by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

There are no touring indie shows this weekend.

Tickets to the April 3 concert by The Faint at The Waiting Room go on sale today at 10 a.m. The pre-sale general admission price was $35 plus fees. VIP tickets already are on sale for $119 plus fees, which gets you early access, meet & greet, photo with the band, Q&A, tote bag, laminate and more. Tickets are on sale here. Will this sell out? Probably. It’s odd that this show is not being held at one of the many larger venues constructed in Omaha over the past two years (The Admiral, The Astro, Steelhouse Omaha). I would have loved to see them at The Astro. 

There are two local shows of interest Saturday:

Omaha folk orchestra Midwest Dilemma will crowd the small-ish Slowdown front room stage. At past performances, Justin Lamoureux’s band featured as many as 12 musicians – they would not fit on the front room stage so I suspect this show feature a “stripped down” version. MD is supporting their latest LP, Searching for the Cure for Loneliness, released late last year. MIDWEST DILEMMA CANCELLED DUE TO ILLNESS. The show will go on with Daniel & the Deliverance and Fox. $12, 7:30 8 p.m. 

Meanwhile, fabulous O’Leaver’s is hosting a three-band FREE show Saturday night. Headlining is Spurney’s Hawk, which I know nothing about except that it includes Omaha post-punk veteran Ethan Jones (ex-Ladyfinger). Screamo-metal band Nowhere holds down the second slot. Radical Sabbatical – another band I’ve never heard before – kicks things off at 9 p.m. OT (O’Leaver’s Time). Like I said, it’s free and worth it if only to soak up O’Leaver’s decadent ambience. 

That’s it. Did I miss 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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Record label Independent Project Records (IPR) yesterday dropped the first single from the forthcoming album by Jeff Runnings, frontman/bassist and founder of seminal Lincoln post-punk/dream pop band For Against. 

The track, “Batman Forever,” (Batman is the nickname for Runnings’ husband, Sean Applegate) casts the same haunting spell heard on the best For Against albums. Runnings recorded the track as well as the rest of the album, titled Piqued, from his home. The track was mastered by Warren Defever of His Name Is Alive fame at Third Man in Nashville.  

IPR is a legendary indie label, founded in California in 1980 by musician Bruce Licher, whose roster over the years has included Licher’s bands Savage Republic and Scenic, as well as Camper Van Beethoven, R.E.M., Stereolab and more, including For Against. It’s known as much for its iconic album packaging as the music it released (a special edition of For Against’s debut album received a Grammy nomination its artwork). After a hiatus, the label came back to life in the 2020s. Piqued, which consists mostly of instrumentals, is scheduled to be released later this year on black and colored vinyl as well as compact disc.  

The sobering back story to this news involves Runnings’ battle with cancer.  He was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer last October and has since been in hospice care. A Go Fund Me campaign has been established to help cover the costs (click here to pitch in). In addition, a benefit for Runnings is being held Feb. 8 from 4 to 8 p.m. at Unitarian Church, 6300 A Street in Lincoln.  

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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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

By Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Performing last night in front of a crowd of around 100 in Slowdown’s front room, Pile proved it’ll be the perfect pairing for Cursive as the two launch a North American tour starting this Thursday in Fort Collins. 

In this configuration, the band is a powerhouse four-piece of pure angular goodness, fronted by guitarist Rick Maguire at the height of his vocal prowess – we got him before the tour, folks. 

I’ve listened to a lot of Pile albums but I don’t remember them sounding this straightforward and brutal. They rocked a shit-ton harder than anything on their last EP (of which they only played one song, a white-knuckled version of “Scaling Walls”). The pace throughout the first third of the set was breakneck (Cursive better watch out or they’ll be blown off the stage); leaving room for their weirder stuff later on (except for the set closer, but I’ll get to that in a minute). 

Highlights included the set opener, a song called “Deep Clay” that must be new, followed by a head-banging rendition of “Loops” from their last LP, 2023’s All Fiction. The band reached back into the archives for “Uncle Jill” from 2010’s Magic Isn’t Real before Maguire introduced another new one, called “Meanwhile Inside,” off their yet-to-be-released new album, warning the crowd that it’s “very long.” But it didn’t seem long at all — the intricate time shifts and dynamics made for quite a ride. 

Pile closed the 14-song set with yet another new one, which Maguire said wasn’t about any single person but a bunch of people. Titled “Stephen Miller,” the angular explosion was like listening to a sonic fistfight, with Maquire throwing one haymaker after another while the band crushed – perfect, angry, venomous, mosh-pit punk — exactly what we all need right now. 

I caught the last two songs by opener Cope Acidic and wish I would have heard their whole set. Playing as a power trio, the guitarist/frontman brought shades of Bob Mould to the vocals, while the rhythm section brought the heat. Complex rhythms that never lost track of the core song, in the old days we called this style of post-punk “math rock” — an impressive outing by a band I need to see again. 

Last night was the first time since before the pandemic that I attended a show in the month of January, which is historically always a shit time for touring or booking shows (especially in Nebraska). So, a good sign. We made it through what arguably is the worst month of the year in terms of rock shows, and the calendar is filling up nicely over the next few months…

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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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Our hometown label, Saddle Creek Records, continues to honor its past with glorious reissues. This time it’s The Faint, who will see “deluxe” reissues of 1999’s Blank Wave Arcade and 2004’s Wet From Birth. Both will drop on March 14. 

As part of the announcement, the band dropped a previously unreleased track today from the Wet From Birth Deluxe reissue, “Zealots (Unrealized).” The preorder links are live but still not active at the Saddle Creek website. That’ll change once they wake up on the West Coast. 

Saddle Creek has already done super-nice deluxe reissues of 2001’s Danse Macabre and 2014’s Doom Abuse, both of which are still available for purchase at the Saddle Creek online store. 

In addition, the band announced a U.S. Tour that takes them to The Waiting Room April 3!

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Lots of new music being announced recently. A couple standouts: 

Los Angeles band Dutch Interior announced their forthcoming Fat Possum debut, Moneyball, out March 21. The band has a ‘90s Pavement indie rock vibe. Check out the first single, “Fourth Street,” below. They’re playing at this year’s South By Southwest Festival followed by a mainly West Coast tour that takes them nowhere near us. 

Last week Craig Finn of The Hold Steady released a new single from his forthcoming album Always Been (Tamarac/Thirty Tigers), which drops April 4. The LP includes performances from Adam Granduciel of The War on Drugs, who produced the album. Finn opens for Bob Mould April 14 at The Waiting Room, a show  I have no doubt will sell out in advance. 

Speaking of upcoming shows, here’s the latest schedule of indie bands making tour stops in Omaha. Plan accordingly.  

• – Pile, January 28 at The Slowdown
• – Guster, Feb. 5 at The Admiral
• – Real Estate, Feb. 6 at The Waiting Room
• – Benjamin Booker, Feb. 15 at Reverb
• – Michigan Rattlers, Feb. 18 at The Slowdown
• – The Get Up Kids, Feb. 21 at The Waiting Room
• – Molchat Doma / Sextile, Feb. 24 at Steelhouse
• – Buffchick, March 3 at Reverb
• – Lesser Care, March 16 at Reverb
• – The Velveteers, March 27 at The Slowdown
• – The Faint, April 3 at The Waiting Room
• – Marlon Funkai, April 3 at Reverb
• – Jack White, April 5 at Steelhouse
• – Lady Lamb, April 7 at Reverb
• – Bob Mould Band, Craig Finn, April 14 at The Waiting Room 
• – MSSV, April 21 at Reverb
• – Ty Segall solo April 26 at Scottish Rite
• – Nada Surf, April 30 at The Waiting Room
• – Future Islands, May 7 at The Admiral
• – Being Dead, May 13 at Reverb
• – Spellling, May 15 at The Waiting Room
• – Friko, May 20 at Reverb
• – Southern Culture on the Skids, May 27 at Waiting Room
• – Samantha Crain, June 17 at Reverb

What am I missing? Put it in the comments section. 

Tonight at The Slowdown, its Pile with PROBLEMS and Cope Acidic. I previewed the show right here last week. $20, 8 p.m., this is a front room show. See you there.

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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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Another typically poor weekend for touring indie shows, but what do you expect in Omaha in the heart of winter? Still, a few things worth mentioning for your weekend…

Omaha band Glow celebrates the release of their debut full-length, The Beauty Outshines the Hurting. The five-piece plays riff-fueled grunge-influenced heavy stomp-rock that’ll get your devil-horns flying. Also on the bill is Dan Brennan’s noise-rock project Healer and local metal act Setback. $15, 8 p.m. 

Meanwhile, back in Benson at Reverb Lounge, Minneapolis indie duo Bad Bad Hats headlines tonight. They’ve released four records on mid-major indie label Don Giovanni Records including their recent self-titled LP that dropped last April. Los Angeles singer/songwriter Elana Carroll a.k.a. Party Nails opens along with Wichita band Social Cinema. $20, 8 p.m. 

Tomorrow night (Saturday) fabulous O’Leaver’s is hosting three acoustic performances in their fabled, mysterious, speakeasy-style basement! I went down there years ago and it was très cool, but that was at least three floods ago! The performers: Joe Humpal of Universe Contest, BareBear (a.k.a. Rob Walters) and Eric Maly of Slow Pioneers/The Obscurants. It’s free and starts at 9 p.m.

Finally, Reverb is hosting a couple prairie-style singer/songwriters Saturday night. Nashville’s Dylan LeBlanc’s latest LP, Coyote, was released in 2023 by ATO Records and reminds me of ‘70s acts like America. Austin-ite David Ramirez comes from the Randy Newman/Harry Nillson school of easy-going songwriting.  $25, 8 p.m. 

And that’s all I got. 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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Next Tuesday’s (Jan. 28) Pile concert at Slowdown Jr. will provide concert goers a sneak preview of the Boston band’s new, yet-to-be-released album on their new label. 

It’s also a warm-up gig as Pile will launch a (mostly West Coast) tour opening for local heroes Cursive beginning just two days later in Fort Collins that runs through Feb. 23. 

Pile are no strangers to Omaha. Their first gig here was aboard the River City Star back in the summer of 2017; they returned for a night at The Slowdown two years later. Fronted by singer/songwriter Rick Maguire, Pile’s sound has taken a number of iterations but lands on the same abrasive DIY post-punk territory that’s made them fan favorites. I mentally bunch them in with older acts that have nothing to do with them – Dismemberment Plan, Grifters, Chavez, Silkworm, Karate – though Pile’s sound is much more varied and experimental, often taking wild, progressive tangents. 

Their latest release, Hot Air Balloons EP, dropped earlier this month on Exploding in Sound Records. The tracks were recorded during the sessions for their 2023 full-length All Fiction (Exploding in Sound). Are they leftovers not weird enough to make the cut? Who knows, but I dig this EP much more than the full length if only for its more straight-forward melodies and song structures. Check it:

Pile recorded the EP and full-length as a trio with Kris Kuss and Alex Molini, but appears to be touring as a four-piece. According to their gram, they just wrapped up their next full-length, that will be released on Chicago’s Sooper Records sometime this year, and according to their website, will be playing songs from it next Tuesday. 

Nebraskan by way of Chicago PROBLEMS a.k.a. Darren Keen will open this show along with new Omaha prog-punk-math trio Cope Acidic (guitarist/vocalist Connor Moritz, bassist, Alex Airola and drummer Ramon Carias). $20, 8 p.m., this is a frontroom show.

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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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

As we continue to navigate through this dead period when nothing is happeing on our stages, here are a couple things in my earbuds…

Immersion is the electronic duo of Colin Newman from Wire and Malka Sigel from Minimal Compact. They’ve teamed with ambient trio SUSS for a forthcoming album called Nanocluster Vol. 3, which drops on Valentine’s Day via Swim~ . 

Immersion has been around for awhile (the couple first met in 1985, and released their debut album, Oscillating, in ’94), and count ambient, techno and Krautrock among their influences. It’s an off-again/on-again project as Newman balances his time as Wire’s frontman. 

There’s nothing challenging here, just really great ambient music. If you dig these tracks, check out Nanocluster, Vol. 2, EP2,  Immersion’s collaboration with Cubzoa that came out last year. 

Immersion starts their U.S. tour March 14 at the South By Southwest Festival in Austin. Their closest pass to Omaha is March 22 at Chicago’s Constellation. 

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Portland’s Mary Eliza’s style is self-admittedly a product of listening to Big Thief, Mitski, Maki Valesquez and Wilco, which she had on while writing her self-released debut album, Spider, which dropped last Friday.

Produced by Preston Cochran (Lucy Dacus, Illuminati Hotties) with Jake Finch (who’s worked with boygenius and Suki Waterhouse), the album captures the trials of living with her “mysterious chronic illness” recently diagnosed as a heart disorder called POTS, along with a number of other afflictions. 

She says, “It has ended many relationships in my life and I’m sure it will continue to weed out fake friends. My anger and processing around this illness and the medical system as a whole has come out a lot in the making of this record, and it has felt like such a cathartic experience being able to create the soul scratching feeling that I experience in sound.”

Good stuff definitely worth checking out. Eliza’s only current tour stops are in Oregon and Washington. 

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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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Lincoln Exposed 2025 posted their official line-up and schedule for their 20th Anniversary extravaganza, which happens in less than a month. We’re talking more than 100 bands representing multiple genres playing at five downtown Lincoln venues. You can see the line-up at the event’s Facebook invitation page, right here.

Whereas I recognize some old familiar faces on the schedule — Domestica, Floating Opera, Vempire, Sweats, Her Flyaway Manner, Josh Hoyer, Estrogen Projection, Thirst Things First, Head of Femur —  I admit to not knowing most of the acts listed. I’ve asked festival organizer Dustin “Duff” Hunke, who books the Bourbon, if an online event program with band descriptions or – better yet – a playlist could be made available. Stay tuned….

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Only one show of note this weekend and it’s happening tonight at The B. Bar on Leavenworth Street (4330 Leavenworth, to be exact, right next to Barrett’s Barleycorn). Matt Whipkey and Mike Friedman are opening for newish band Mono In Stereo, which consists of singer/guitarist/songwriter Charles McNeil (Brian Jones Was Murdered); bassist Marty Amsler (legendary ’90s Lincoln act The Millions), guitarist James MacDougall, and drummer Joe Eichoff (The End in Red), according to their “Bandmix” page (Is Bandmix the new MySpace?). $5, 9 p.m. 

That’s all I got. 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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Lots of crickets from ol’ Lazy-i lately. Very little to no news regarding the 45 or so bands listed in the 2024 Year in Review. What we know:

• – Simon Joyner is currently on tour in Europe. 
• – Matt Whipkey has a gig Friday night at B.Bar. He’s also working on a new album with The Movies.
• – Dereck Higgins has two new album projects in the works.
• – Carver Jones released a new single, “Maybe Tomorrow.” You can watch the video here. He’s playing a residency of sorts at Bar 39 in the Blackstone.

It’s my intention to keep up with these bands as much as I can, plus whatever new local indie acts emerge. Few are active on social media (especially on Facebook).

Sound engineer/producer Ian Aeillo just wrapped up mixing a 2014 recording by Lincoln band Masses – a grinding all-instrumental throb-rock band from back in the day. Members included Eric Nyffeler, Mike Vandenberg, Shane Brandt and Jon Augustine. This dust-off project, called Asses, is tooth rattling: 

Matador Records has always been a favorite label, reaching all the way back to the ‘90s. They’re off to a strong start in 2025. 

New York-via-Chicago band Horsegirl released the second single from their upcoming Matador release, Phonetics On and On, out Feb. 14. It’s a follow-up to the strangely hypnotic first single (“2468″), called “Switch Over.” Horsegirl is playing a handful of U.S. dates before heading to Europe. The closest pass to Omaha is The Metro in Chicago Feb. 22.

This morning Perfume Genius announced via Matador his new album, Glory, comes out March 28. For this one, Mike Hadreas has re-teamed with long-time producer Blake Mills and the product, as reflected in the first single, “It’s a Mirror,” feels a bit like a throwback, in a good way.  Perfume Genius’ closest pass to Omaha on his next tour is The Truman in Kansas City, June 19. He’s also playing up in Minneapolis. 

Darkside has been around since 2011, and though this is their third album for Matador, it’s the first recorded as a trio, with Nicolás Jaar, Dave Harrington, and new member Tlacael Esparza. Nothing comes out Feb. 28; the first single, “S.N.C.,” dropped last week. They’ll be on tour this spring, their closest pass to Omaha is Chicago on March 13.

That’s not all from Matador. The label also released a new single by Julien Baker (of boygenius) and Torres called “Sugar in the Tank.  I’m unsure if it’s part of a new album by the duo but wouldn’t be surprised. They’re doing a small tour, whose closest pass to Omaha is Iowa City on April 3.

So what do we have headed to Omaha from a touring indie band perspective? Not much so far. Here’s what’s on my radar through spring:

• – Bad Bad Hats, Jan. 24 at Reverb
• – Pile, June 28 at The Slowdown
• – Guster, Feb. 5 at The Admiral
• – Real Estate, Feb. 6 at The Waiting Room
• – The Get Up Kids, Feb. 21 at The Waiting Room
• – Molchat Doma / Sextile, Feb. 24 at Steelhouse
• – Jack White, April 5 at Steelhouse
• – Lady Lamb, April 7 at Reverb
• – Bob Mould Band, April 14 at The Waiting Room
• – MSSV, April 21 at Reverb
• – Ty Segall acoustic, April 26 at Scottish Rite Hall
• – Nada Surf, April 30 at The Waiting Room
• – Spellling, May 15 at The Waiting Room
• – Friko, May 20 at Reverb

This list will (hopefully) fill out as we get closer to spring…

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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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Last call on 2024.

• – If you missed my Music Year in Review column, well here it is.
• – If you missed my Predictions for 2025 column, here it is.
• – And, due to illness and supply chain issues, I’m just now sending out the Lazy-i Best of 2024 compilation. If you own a CD player and would like a copy, drop me an email. They’re free, while supplies last. All you have to do is send your mailing address to tim.mcmahan@gmail.com. 

The playlist also is available in Spotify (with the first two songs missing). Simply click 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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Our nation’s greatest living rock critic, Robert Christgau, age 82, today weighed in on both the new Bright Eyes and new Rosali album (which features David Nance and Mowed Sound as Rosali’s backing band). Christgau was the primary music critic at The Village Voice for decades, but I’ve always known him for his “Consumer Guides” that covered albums from the ‘70s through the ‘90s, and continues online today. He has a singular voice and style I’ve always loved, whether I agreed with his assessments or not.

His Substack website is available here. I’ve been a paid subscriber since day one.

Sayeth Christgau:

Bright Eyes: Five Dice All Threes (Dead Oceans) Now in his fourth decade on the road, the racks, and the alt-rock grind, Conor Oberst has always come across pretty much the way you’d hope from an ex-Catholic indistinguishable from a lapsed born-againer who’s held onto the Bible’s “the greatest of these is charity” byword by gravitating to good causes. There’s been a reliable freshness about him even when the songs faltered slightly. Not here. True, the songs don’t falter all that much. But because the world comes to an end, there’s not much solace in them. B PLUS

I began writing a review of Five Dice with the headline “Bright Eyes’ Five Dice, All Threes is the album Greenberg would have made…” referencing the 2010 Noah Baumbach film starring Ben Stiller as an irritated, neurotic, aging hipster. And that kind of sums up Oberst on this record.

Christgau is more complimentary about the Rosali album:

Rosali: Bite Down (Merge) Coming up in a musical family and whatever comprises the Philadelphia freak-folk scene, Rosali Middleton found the makings of a band in Nebraska and a home near the North Carolina alt-rock label she now shares with the Chicago-to-L.A. indie rappers cited above (Previous Industries). What grabs me about her fourth album is its get-up-and-go from the catchy riff that gooses the one called “My Kind” to the declarative intro of the next-to-last “Change Is in the Form.” But I note with respect that the questioning finale “May It Be on Offer” is nevertheless just that: final. A MINUS

In this installment, Christgau also reviews recent albums from Kim Deal, Fake Fruit, Kendrick Lamar, Willie Nelson, Phelimuncasi & Metal Preyers, Previous Industries, Allen Ravenstine, Lucinda Williams and his favorite band, Wussy. Good stuff. Subscribe!

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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 © 2025 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.