still one of my best memories of the place (along with that amazing Ceremony show, who remembers that one at Sweatshop?). Well the Club is back with a new album, the first since 2018. If you’re into Devo-influenced head trips, here’s your ticket. Infants Under the Bulb is out on Anti Fade and Static Shock, March 1, ollowed by an 11-day Australian tour. Someone bring them back to Omaha, please…

Remember Mary Timony? Sure, we all do. The former Helium frontwoman (and Ex-Hex and Wild Flag) is releasing her first solo album in 15 years, out Feb. 23 on Merge Records.  Untame the Tiger emerged after the dissolution of a long-term relationship and was bookended by the deaths of Mary’s father and mother. “This was the hardest thing I’ve been through. Every week I had to manage a new crisis. Because I was making impossible decisions on behalf of my parents, creative choices now seemed more manageable.”

Pete Yorn’s latest claim to fame was a cameo appearance in Killers of the Flower Moon, which I have yet to see, and probably won’t before the Oscars. He’s also got a new track out called “Someday, Someday,” that sounds like classic Pete Yorn. No idea if this is a prelude to a new album…

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

David Nance and Mowed Sound drop second single off Third Man release; spring calendar update…

Category: Blog — Tags: — @ 8:37 am January 23, 2024

A screencap from the new David Nance & Mowed Sound video for “Tumbleweed.”

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

David Nance and Mowed Sound dropped the second single, “Tumbleweed,” off their upcoming self-titled album to be released on Jack White’s Third Man Records Feb. 9. The video is pretty trippy. 

The song was “written in less than five minutes in a car ride on the Fourth of July, 2021,” according to the TMR press release. “The whole album is a big magic trick,” Nance said, “most of these songs were written as country songs and then were perverted into different forms…but it sure as shit isn’t a country record.”

In addition to the band, local heroes Megan Siebe and Skye Junginger make guest appearances. Pre-order here.

The David Nance & Mowed Sound Feb. 16 album release show at Reverb Lounge is one of the spotlight concerts in Omaha winter music calendar. Here’s the latest list of touring indie shows through Spring. Next up: that MX Lonely show at the mysterious Blindspot…

  • — Feb. 1 – MX Lonely at Blindspot
  • — Feb. 16 – David Nance and Mowed Sound LP release at Reverb
  • — Feb. 17 – Matthew Sweet at Waiting Room
  • — Feb. 19 – Yo La Tengo at Waiting Room 
  • — Feb. 24 – Porno for Pyros at The Astro
  • — Feb. 29 – Katy Kirby at Reverb
  • — March 6 – Jenny Lewis at The Admiral
  • March 18 – Color Green at Reverb
  • — March 22 – Sun June, Wild Pink at Reverb
  • April 14 – Twin Tribes at Reverb
  • — April 20 – Rosali at O’Leaver’s
  • — April 24 – Sheer Mag at Reverb 

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

Joseph, Plack Blague Saturday; Neva Dinova, Squirrel Flower Sunday…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , , — @ 9:34 am January 19, 2024
Squirrel Flower at Reverb Lounge March 20, 2022. The band returns to Reverb Sunday night.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

It’s a right damn shame this Arctic cold has dropped on us like an anvil this weekend considering all the shows, but, heck, it is January boys and girls…

There’s nothing on the indie-show radar for Friday night, but Saturday’s looking busy…

Portland trio Joseph consists of three women who know their way around harmonies. The band’s local connection – ARC’s Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes fame produced their second album, I’m Alone, No You’re Not (2016, ATO). Their latest full length, The Sun, was released last April by ATO and is reminiscent of First Aid Kit thanks to those multi-layered harmonies, but with more mainstream-pop melodies.  They’ve performed on all the usual late-night haunts (Fallon, Conan, even Jools Holland). Opening is LA-based singer/songwriter Sister, whose claim to fame is having her single, “Love Me Right,” used in Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground podcast. $32, 8 p.m. 

Meanwhile, Lincoln electronic leather fetish performer (I think he got upset when I said Pulp Fiction-style gimp, so no more of that) Plack Blague headlines at The Waiting Room Saturday night. Joining him is a cadre of local electronic artists including Ex Lover, Specter Poetics and DJ Lady Muerte. $15, 8 p.m. 

Also Saturday night, local folks Bad Actors headlines at fabulous O’Leaver’s with The Broke Loose and Sioux City’s Sexy Ca$h. This is a free show that starts at 9 p.m. 

It’s back to O’Leaver’s Sunday afternoon/evening for a sort of goodbye show for Neva Dinova, as the band has wrapped up some recording and frontman/guru Jake Bellows is headed back to Los Angeles the following day. I caught the trio (Jake is joined by Megan Siebe on bass and legendary drummer Roger Lewis) when they played at Reverb last month (read the review) when they played a wide selection of old and new Neva material. Joining them again Sunday is Jess Price of Doom Flower and Campdogzz doing a solo set, and our very own Sean Pratt, who I’m told also has been in the studio. This is an early show with a 5 p.m. start time and will cost you $15. The weather guy says by Sunday this abysmal cold will have lifted, too, and let’s face it, it’s always red hot inside The Club. 

Later Sunday night, Chicago’s Squirrel Flower a.k.a. Ella O’Connor Williams, returns to Reverb Lounge. She’s on the road supporting her latest LP, Tomorrow’s Fire (2023, Polyvinyl), which is a step up in sound and shoegaze intensity vs. her more laidback Planet (i) LP. When she was here in 2022 she used a repeater pedal liberally throughout her set to provide a layered sound even though she was backed by a full band. She’s on the road with Los Angeles band Goon, who’s last studio release, Hour of Green Evening (2022, Demonde), received a solid 7.1 rating on the ol’ Pitchfork meter who said the band blends “plaintive psychedelic rock with sweet folk melodies,” — accurate. Get there early and catch The Dirts, who opens the show at 8 p.m. $20. 

And that’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Bundle up and 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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

#TBT: Jan. 18, 2004 — The first time I stepped inside O’Leaver’s…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , — @ 8:36 am January 18, 2024

The Kingdom Flying Club, circa 2004…

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Looking for something to post today (there is nothing going on… I mean nothing), I ran across my first review of fabulous O’Leaver’s, published 20 years ago today in Lazy-i. O’Leaver’s had already been hosting live shows for awhile before I first stumbled into The Club, and my comment that I “can’t imagine a Saddle Creek Band playing an announced show there” would prove to not only be wrong but in some ways prescient as members of Cursive would eventually buy the bar years later. 

Over 20 years, O’Leaver’s surprisingly hasn’t changed much – at least not the main room where bands perform. When Kasher, Maginn and Stevens took over, they upped the sound system and made a shit-ton of improvements, including adding that bucolic beer garden. But the overall ambience in the main room is the same, including those record-album sleeves stapled to the walls like college-dorm wallpaper.

After a time of post-COVID live music dormancy, it sounds like changes are afoot at O’Leaver’s. The club recently closed its grill and seems to be returning to hosting live music, judging by a somewhat robust upcoming events calendar that includes Sunday’s Neva Dinova show and that Rosali gig in February. Check out their full upcoming events calendar. Asked online if O’Leaver’s has turned the rock machine back on, someone who handles their social accounts replied, “Well YES WE HAVE!!!

As for Columbia, Missouri’s Kingdom Flying Club, after that 2004 O’Leaver’s gig, I interviewed the band in support of their return engagement two months later (With Civella, and A Cult of Riley, read that interview here). The band released a maxi-single a year after their 2003 debut on Emergency Umbrella Records, and then just… disappeared, which is a rock ’n’ roll trope that has been repeated a million times and will be repeated a million more.  That said, you can still listen to their debut on YouTube (linked below). 

Live Review: Kingdom Flying Club at O’Leavers – Jan. 18, 2004

Part of what I heard about O’Leavers is true. It is a small place — some would say downright tiny. But I wouldn’t say it’s cramped. It’s actually cozy in sort of a Homy Inn sort of way. Also like The Homy, O’Leavers is decorated with tons of shit on its walls — in this case, hundreds of album covers that span a few decades, as well as rock posters, including a prominent image of David Bowie in full Ziggy mode. With a bar on one end, the band plays directly across the room in a step-up seating area, standing right in front of a nonfunctioning fireplace. It’s like someone’s funky, 1970s “music room” or a college guy’s basement apartment, and I suppose that’s where it gets its charm.

I have heard people complain that it’s too small for live music. It wasn’t last night, but that’s because the bill consisted of under-the-radar acts. I can’t imagine a Saddle Creek band or one of the large West Omaha bands playing an announced show there. The room looks like it could comfortably hold maybe 75 people. Last night’s crowd looked to be around 50, and there was plenty of room to walk around, get a drink, even sit down. The sound system this night was provided by Matt Whipkey of Anonymous American fame, two small overhead amps and whatever gear the band brought with it. As a result, it wasn’t deafening — I didn’t need to wear earplugs and could talk to people without screaming during the sets.

I walked in hearing the strains of a band fronted by the guy who used to be known as Stop At Line. His new band consists of him on electric guitar and a drummer playing sorta screamo punk a la Desaparecidos. It’s not bad, but it needs a bass and some variety in the songwriting — every song sounded the same.

The headliner was Columbia, Missouri’s Kingdom Flying Club. You already know how much I like this band if you read my Year in Review (their album, Non-Fiction, made my year-end top-10 faves list and a selection from it is included on my 2003 Best of Comp (which you can still enter to win a copy of… see details). Now after seeing them live, I’m convinced that they could be the next Weezer — a bold statement, I know, but they’ve got that whole pop-rock thing down to a science. Live, they sound like a cross between Weezer and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin or any other band you can think of that played that sort-of alt style circa 1993. Their stage presence is pure slacker — the thin, pasty keyboardist/vocalist looks like he’s about pass out at any moment, while the other vocalists/guitarist looks like he just walked out of the quad at Everyplace University. They were sloppy at times, not exactly tight, but their approach almost seemed intentional. I think these guys know that it’s their songs that are going to get them noticed, and despite their liaise faire attitude; they won over the crowd playing mostly songs off Non-fiction, though there were a couple I didn’t recognize. They closed with a cover of AC/DC’s “T-N-T” which was respectfully messy and fun.

My take on O’Leavers is that it’s a delightfully and purposely unpolished gem of a club that will continue to have an impact on Omaha’s music scene. Now if they’d only get a website so that we could find out who’s playing there next.

— Lazy-i, Jan. 18, 2004

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

Neva Dinova adds Jan. 21 O’Leavers gig with Jess Price, Sean Pratt…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , — @ 8:22 am January 16, 2024
Neva Dinova at Reverb Dec. 14. The band plays at O’Leaver’s Sunday, Jan. 21.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

There hasn’t been much to talk about music-wise, however Craig Dee at fabulous O’Leaver’s IM’d to say Neva Dinova will be playing at the club this-coming Sunday afternoon/evening (Jan. 21) with Sean Pratt and Jess Price of Doom Flower/Campdogzz.

Price was on that smoking Dec. 14 bill at Reverb Lounge (that also included Marcey Yates), so if you missed that show, here’s another chance to catch Jake and Co., along with a solo set by Jess Price. I’m told Neva has been in town since that December show holed up in Make Believe studio working on a new album, and that Jake flies back to LA next Monday. Sean Pratt also has been recording new material, which you’ll likely hear Sunday afternoon. The O’Leaver’s gig starts at 5 p.m. $15.  

Has O’Leaver’s turned the rock machine back on? They also just added a concert with Rosali (backed by David Nance and Mowed Sound), April 20.

It being the dead of winter in Omaha, there hasn’t been many other touring indie shows booked, though a couple more have been announced. Here’s your Omaha touring indie rock calendar through spring:

  • — Jan. 21 – Neva Dinova, Jess Price at O’Leaver’s
  • — Jan. 21 – Squirrel Flower, Goon, The Dirts at Reverb
  • — Feb. 1 – MX Lonely at Blindspot
  • — Feb. 16 – David Nance and Mowed Sound LP release at Reverb
  • — Feb. 17 – Matthew Sweet at Waiting Room
  • — Feb. 19 – Yo La Tengo at Waiting Room 
  • — Feb. 24 – Porno for Pyros at The Astro
  • — Feb. 29 – Katy Kirby at Reverb
  • — March 6 – Jenny Lewis at The Admiral
  • — March 18 – Color Green at Reverb
  • — March 22 – Sun June, Wild Pink at Reverb
  • — April 20 – Rosali at O’Leaver’s
  • — April 24 – Sheer Mag at Reverb 

Missing from the above list – any touring indie shows at The Slowdown… what’s going on there?

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Lazy-i Best of 2023 compilation CD.

I’m closing the books on 2023, which means this is your last chance to claim a copy of the Lazy-i Best of 2023 Compilation CD. If you want one (they’re free), drop me a line with your mailing address and I’ll mail one to you. It includes music from Genesis Owusu, Slowdive, Blondshell, Neva Dinova, Boygenius, Lewsberg, Lana Del Rey, Bad Bad Men, Palehound and more. You can also listen to the playlist at Spotify from this link or search “Tim McMahan” in Spotify, then select “Profiles,” then “Public Playlists.” You’ll find it along with a few from past years.

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

Clarence Tilton, B.B. Sledge tonight at Slowdown, Jr… POSTPONED…

Category: Blog — Tags: , — @ 8:45 am January 12, 2024
Clarence Tilton at the Parkwood Lane Bluegrass Festival, Sept. 7, 2019. The band has postponed tonight’s show at Slowdown, Jr.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Considering what’s going on outside right now, you can’t blame local music venues for not booking a whole lot of shows in the dead of winter. Very few people are going to venture out into this Arctic hell to see a rock band. And god help any band traveling on the interstates.

Anyway, there is a show happening tonight — Omaha-based indie alt-country band Clarence Tilton headlines at Slowdown Jr. The band has been pretty active over the past months and even recently hired a publicist, so something must be up. They’re my favorite country band from Nebraska. The elusive B.B. Sledge opens this show. I say “elusive” because I’ve been meaning to catch their set most of last year and have missed them for one reason or another. The band includes Daniel Knapp of Son, Ambulance fame (Joe’s brother)

Tonight’s Clarence Tilton show has wisely been postponed until March 2. If you’re going out this weekend, you may want to call ahead or check the venue’s socials to make sure whatever it is you are planning to do is still happening.

It’s an 8 p.m. show, so by then the streets could be cleaned up and drivable (though it’ll still be 20-below-zero windchill). $15.

That is all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments. Stay warm and 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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

Rosali collaborates with Mowed Sound on Bite Down (out March 22 on Merge); at O’Leaver’s April 20…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , , — @ 8:22 am January 11, 2024

From left, James Schroeder, Rosali, David Nance and Kevin Donahue. Rosali’s new album, Bite Down, drops March 22 on Merge Records.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

North Carolina’s Rosali Middleman – a.k.a. Rosali – has sort of become an ex-officio Omahan this past year, having recorded her just-announced album, Bite Down, with a shit-ton of Omahans. In fact, most of David Nance’s band, Mowed Sound, is Rosali’s backing band.

The new album, out March 22 on Merge Records, is a collaboration with Nance, guitarist James Schroeder, and drummer Kevin Donahue, who also worked on her 2021 album, No Medium.

Bite Down was engineered by the esteemed JJ Idt and Schroeder (with Alex Bingham) and produced by Schroeder and Rosali. Among the special guests on the record are Omaha natives Stephen Bartolomei, Phil Schaffart, Matt Carroll & Sara Bertuldo (See Through Dresses), Daniel Knapp (Son, Ambulance, BB Sledge), Karen Pietsch and Margot Erlandson. Non-Omahan Ted Bois handles keys and is member of Dan Bejar’s Destroyer.

In fact, you might have seen Rosali and Mowed Sound open for Destroyer at The Waiting Room back in April 2022. Bejar, it seems, is a big fan of both Rosali and her new album. From the press release:

Bite Down makes me think about singers and bands that throw themselves hard into the storm, the way the Rosali quartet does. The calm of her voice over top of the band’s raging—it is the emblem of songs that live to put themselves in harm’s way. But it’s not harm. It’s just that you have to play hard to get at these goods. The calm of Rosali’s voice, the straight talk of her inner search vs. the wildness of the band, the sonic storm she rides in on. That’s their sound.

“The Mowed Sound. It’s hard to talk about these last couple Rosali albums without talking about them. They play free and wild and relentlessly melodious. They rip and create space and fill it up with what seems like reckless abandon, but listen carefully or listen for a while and you’ll find them paying real close attention to each other and exactly what the song demands. – Dan Bejar

Check out the video of the album’s first single, “Rewind,” below that features special guest appearances by Nance, Schroeder and Donahue.

Rosali also announced a North American tour that kicks off March 19 in Denver (March dates support Mary Timony (Helium, Ex-Hex)) and wraps up April 20 at O’Leaver’s. You can pre-order the album from Rosali’s Bandcamp page.

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

New SAVAK (local boy Mike Jaworski); new Ty Segall, STRFKR, Waxahatchee…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , — @ 8:07 am January 10, 2024

SAVAK on the streets of Brooklyn…

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Mike Jaworski, a.k.a. Jaws by those who know him, emailed last week saying his current project – SAVAK — has a new album coming out called Flavors of Paradise on Brooklyn label Ernest Jenning Record Co.

Those of you who were around the Omaha music scene back in the day remember Jaws from his bands Hong Gyn Corp, The Cops, Virgin Islands and Hello from Waveland, as well as his Seattle-based record label Mt. Fuji, which in addition to releasing albums by The Cops dropped records by Omaha indie band Little Brazil. 

So yeah, Jaworski is something of a legend who hasn’t lived around here in ages, but is still remembered as an icon. 

Anyway, SAVAK is a three piece indie rock band that also includes Sohrab Habibion (ex-Obits, ex-Edsel) and drummer Matt Schulz (ex-Holy Fuck).  Joining them as part of the live version of SAVAK are indie rock veterans Jeff Gensterblum (Small Brown Bike, Her Heads on Fire) and Matt Hunter (New Radiant Storm King, Silver Jews). 

The new record was recorded at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio studio but without Albini and instead with Matthew Barnhart (Superchunk, Bob Mould). “No guests, no edits, no country and definitely no funk—the record is lean, spacious and lively,” says the press release. Undoubtably modern, the record also has some retro touches, among them the Byrds-like harmonies on “Let the Sunlight In” and the ‘70s acid guitar on “The New New Age.” It’s the most tuneful SAVAK album to date and a total gas. 

The band will be playing around Brooklyn this spring and have a tour of France slated for April (ah, April in Paris), but no Omaha dates planned (SAVAK would be the perfect fit for the Outlandia Festival!). Preorder the album here

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Tuesday appears to be the day when bands announce tours. 

Ty Segall is headed back to Omaha May 7 for a gig at The Waiting Room. Yesterday he dropped the final pre-release single from his upcoming full-length, Three Bells, which will be released Jan. 26 on Drag City.

Portland’s STRFKR announced they’ll play at The Admiral Theater April 28. Their new album, Parallel Realms, drops on Polyvinyl March 1.

Indie darlings (and personal favorite) Waxahatchee announced their new album, Tigers Blood, drops March 22 on Anti-. They also announched a slew of 2024 tour dates. Their closest pass to Omaha will be the usual Kansas City, St. Paul, Chicago swing April 18-20. See you on the interstate.

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i