by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I haven’t been on vacation. There just hasn’t been anything to write about lately from an indie music perspective. 

It’s been woefully quiet the past few weeks around here, with little happening for the balance of the month except for tonight’s Velveteers show at The Slowdown and Worry Club at Reverb Sunday. Things are looking up in April, however, where I count 14 touring indie bands coming through town. 

In retrospect, last March Omaha hosted shows by Sun June/Wild Pink, Color Green, Willy Mason and Jenny Lewis – not exactly a beehive of touring indie activity. So, it’s a slow month. The good news is there is a shit-ton of great new indie albums that have dropped or are about to. The music pipeline is as robust as ever, we just need to convince the hot new bands (and the local promoters) to book shows here. 

Tonight’s show by The Velveteers is a return engagement by the Boulder, Colroado, alt-rock band who played at Slowdown last April. This time they’re supporting a brand new album, A Million Knives, released this past February by Easy Eye Sound/Concord. Like their previous album, 2021’s Nightmare Daydream, the new record was produced by Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach and continues to sport a similar glammy, Garbage, alt-rock vibe. In fact, the album’s first single, “Go Fly Away,” was written by Auerbach and BK partner Patrick Carney. 

Tour mates Girl Tones is the Bowling Green, Kentucky, duo of sisters Kenzie and Laila Crowe playing a fuzzy, White Stripes-style of alt rock. They worked with Kentucky pals Cage the Elephant on their debut single, “Fade Away.”  

Omaha’s Magū, fronted by singer/songwriter David McInnis, opens tonight’s show in Slowdown’s front room at 8 p.m. $20. 

If alt-rock ain’t your thing, swing by fabulous O’Leaver’s tonight for The Club’s debut of Carver Jones. I recapped Jones’ rising trajectory (including working with a number of big-name producers) in a Lazy-i feature story that ran last November, right here, where-in I wondered if Carver will be the next big thing to escape from Omaha. His latest single is “Problems” – still no idea if he’s found that illusive record label he was searching for.

Jones is the opener for Butte, Montana, R&B/retro dance couple Desperate Electric, whose latest LP is 2024’s Don’t Fall in Love. It’s bound to turn O’Leaver’s into the disco dance club it was always destined to be. This one is free and starts at 8 p.m.

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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

Tickets for the Maha Festival go on sale this morning at 10 a.m. The pricing for the one-day event Aug. 2 at Heartland of America Park/RiverFront, according to the etix website:

• – General Admission: $79
• – VIP: $139

What do you get for the VIP? Access to the following “exclusive amenities”:  

• – AC Restrooms
• – Upgraded Food Options
• – Private Bar
• – Exclusive Viewing Area

In my personal experience, the VIP tickets are worth the additional $40, especially if you dig the line-up and intend to be there all day. Unlike past Maha Festivals, this 6-band bill will bring people to the park early and keep them all day.

Read more about the line-up in yesterday’s blog post, and get yer tickets at mahafestival.com. 

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If you missed out on tickets to that long sold-out Riley Kiley show slated for Sept. 17 at The Astro, you’re in luck. Mammoth Productions announced this morning that they’re moving the show to the larger Astro Amphitheater. Purchased General Admission tickets from indoors will now be honored for General Admission Lawn Access outdoors. Reserved seats from indoors will be relocated to seats in Sections 101-107 outdoors.  Hope it doesn’t rain. 

As a result, tickets are again on sale for this show. 

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This will be a quick weekend look ahead as only one show is on my radar. Two Chicago-based post-metal instrumental bands are playing at Slowdown tonight. 

The trio Russian Circles has been at it since 2004 and made a big splash with their 2008 album Station (Suicide Squeeze) that kinda/sorta defined a high-energy post-rock style more driving and less cinematic than, say, a band like Mogwai. They carry on guitar-fueled noise rock on their latest album, Gnosis (2022, Sargent House). Head-waggin’ metal instrumentals, too smart and fast for the doomies out there.  

Chicago brethren Pelican is more of the same – buzzing metal instrumentals, though from my casual listening seems to have more variety and “wandering” in their compositions. As such, they’ve been thrown into every loud category, from post-metal to stoner to doom. The two tracks from their new album, Flickering Resonance (out this May on Run for Cover Records), actually have a post-grunge vibe. Lots o’ “post-s” with these bands. 

Both bands with have room to roam on Slowdown’s main room stage. 8 p.m. $34.50. 

And that’s all I got. Pretty quiet around here these days. Things are looking up in April, though. 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

The line-up for the 2025 Maha Festival was announced late yesterday afternoon and it may be their best line-up ever: Pixies, Waxahatchee, Band of Horses, Magdalena Bay, Silversun Pickups and local heroes Little Brazil. 

There have been accusations that I had inside knowledge of the line-up prior to the announcement, based upon my Feb. 24 predictions, but nothing could be further from the truth. It was simply a matter of deduction. Pixies have always been a favorite of the folks who ran the now-defunct Outlandia Festival — all of whom are now involved in Maha. Pixies’ tour schedule also had a nice hole on Aug. 2, which happens to be Maha’s date. 

Formed in 1986 but active throughout most of the 2000s, many (including myself) have argued Pixies was the most important post-punk band of the ‘80s whose sound heavily influenced Nirvana and spawned the grunge era, pulling indie rock out of the underground and onto the pop charts. 

Three of the band’s original members remain: Black Francis, Joey Santiago and David Lovering, with Emma Richardson taking over the bass chores from Kim Deal. The band’s latest, The Night the Zombies Came, was released last October on BMG. 

The last time Pixies was scheduled to play Omaha was an oudoor gig at The Waiting Room, Sept. 16, 2021 – a show that was cancelled along with the rest of the band’s tour that year, likely due to COVID issues. Prior to that, you have to go all the way back to September 2010 when the band played The Orpheum Theatre. So, their return is a long time coming. 

My prediction that Waxahatchee could be at this’ year’s festival was more of a wish. The band – one of my favorites – has avoided Omaha since the pandemic. The last time they played Nebraska was Lincoln Calling back in 2018. Prior to that, they played The Waiting Room way back in 2014. Their latest album, Tigers Blood, came out in March 2024 on Anti- and their due for a new LP, hopefully this year. 

Band of Horses played the inaugural Outlandia Festival back in 2022. Their 2006 album, Everything All the Time (Sub Pop), contains the indie hit “The Funeral,” which has almost half a billion plays on Spotify. Their latest LP, Things Are Great (2024, BMG), continues along their dreamy, indie-jangle path. 

Electro-pop duo Magdalena Bay just played The Waiting Room last September, supporting their then just-released Imaginal Disk (Mom+Pop Records). Some folks online have commented that this year’s Maha line-up more resembles an Outlandia festival, but Magdalena Bay definitely targets the younger audience drawn to past Maha fests. 

Silversun Pickups should be very familiar to Omaha audiences. They just played here last April at The Admiral. Before that, they played at Slowdown in 2021, Stir Cove in 2013, Sumtur Amphitheater in 2012, Sokol Auditorium (now Admiral) in 2009, and Slowdown in 2007. 

Finally, it only seems right that the Omaha band that kicked off the Maha Music Festival way back in August 2009 at Lewis & Clark Landing – Little Brazil – open this year’s festival at its new RiverFront location in Heartland of America Park. 

That’s a strong line-up for a one-day festival that many feared may not return after the 2024 event was “paused.” Among the reasons given at the time: “…the worldwide festival industry has faced an unprecedented increase in costs for talent, transportation, labor, security and insurance.” There were other issues as well, including personnel changes in the Maha organization.

And now it’s back, arguably better than ever. No word yet on ticket prices, but we’ll find out when they go on sale Friday. 

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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

I’m back from my short vacation – spring ball in Clearwater Florida. Not much to say music-wise except I experienced a plethora of music styles (primarily Latin/dance/retro hip-hop) while riding in various Ubers/Lifts in and around Tampa. Can you imagine climbing into an Uber and the driver is playing The Faint? 

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Speaking of The Faint, the band’s frontman, Todd Fink, has been doing a media tour of sorts in support of the “deluxe” rerelease of Blank-Wave Arcade and Wet From Birth (and the band’s upcoming tour). Among the articles:

• Todd lists his 5 albums he can’t live without, in SPIN. No surprises here. 
• Stereogum’s Ian Cohen says there’s no better time to assess the Faint’s legacy, and Todd weighs in. Read it here. From the article: “Todd Fink basically invented Indie Sleaze and all he got was a public nudity charge.” A fun read.
• Todd tells BrooklynVegan the 5 songs that influence Blank-Wave Arcade. Again, no surprises, except for maybe The Tear Garden. Read it here. 

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At least know The Faint won’t be playing this year’s Maha Festival (because they’re already playing a sold-out April 3 show at The Waiting Room). 

But tomorrow we find out who will be headlining the Aug. 2 event. Other disqualified bands and my guesses as to what might be announced is right here. I’ll let you what I think of the line-up…

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You can also take the following bands off any “Maha guess” list, as they’ll be riding through town in the coming months. Here’s my updated list of touring indie bands headed our way. Get yer tickets before they’re gone. 

• – The Velveteers, March 27 at The Slowdown
• – Worry Club, March 30 at Reverb
• – The Faint, April 3 at The Waiting Room -SOLD OUT
• – Marlon Funkai, April 3 at Reverb
• – Jack White, April 5 at Steelhouse – SOLD OUT
• – Lady Lamb, April 7 at Reverb
• – The Criticals, April 10 at Reverb
• – Black Ends, April 12 at The Sydney
• – Bob Mould Band, Craig Finn, April 14 at The Waiting Room 
• – MSSV, April 21 at Reverb
• – Cryogeyser, April 25 at Reverb
• – Vazum, April 25 at The Sydney
• – Ty Segall solo April 26 at Scottish Rite
• – MURS, April 26 at Reverb
• – Bright Eyes, April 27 at The Astro
• – Bad Nerves, April 27 at The Waiting Room
• – Nada Surf, April 30 at The Waiting Room
• – Husbands, May 1 at Reverb
• – Season to Risk, May 3 at The Sydney
• – Future Islands, May 7 at The Admiral
• – Julien Baker & Torres, May 12 at The Admiral
• – Being Dead, May 13 at Reverb
• – Black Country, New Road, May 14 at Slowdown
• – Spellling, May 15 at The Waiting Room
• – Friko, May 20 at Reverb
• – Florist, May 24 at Reverb
• – Southern Culture on the Skids, May 27 at Waiting Room
• – Samantha Crain, June 17 at Reverb
• – Holy Fawn, June 25 at Reverb
• – Hurray for the Riff Raff, July 15 at Slowdown
• – The Avett Brothers, July 17 at The Astro Amphitheater
• – Rilo Kiley, Sept. 17 at The Astro – SOLD OUT
• – The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Sept. 23 at Slowdown
• – Swans, Sept 28 at The Waiting Room

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

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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

I’ll be out of town through this weekend, so Lazy-i will be on a short hiatus, back early next week.  What will I miss while away? Only one big show comes to mind, and it’s Sunday night at Reverb Lounge.

El Paso’s Lesser Care is a post-punk shoe-gaze band who gained some national attention when they toured with Chicago post-punk act French Police back in 2023. Their latest LP, Heel Turn, was released in 2024 and I can’t find a single review of the album anywhere online. Regardless, listen to the track below and make up your own mind. Omaha’s Ex Lover opens the show at 8 p.m. $15.

That’s all I’m seeing in my indie-scope. 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

Yesterday, the fine folks who run the Maha Music Festival said they will announce the headliner for their Aug. 2 one-day event next Wednesday, March 19, with tickets on sale the following Friday, March 21. 

Make your guess at the headliner. I ran down my list of guesses – topped by The Pixies, followed by St. Vincent, Black Key and Spoon – in this write-up that also discusses who won’t be headlining. 

In addition the new RiverFront location, another change to this year’s festival appears to be a shift in how Maha approaches volunteers. In year’s past, the Maha Festival was buoyed by an army of volunteers – 800 volunteers helped put on the last festival in 2023. 

However, a couple days ago, someone shared an email they said was mailed to past volunteers saying day-to-day operations for this year’s festival will be outsourced to a professional production company.  The question, of course, is how far the message traveled down the volunteer food chain. 

Maha volunteers did things as simple as answer questions, direct people to vendors and bathrooms, even help them understand how to recycle their garbage. I’d be surprised if Maha didn’t ask for at least some volunteers. Then again, were there volunteers at last year’s Outlandia Festival, which was run by the same folks running this year’s Maha Festival?

Volunteer networks do more than just provide helpful hands. They also get the word out about the festival itself, perhaps convincing friends and relatives to buy tickets. That brings up the whole question of how they’ll market this year’s Maha Festival. They’ll have to do more than rely on social media marketing, whose use and affectiveness appear to be on the decline…

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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

Onward to the weekend…

There’s a sneaky good show going on tonight (Friday) at The Sydney in Benson. Finom is the Chicago duo of Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart. They used to go by the name OHMME, but changed their name for legal reasons in 2022. They’ve been releasing albums on respected mid-size indie label Joyful Noise since 2020; their latest is the soaring 2024 LP Not God. They usually have a drummer in tow, so expect a full sound. 

Also on the bill is Nashville-based project Brother Bird. Fronted by singer/songwriter Caroline Glaser, the band lists Mazzy Star, Cranberries and Big Thief among their influences. Their latest, Another Year, was released in 2024 on Easy Does It Records. 

Wedding, a.k.a. Anna Schulte, opens the show at The Sydney at 10 p.m. $15.

That’s a late start time, probably to give folks time to enjoy the art during Benson First Friday (BFF)! Galleries and businesses up and down Maple Street are hosting art openings, including Ming Toy Gallery, 6066 Maple St. We’re hosting “The Space Between,” by artist Josephine Langbehn – large-scale interpretations painted in acrylic of cherished and forgotten images. The show runs from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Come by, see some great art, and have a drink on us!

Also tonight, Pageturners Lounge in Dundee is hosting former Nebraskan now New Yorker Stathi and Friends. Stathi’s latest album is Live at Bowery Ballroom, recorded last April when he opened for (and played with) Conor Oberst at the famous NYC venue. Show starts at 8 p.m. 

Saturday’s big event is the annual GoatFest celebration at Scriptown Brewery in the Blackstone District. In addition to tapping their Goatsmack seasonal beer, they host live music starting at 3 p.m. by bands Velvet Velvet and Cowgirl Eastern. Best of all, real live goats will be parked out back for your viewing and petting pleasure. Food by Lazy Buffalo BBQ. Runs from noon to 6 p.m. This is always a good time and, imho, should be hosted at Scriptown on a monthly (weekly?) basis. 

And that’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend!

PS: It’s Bandcamp Friday! If you’ve been hankering to buy some new music (like the fantastic new albums by Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory or Horsegirl), now’s the best time as Bandcamp is passing along all proceeds to the bands and their labels (many of which also are passing the cash along to the bands). Get out there and buy some music!

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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

Well, I was beginning to think Saddle Creek Records was becoming a purely nostalgia-based label. 

For the past couple months our hometown record label has solely announced reissues. First were The Faint reissues of classic albums Blank-Wave Arcade (originally released in 1999) and Wet From Birth (2004), both out March 14. And then the Rilo Kiley announcements – the April 25 reissue of The Execution of All Things (originally released in 2002) and a new “greatest hits”-style collection, That’s How We Choose to Remember It, out May 9. Of course both bands will be on limited national tours. 

Then yesterday Saddle Creek announced it signed singer/songwriter Dean Johnson, described as a “longstanding Seattle underground gem-turned-rising Americana star.” In 2023, Johnson released his debut full-length, Nothing for Me, Please, at the age of 50. “Dean’s songwriting reminds us why music matters, offering proof that a song can be more than the sum of its parts,” says the Saddle Creek one-sheet. 

Saddle Creek begins its relationship with Johnson with the April 11 release of “Blue Moon” b/w “Lake Charles” 7-inch as part of their Document singles series. Preorder here. The A-side, which you can hear below, is an original, while the B-side is a Lucinda Williams cover. 

Johnson heads out on a European tour in April, followed by a few Pacific Northwest dates. “Expect more music & news from Dean Johnson this year,” says Saddle Creek. 

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Omaha ex-pat singer/songwriter/poet Kyle Harvey emailed to say he has a new collection of ambient soundscapes out today called Holographic Topographies. It’s his fourth full length under the moniker When Light.

Says the one-sheet: “Inspired by the strange, overlapping nuances of quantum physics, consciousness, technologies, astronomy, and science fiction in popular culture, Holographic Topographies was composed on a small eurorack modular system. Each track on the album was recorded in stereo as a live, single-take performance.” Order your copy here. It’s also on Spotify. Kyle also has a new book of poetry called There Without Being There, which you can order here. 

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Here’s some other new stuff that’s been playing in my earbuds that escaped the delete key:

Thalia Zedek of the legendary bands Come and Live Skull has a new album out May 23 called The Boat Outside Your Window on Thrill Jockey. Known for her heavier-than-hell approach, the track “Tsunami” manages to have a sing-along melody without sacrificing the usual Zedek grit and feedback. The band plans to tour “extensively” in 2025, though no dates have been announced. 

Maha Festival veterans (2018), Tune-Yards dropped new single “Limelight” from their forthcoming album Better Dreaming, out May 16 on 4AD. The track has a sweet bass line, but what did you expect from a duo who sounds like this generation’s Tom Tom Club? They also announced a limited East Coast tour. 

Another Maha Festival vet (twice!), Car Seat Headrest yesterday released single “Gethsemane” from their new album, The Scholars, out on Matador May 2. The double-album is described as “a bold new rock opera.” The single itself is 11 minutes long! 

Finally, Los Angeles shoe-gaze act Shunkan dropped the first single from their upcoming album, Kamikaze Girl, out May 6 on Rite Field Records. Fronted by Marina Sakimoto, the record was produced by Alex Newport (Death Cab, At the Drive-In, Bloc Party). 

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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

I only knew Jeff Runnings through his life in music and the music itself. Some of my favorite memories of Jeff were actually our conversations over Facebook instant messenger. Jeff would usually start it, writing about something he was working on musicwise or telling me about some new album he heard that he had to share. He was remarkably opinionated – able to make his thoughts known in words of love or damnation. 

It was probably because of this relationship and our past interviews conducted for local papers that Jeff asked me to lead a discussion with him in front of an audience at the now defunct Hi-Fi House – a home-away-for home for people who loved music on vinyl – way back in the summer of 2016.

Because some readers may not know who Jeff was, below are the biographical notes put together to introduce Jeff at that event, that summarized his career up to that point. 

• Let’s start with For Against. A Lincoln band, the trio of singer and chief songwriter Jeff Runnings, guitarist/keyboardist Harry Dingman III and drummer Gregory Hill, combined droning, chiming guitars, buzzing synths, and machine-precise percussion with Runnings’ hollow, ghostly voice.

• In their heyday back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, For Against didn’t exactly fit into a Lincoln scene that included bands like Mercy Rule and Sideshow. While SST-style punk was all the rage in Omaha and Lincoln, For Against was making 4AD/Factory Records-style Euro-pop that bordered on today’s version of electronic dance music. Their sound was directly influenced by ’80s and ’90s-era European post-punk from bands like Durutti Column, Joy Division, Gang of Four and Kitchens of Distinction, more modern acts like Interpol, Editors and The Faint.

• More recent comparisons would to be bands like DIIV, Echo Lake, Wild Nothing and Weekender.

• The trio began performing in Lincoln in 1985. After self-releasing a 7-inch, the band signed with Independent Projects Records (IPR) and released their debut full-length, Echelons, in 1987. The music criticism website All Music said of the release: “Balancing an at once crisp, brisk pace and just enough dreaminess in the guitar work, Echelons is a work of nervous tension throughout.”

• For Against went on a brief US tour — which was a bit of a novelty for Nebraska bands back then. They recorded their follow-up, December, in 1988, which critic Andy Kellman called “…their best, one of the most powerful dream pop releases of the late ’80s.” If you look up For Against in All Music, this is the album they select as the band’s finest, giving it 4.5 stars.

• That said, shortly after its release, For Against unceremoniously broke up, just as things were getting interesting. Capitol Records was interested in the band, but it wasn’t to be as Hill left the band. Dingman went on to join The Millions with Hill before he and his wife eventually moved to Ft. Collins, Colorado. 

• Jeff continued For Against with new personnel, releasing four more records:

• 1993’s Aperture. Mason’s California Lunch Room in 1995, both on Rainbow Quartz, followed by Shelf Life in 1997 on World Domination Records.  Coalesced would be released in 2002 on Minneapolis label Words on Music, who also reissued Echelons and December, and Marshes, a 10-inch originally released by Independent Projects in 1990

• Then in 2003, Dingman and his wife returned to Lincoln. Jeff said he and Dingman  had barely spoke to each other in 16 years. Eventually, Dingman found himself in Runnings’ living room, and the two decided that For Against should live again.

• But a funny thing happened in their absence. For Against had quietly become big… in Europe. The song ‘Amen Yves’ that only came out on vinyl, had become a hit with DJs throughout Europe, who had been playing it for years.

• In 2008 Words on Music released Shade Side, Sunny Side, For Against’s 7th studio album, and the first one to feature Dingman since December. PopMatters gave the record a 7 out of 10 rating, saying “It’s good to know they’re out there, getting better with age, staying true to their sound despite geographical isolation and maybe even (we can hope!) tricking some kids into picking up some post-punk the next time they’re looking for Against Me! or Rise Against.“

• The band toured Greece in spring 2007 and played Spain’s Tanned Tin Festival in Castelló, thanks in part to Spanish label Acuarela Discos. A full European tour was slated for early ’08. “Europe is simply where our fan base is,” Jeff said. “We’ve had offers to play in Rome, Berlin, Amsterdam, Athens and all points in between.”

• In 2008 For Against released their ninth album, Never Been, again on Words on Music, which would be the last release with Harry Dingman. 

It was here that I asked Jeff to fill in what happened over the next eight years, which he did. Somewhere there’s a videotape recording of our talk, likely sitting on a shelf in some videographer’s closet. 

One reason for the Hi-Fi House event was the release of Primitives and Smalls on Saint Marie Records. Unlike a lot of dream pop, the record wasn’t intended to function as a polite soundtrack for idle daydreaming. It was vengeful and acerbic, and cut deep. It showcased Jeff’s mastery of the post-punk sounds he’d been creating since the ’80s.  

Jeff never quit creating music. Most recently, he was excited about his new album, Piqued, slate for release on Independent Project Records (IPR). The first single, “Batman Forever,” (Batman is the nickname for Runnings’ husband, Sean Applegate), was released at the end of January, and casts the same haunting spell heard on the best For Against albums. Jeff recorded the track, as well as the rest of the album, from his home. It’s a collection I know he’s proud of.

Our last correspondence – via email – was Jeff telling me that the US/Europe press agent for IPR was going to conduct a call with him and Bruce Licher of IPR about the “promotion machine” for the new record. He told me to stay tuned. 

All of this was happening while Jeff continued treatment for the cancer that ended his life yesterday.  He was more than a friend in music; he was a good person with a razor-sharp sense of humor and a heart of gold. I’m going to miss him.

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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

There’s not a lot of information about tonight’s headliner at Reverb Lounge, Buffchick. In fact, you’ll have to dig around on the internet to find any information, but after clicking through various Google pages, I discovered her BMI profile from 2023, which said Brooklyn’s Buffchick is New Jersey-born singer/songwriter Erin Manion, who counts among her influences Pinegrove, Modern Baseball and Soccer Mommy. 

Certainly it’s the last one – Soccer Mommy – that her music most resembles. Her self-released 2024 album, Showtime, has that same mid-tempo acoustic-guitar-driven indie sound that you’ll recognize from the Boygenius team (Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker). Spotify shows she has just shy of 30,000 monthly listeners, so someone is checking out her pretty indie folk rock. 

Tonight’s show at Reverb is a four-band bill according to the 1% website, consisting of all unsigned acts – ambitious for a Monday. Opener Peter Groppe’s claim to fame is having performed on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.  Also playing are Three of Cups and Omaha’s Madeline Reddel. $18, 7 p.m. 

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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.