Young Love's Erica Quitzow and Gary Levitt.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Column 283: Love and Records

The dynamic duo behind Young Love…

Oliver Morgan of local indie band Landing on the Moon described them this way (and I’m paraphrasing because it was after a long night at O’Leaver’s): They each do their own thing, completely, separately, and it’s obvious when you listen to their bands, but there’s no mistaking that they’re together in everything — their music, their business, their lives.

Oliver was talking about Gary Levitt and Erica Quitzow, the owners/operators of Young Love Records, the label that signed Landing on the Moon earlier this year. But in addition to running a label and a recording studio, the couple also each has his and her own band that the other plays in — Setting Sun and Quitzow. And the two couldn’t sound more different.

Setting Sun, Levitt’s project, is low-fi, mainly acoustic, neo-psychedelic indie rock reminiscent of Neutral Milk Hotel, The Decemberists, even a bit of Arcade Fire. The single “Driving” off the just-released Fantasurreal chugs like a tidy indie freight train, while “Make You Feel” is as psychedelic as you can get with a trumpet playing a counter melody. Levitt played most of the instruments on the album, but Quitzow added backing vocals, bass, violin and cello.

Then there’s Quitzow, Erica’s sassy, sexy dance project, whose only goal is getting the audience to forget about their dreary lives for a little while and have some fun. Juice Water, her just-released second album, is a synth-driven dance-floor ass-shaker, thick with beats, bass and Quitzow’s snarling, cooing, barking vocals. Levitt produced the record and added some percussion and bass.

“I mixed both the records, but we mostly write by ourselves, though we do help each other in bits along the way,” Levitt said.

“Gary has the studio days, and I work through the night,” Quitzow said. “I ask him for feedback sometimes and he brings a lot of fantastic ideas, particularly for arrangements. Sometimes he’ll play a bass or percussion track. After tracking, he brings the production magic to the records. He’s an obsessive studier of sound technology and can make things sound however I want.”

The couple first met playing music together, eventually becoming collaborators on more than just music. “We’re not married and we really don’t relate to the idea, though we fully respect anyone who does,” Quitzow said. “Marriage doesn’t fit in with our approach to life, we’re either together or we’re not. I don’t participate in any other religious institution, so why this one? Ultimately, music brought us and keeps us together, it’s our biggest passion.”

So I guess it only made sense for them to start a record label, which Levitt quipped was a “really smart career move.” They formed Young Love in 2004 as a musicians’ collective — they now have four bands on the roster, rounded out by Seattle band Skidmore Fountain.

So how did a label based out of New Paltz, New York (just outside of Poughkeepsie) discover and sign a band located halfway across the country? “We knew Oliver through his brother and played together in Omaha,” Levitt said. “We also hung out and housed Little Brazil and Ladyfinger when they played in New York. I can’t remember which came first, but we hit it off and fell in love. We love their music and hard working spirit and also their genuineness.

“Each band on Young Love Records is part of a family,” Levitt added. “If a brother or sister does well, they help their siblings along the way. This interview is probably a case in point. I’m not sure you’d be talking to us right now if it weren’t for Oliver Morgan and Landing on the Moon.”

True, but then again, without Landing on the Moon, it’s unlikely that the bands would even be coming to The Waiting Room Thursday night. Pulling from everyone’s resources seems an obvious recipe for success, and one of the only reasons to be part of a label in this age of record industry decay. Unless, of course, your label is Merge.

“It would be great to become as influential as Merge Records,” Levitt said. “I would still want to record bands all the time, but it would be a dream come true to own some more great gear. If we sold as many records as Neutral Milk Hotel or Arcade Fire, I could probably get that Fairchild 670 I dream of.”

With their label having just signed a deal with distributor Red Eye (Kill Rock Stars, Barsuk, Warp), that two-channel compressor just might be a little more within reach.

“Success is defined in many ways for us,” Quitzow said, “by people coming to our shows knowing the music because they downloaded it for free, or when people sing along and dance at a show, but financial success may continue to come primarily from licensing. Oh how I fantasize about BMI checks.”

She also fantasizes about being alone, something that rarely happens when you’re on the road with the guy who isn’t your husband. “Right now I’m on tour and exhausted from connecting,” she said. “I’ve been connecting so intensely with people at shows and people who we stay with. The music is a vehicle for conversation and sharing experiences, and I’m pretty tapped from meeting so many shockingly like-minded people. I want to be in a padded room or a stimulation-deprivation tank for like 10 days.”

Stimulation-deprivation tank? All I can say to that, Erica, is welcome to Omaha.

Setting Sun and Quitzow play with Landing on the Moon, Thursday, Aug. 12, at The Waiting Room. Showtime is 9 p.m. Admission is $7.

* * *

Tonight at The Waiting Room, it’s a trio of superstars: Ted Stevens

(Cursive, Mayday, Lullaby for the Working Class), The Bruces (Alex McManus) and The So-So Sailors (indie rock supergroup extraordinaire) all take the stage for one night only. $7, 9 p.m.

Down at Slowdown Jr., Chicago indie-pop band Netherfriends (Emergency Umbrella Records) performs with Sam Martin (Capgun Coup). $5, 9 p.m.

* * *

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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Forever Shredding

Superchunk’s legend is more than their longevity.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

To put the importance of Superchunk into some sort of context, let’s turn to Ira Robbins, who in his Trouser Press Guide to ’90s Rock

, said:

“Although Superchunk has never been revolutionary, the North Carolina quartet has done more to foment the indie-pop revolution than nearly any other band extant, feeding its flames with a steady stream of releases, an incessant appetite for touring and a voracious fandom that’s seen it underwrite numerous kindred spirits on its own Merge label. Like missionaries bringing the word to the outback, Superchunk ushered in an era in which ethics and avowed self-determination were just as important as artistic productivity — a stance that’s probably influenced far more culturalists than the band’s sound.”

They also made some pretty damn fine records.

Anyone who grew up loving college rock in the ’90s has a Superchunk album in his/her collection. My first was 1993’s On the Mouth, whose opening track, “Precision Auto,” with its chugging guitar, crash-bash rhythms and barked out lines: “Do not pass me just to slow down / I can move right through you,” fueled way too many reckless two-lane passes in my ’78 Ford Fiesta.

Superchunk arguably put the Chapel Hill music scene on the map, producing eight full-lengths and countless singles since its debut 45, “Slack Motherfucker,” came out in 1990. The term “legendary” comes to mind.

Superchunk guitarist Jim Wilbur, however, will have none of it.

“We’re not the beginning of anything,” said the self-proclaimed Larry David of the band from the deck of his home in Durham, North Carolina. “There were always tons of bands around Chapel Hill at the same time, like Polvo and Archers of Loaf. No one was doing anything to be part of a scene. It just kind of worked out that way. It’s hard to figure out what was going on, but after the fact, people want to write and talk about it. But in the middle of it, it was organic. It was people in their early 20s doing what comes naturally.”

Wilbur said he moved from Connecticut to North Carolina 20 years ago to join Superchunk for three months, and never left. “There might be something to being in a place where you’re not New York, Los Angeles or Chicago. Clearly you’re not there to exploit an opportunity,” he said. “You’re doing it for your own reasons. For fun or laziness. I don’t think many people who are really good at music do it as a career. It just becomes one. You have better chances at making a living buying a lottery ticket.”

Despite that, Wilbur and the rest of Superchunk — frontman/guitarist Mac McCaughan, bass player Laura Ballance, and drummer Jon Wurster — were anything but lazy when it came to the band. “It’s work; it’s tough work to be in a band and tour,” Wilbur said. “You can’t stop and think about who’s paying attention to you. As long as they’re paying you to go on the road and put out records, people must be paying attention.”

The band’s work ethic defined Superchunk as much as their music. Although their records have been released on a few labels including indie powerhouse Matador Records, its McCaughan and Ballance’s own Merge Records that is their home. Along with bands like Fugazi, Superchunk was a standard bearer of the Do It Yourself approach to music, turning its back on major labels in a move that was a decade ahead of its time.

Asked if DIY is more important now, in an era when record labels are slowly decaying into obsolescence, Wilbur replied, “What do think?”

“It’s proven itself as a business method, maybe not for people who want to be Michael Jackson or Madonna, but if you want a career in rock and want to tour, you better get your shit together and know what you’re doing by yourself, because no one is helping you without taking a big cut,” he said. “We just wanted to be sustainable, and we were smart enough to know that we were going to have to do a lot of it ourselves. We all eat if we do our jobs. But in the ’90s, after Nirvana, there were so many bands getting into horrible deals where they were never going to be able to recoup the assloads of money that they would owe. This isn’t ideological. I don’t want to owe a multinational corporation lots of money. It never made sense, any offer we got. We knew we could always do better on our own.”

And they did, for years. But each year, Wilbur said, the band sold fewer and fewer CDs. After Here’s to Shutting Up was released on Merge in 2001, Superchunk began to slow down.

“We haven’t toured since 2001 really,” Wilbur said. “The last time was when that record came out. We did do one other thing after that with the Get-Up Kids that was demoralizing.”

Wilbur said the band agreed to do a tour opening for the then-popular Kansas City emo band. “None of us had any expectations, we never do,” he said. “They were nice guys and looked at us like, ‘You’re the reason we’re in a band,’ but it didn’t translate in a live setting. We were old farts playing loud, fast music. Their fans didn’t care about us. There were always girls in the front row on cell phones. That was not what we were about.”

But it wasn’t that tour that slowed them down, it was changes in their lives. “Over the years nothing’s really changed personality-wise with the band; everyone just has different priorities,” Wilbur said. “Mac had kids, Jon (Wurster) moved away. It was difficult to get together and make time.”

Superchunk, Majesty Shredding

Despite the distance, the band has never been dormant. They’ve continued to perform live at least once year, always writing new songs when they got together, Wilbur said. The product is Majesty Shredding, the band’s first album in nine years, slated for release Sept. 14 on Merge.

“It took us a year and a half to record,” Wilbur said. “We used to (make albums) in two weeks. It was easier when we were a full-time band and practiced three times a week. Now Mac sends out demos of songs, and we all have to figure out our parts and try to make it coalesce. In some ways, it sounds better. People seem to enjoy (the new record), and I like it, but I have no concept of it. I have no memory of playing or recording it.”

Wilbur said that moments before our interview July 7, he had picked up a guitar for the first time in three weeks, and — as always — had to figure out what he’d played during the recording sessions. “I can’t remember where my fingers were. What was I doing?” he said. “That’s always been the case. Even when we were in a band that worked all the time, we always forgot things. We don’t write anything down, except for Laura, but she plays bass and all she writes is ‘D minor.’ I don’t know what my fingering was, and Mac is even worse at it, but he’s a better player.”

Needless to say, Wilbur and the rest of Superchunk will have it all figured out before Saturday’s show. As the release date for Majesty Shredding creeps closer, the band is spending more time together, at least on the phone. “We now have business to attend to on a day-to-day basis, and it’s an incredible pain in the ass,” he said. “For the past 10 years we’ve been friends that didn’t have to talk to each other every day. Now we have to agree on everything. I try to stay out of it when I can. Mac and Laura run Merge, so I assume they know what they’re doing.

“I guess the reason we’re getting any kind of attention is that there’s a story about us, about the label and that we have a new record for the first time in years,” he said, adding that there’s nothing noteworthy about longevity.

“I’ve loved music my whole life. I loved The Byrds and Springsteen and New Order and they never went away. Even The Byrds stuck around past their prime. (Roger) McGuinn is still playing folk festivals somewhere. Springsteen is doing it, and it’s not newsworthy; it’s natural. I’ve always felt that way with this band — we’re just people playing this music, and as long as we enjoy doing it, we’re going to keep doing it.”

* * *

Talking to Jim Wilbur really is like talking to a rock ‘n’ roll version of Larry David. Here are a few extra bits of Wilbur Wisdom that I simply didn’t have room for in the story. Enjoy…

On touring: “I always think of it this way: I work in a book store selling things on ebay, and in the back room I work with this guy who likes to wear cowboy hats and snakeskin boots, and he’s always saying things like, ‘Rock and roll!’ and ‘You gonna pick up any pussy?’ I always say, ‘Barry, you just don’t get it. That’s not what this is all about.’ He’s joking around; he pays my health insurance, so I love him. People think this thing is glamorous. I tell them it’s work. It’s personalities and being sane and not having an inflated ego or an inflated sense of selves.”

So there are no crazy road stories to share?

“The stories all have to do with people we’ve hired to come with us to sell T-shirts. We’re the people bailing other people out of jail. The band was always trying to find time to sleep. You’re on tour to perform, not to do anything else. Everything else is peripheral. John the drummer started to say this recently about five hours before (showtime): ‘No one cares if I went out and had a good time before the show. They only care if we’re good. So I’m going to get my head together.’ He says it as if he’s a guru joker kind of guy. We’re not there to see who can do the most Jaeger shots.”

On technology: “What’s sad about progress is that recording studios are going under and engineers who have a specialized skill are being usurped by the fact that anyone can record at home with a computer and sound decent. But it’s not the same as going to the studio. I don’t think in 1982 anyone saw where the music industry would be in 2010.”

On side projects: “I don’t have any interests. I record stuff by myself sometimes and end up sometimes being part of Portastic (Mac’s side band) as a bass player. I’m the last person in the world that would want to pursue music. I do it purely for myself. I have no ambition whatsoever. I think it’s important to work. For a long time in Superchunk, I didn’t have a job and I sat around trying to figure out what to do all day when we weren’t on tour. It sucks to have two lives — two kind of realities — that you have to deal with, but you’ll be hard-pressed to get any sympathy.”

On returning to touring after nine years: “Now when I have to go on tour I kind of hate it. I miss not being home. I have a wife, two dogs, two cats, a beautiful house. I’m sitting on my deck now and am looking across my lawn. I have a huge yard with 30 pine trees. We have three bathrooms for the two of us. I live really nice, and now I have to go on tour? I like it because it’s good work. I see it as work.”

On being on the Jimmy Fallon show in the very near future: “I’ve never actually seen the show before. It’s always interesting, but it’s not like ‘I’ve never been kissed before.’ I have had sex, I’m not a virgin. I can do this. We’re all going to die. This isn’t going to go on forever. It takes a lot to get me excited. Being on the Jimmy Fallon show is not something that does that.”

On never playing in Omaha before: “We’ve never played in Nebraska or Omaha. It’s weird. We’ve talked about it many times. ‘What state haven’t we played? We’ve got a lot of friends in Omaha. How could this happen?’ Maybe our booking agent had an issue with someone or someone had an issue with him. It’s always about routing. Omaha is off the beaten path, the same way Iowa City is. We’re hugely excited about coming to Omaha. I’m looking forward to going. I want to see it, even though we’ll be there less than 24 hours.”

* * *

In case you missed it, the MAHA Music Festival is this Saturday. The schedule went online yesterday here at Lazy-i. Someone asked if you could come and go throughout the day. The answer, according to MAHA head honcho Tre Brashear, is yes, you can leave and return. I assume you’ll have to wear a wristband to get in and out (and to drink).

Tickets are $33 today, but the price jumps to $38 tomorrow. Either price is a bargain when you consider it costs $20-$30 just to see Spoon in other cities, and you’re also getting The Faint (usually $20-$25) and Superchunk (priceless), along with Kweller, Old 97’s and a plethora of local acts. If the forecast is accurate, it will be a gorgeous day for a concert. Look for tweet updates and photos throughout the day at twitter.com/tim_mcmahan

But that’s tomorrow. What’s going on tonight?

Over at the 1020 Lounge (formerly Trovato’s) Ted Stevens of Cursive (and Lullaby for the Working Class) will be doing two full solo sets (according to the promoter) tonight starting at 9. And there’s no cover (it’s free). This could get packed — this Stevens guy is pretty good.

Also tonight, Capgun Coup is headlining a show at the old Orifice Warehouse at 2406 Leavenworth (where Ratfest was held last year at around this time). Joining Capgun is New Jersey band Home Blitz, Omaha’s own Yuppies and the amazing Well-Aimed Arrows. This is a fun place to see a show. $5, 9 p.m.

And finally, indie rock band Dim Light plays at Stir Lounge tonight with headliner Scott Severin and the Milton Burlesque. $5, 9 p.m.

* * *

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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Appleseed Cast performs at the 2009 MAHA Music Festival. Organizers expect larger crowds this year.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The last time I looked at the weather map, the forecast called for partly cloudy skies and temps in the mid-80s Saturday. I think it’s time you went ahead and bought those MAHA tickets. One thought that crossed my mind when writing this article: MAHA has 250+ volunteers. How many volunteers will there be on hand at Conor’s Concert for Equality in Benson, which could have nearly 3,000 people in attendance? 

2010 MAHA Music Festival: All Systems Go

Omaha’s all-day indie music feast is slated for this Saturday.

With the second annual MAHA Music Festival a few days away, the only thing left for organizers to do is pray for sunshine.

Well that, and work out the kinks involved with organizing 250+ volunteers.

With a line-up that includes massively influential ’90s college rock band Superchunk, Omaha electro-dance punks The Faint, good-time alt-country rockers Old 97’s, singer/songwriter Ben Kweller, and headlined by indie powerhouse Spoon, tickets sales have been brisk.

“We already have sold more tickets than last year, and last year we sold two-thirds of our tickets the day of the show,” said MAHA organizer Tre Brashear last Saturday. He said that while their goal is to sell out the event — 6,000 tickets — their realistic expectations are to sell 4,500 tickets, adding that last year’s ticket sales totalled 3,000.

“We feel good about where we are,” Brashear said. “Selling out is a possibility. It would send a great message to our sponsors.” Those sponsors include presenting sponsor Alegent Health, main stage sponsor TD Ameritrade, and local stage sponsor Kum & Go.

Since this year’s line-up was announced in April, there have been a few ups and downs for Brashear and MAHA Festival organizers. On the upside: Immediate vindication that they choose the right bands. “No one has said a bad word (about the line-up), or said that we missed the mark,” he said. “Realistically, we did as well as we could, considering our budget and fiscal discipline. We wanted to make sure we didn’t spend more money than we could generate.”

But on the downside, only days after MAHA’s announcement, Des Moines’ two-day 80/35 Festival announced that it also would host Spoon as its headliner on July 3. “When we learned about it, it was ‘Holy Cow. This cannot be happening,'” Brashear said. “It is what it is. We’ll have better dialogue with 80/35 in the future. We agreed not to advertise our (festival) in Des Moines and they agreed to not advertise theirs here.”

Then just a couple weeks ago, Conor Oberst announced his Concert for Equality fund-raiser in Benson to be held the following Saturday, July 31. It will feature a plethora of classic Saddle Creek Records bands, including Bright Eyes and Cursive. Brashear brushed off any suggestion that it was “competition,” saying it only brings more awareness nationally to the area’s music scene. “Our job is to make sure people are aware of us, and don’t lose track of our event,” he said.

And with ticket sales reportedly going strong, apparently they haven’t. Now there’s just that little question regarding the weather. The MAHA Festival will go on rain or shine. There is no rain date and bands will perform — and get paid — no matter what the conditions.

“We’ve tried to cover every contingency,” Brashear said. “The weather is why we do this in July, and why we chose Lewis & Clark Landing as our site, where we don’t have drainage or mud issues. That area could handle a huge downpour in the morning and still be usable in the afternoon.”

Brashear suggested MAHA patrons bring a lawn chair, camera and sun block, but leave the coolers, pets and handguns at home. For those not taking advantage of the many food and drink vender options, bottles of water will be available for $2 that will be refilled for free all day, Brashear said. No outside food and drink are allowed.

The MAHA Music Festival is Saturday, July 24 at Lewis & Clark Landing, located directly east of Rick’s Cafe Boatyard, at 515 North Riverfront Drive, in downtown Omaha. Parking is open to the public in Gallup’s parking lots to the north (free) and Qwest Center’s Parking Lot A off of Riverfront Drive ($8/day). Advanced tickets are available for $33 at etix.com; tickets are $38 day of show.

Here’s the schedule:

Noon – Gates Open

TD Ameritrade Main Stage

1:15 – It’s True!

3:00 – Ben Kweller

4:45 – Old 97’s

6:35 – Superchunk

8:35 – The Faint

9:40 – Spoon

11:00 – Show Over.

Kum & Go Local Stage

12:30 – Voodoo Method

2:15 – Betsy Wells

4:00 – Landing On The Moon

5:55 – The Mynabirds

7:45 – Satchel Grande

* * *

Tonight at Slowdown Jr., McAllen, Texas, indie band Dignan plays with The King and the Thief, Get Down and Skypiper. $10, 9 p.m. Meanwhile, over at The Waiting Room, Conchance and his hip-hop orchestra plays with Maxilla Blue and Rajeev Wins. $7, 9 p.m.

* * *

Tomorrow: Superchunk

* * *

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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Son of 76 and the Watchmen

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Bicentennial Man: Son of 76 and the Watchmen

Son of 76 and the Watchmen celebrates Shangri-La.

Lincoln’s Son of 76 and The Watchmen is not a blues band, not that there’s anything wrong with playing the blues.

The Son of 76 himself, Josh Hoyer, sees some advantages to being aligned with the genre. “If you’re called a blues band, blues fans will come out to see you even if you don’t play the blues,” he said.

Conversely, there are those who go out of their way to avoid blues bands, having been burned too many times by the army of Blues Hammer (i.e., “blues rock”) acts that have eroded the genre to something that just barely crosses the line from being a cover band.  Hoyer quoted a friend who summed it up this way: “What went wrong with the blues world is that a bunch of old white guys with day jobs put on bowling shirts and began playing the same Stevie Ray Vaughn covers,” he said. “Blues is a pretty vast genre, but the majority of guys around here are stuck in that world.”

It was my own close-minded take on blues that almost kept me from discovering Hoyer’s band at last year’s Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards (OEAA) summer showcase. Someone had told me they were a straight-up blues act, and I nearly left before they hit the stage. Luckily, I didn’t.

While there are blues overtones to some of their music — thanks in part to Hoyer’s throaty, deep vocal delivery — Son of 76 has more in common with classic American rock acts like Warren Zevon and Springsteen. On their new album, Letters from Shangri-La, the band sways through a plethora of genres, from the piano-driven rock of “She’s the Kind of Woman,” to the Celtic-flavored ballad “Annie’s Heart,” to the NOLA style of the title track, to the doo-wap of “The Moon,” to, yeah, the blues grind of “‘Til She’s Lovin’ Someone Else.” It’s Hoyer’s voice — which lies somewhere between Tom Waits, Dr. John and Elvis — that ties the styles together into something uniquely cinematic, original and thoroughly authentic.

Born in 1976 in Lincoln, Hoyer is a veteran of a number of bands including The Magnificent Seven and Electric Soul Method.  While he lived most of his life in the Star City, the music on Shangri-La was inspired by travels throughout the South. “I took a trip down Highway 61 and went to Clarksdale, Mississippi, and a lot of small towns in Louisiana,” he said. “Instead of taking pictures, I remembered what I’d seen and put it into the songs and lyrics.”

But not all of his songs are based on his travels. With the lines, “Well that coward was never a man / Just a scared little boy, with a gun in his hand,” the elegiac “Starkweather Son” has obvious local origins.

“Everyone in Lincoln has a Starkweather story,” Hoyer said. “I thought no one could write about it better than Springsteen.”

But then one night at a party during another round of Starkweather tales, Hoyer heard one that was hard to top. “This kid said, ‘My great uncle was Starkweather. I’m a Starkweather.’ He shared what it was like to grow up with the name,” Hoyer said. “He’d said that many of his relatives had been driven away and how hard it was to grow up in Lincoln, but that he wasn’t going leaving. He hadn’t done anything wrong. I knew it was a story that would make a great song.”

One of the best tracks off the new album, the song burns with a grim intensity, thanks to Hoyer’s band of local pros that includes Brian Morrow, bass; Nick Semrad, piano; Luke Sticka, rhythm guitar; Justin Jones on drums, and guitarist Werner Althaus, who also co-produced and recorded the album in his basement studio.

Hoyer said he met Althaus at an open jam and realized he was “the missing piece of the puzzle,” but was too shy to ask him to play in his band. “I finally got the nerve up,” Hoyer said. “For me, he perfectly finishes the songs I write by how he approaches music. He seems locked in on my ideas.”

Althaus, who sounds like a Midwestern Arnold Schwarzenegger thanks to a slight German accent, said that while Hoyer writes most of the music, everyone in the band gets involved putting the songs together and offering ideas. “Josh used to be much more controlling,” Althaus said. “In his previous bands, he told people exactly what to play. So this was a new thing for him.”

He said he doesn’t understand where the band’s blues tag came from. “I can hear the influence, but I don’t hear the blues,” Althaus said. “When people say I’m a blues player, I tell them that I’m not. I play what I want to play. I don’t listen to it or study the old masters, but if a blues vocal line fits into a song, why not?”

He added that the band’s musicians have a broad background in a variety of musical styles. “If someone takes it somewhere, we draw on what we know,” Althaus said. “We all have the basic vocabulary.”

“They’re all stellar players, and they’ve trusted me,” Hoyer said. “There have been times when I’ve written something that they’ve said is weird, but they’ll try it anyway.”

With a band that consists mostly of seasoned veteran musicians, Hoyer said touring may not be a realistic option. “We’re all adults,” he said. “Everyone except for Nick (Semrad) has a mortgage. Whenever I think about touring, it seems like a pipe dream. Maybe I’m killing the dream before it happens.”

For now, Hoyer is content booking local shows. “We sold a thousand copies of last album playing Lincoln and Omaha,” he said. “We’re building a crowd just playing at home. That’s pretty cool.”

Son of 76 and The Watchmen plays with The Kris Lager Band and Matt Cox, Thursday, July 1, at The Waiting Room, 6212 Maple St. Showtime is 9 p.m. Admission is $6. For more information, visit waitingroomlounge.com.The band also is playing at Harrah’s Stir Lounge July 3 at 9 p.m. Admission is $5.

* * *

It's True at Slowdown Jr., June 30, 2010

Just two months after releasing their debut album, It’s True announced that the band is calling it quits. The announcement came from stage at last night’s show at Slowdown Jr. “This is our third to last show,” said inebriated frontman Adam Hawkins without giving an explanation. “We have this show, and two others, and that’s it.” During the set, someone jokingly suggested to me that it was a publicity stunt. But something tells me the MAHA guys aren’t that brutally savvy — that’s right, the MAHA Festival July 24 would be the band’s last performance (not counting a rumored MAHA after-party), Hawkins said. Their second-to-last show will be in Lincoln tonight at The Bourbon Theater — that is if they are, indeed, breaking up. But something tells me it’s true, which is a shame.

Last night’s performance had all the charm of a drunken wake, with Hawkins taking double shots between songs. Despite proclaiming that he was “wasted,” he still put on one helluva show, calling his pals from Poison Control Center (the opening band) up on stage to join him for a couple songs. The set ended with a 15-minute guitar-noise-odyssey, with Hawkins kneeling with his back to the audience next to Kyle Harvey who was busy creating his own curtain of feedback on electric guitar surrounded by a couple girls on stage along with the PCC folks. The sonic melee didn’t end until after 1 a.m. when the house lights came up — a rare late-night at Slowdown. God only knows what the band has in store for tonight’s show in Lincoln.

* * *

In addition to tonight’s Son of 76 CD release show at The Waiting Room and It’s True at The Bourbon, Dim Light is opening a four-band bill tonight at Slowdown Jr. with The Vingins, and Colorado bands Woodsman and Candy Claw, who have been described as ambient/minimalist/psychedelic rock. $7, 9 p.m.

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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Deerhoof: In the Headlights

The influential SF band launches tour in Omaha.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I don’t know if Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier, the mastermind behind the art-damaged band that has stoked the flame of indie’s more adventurous musicians, is telling the truth or bullshitting when he responds to the question: “Who have you always wanted to collaborate with?”

His answer: “Keith Richards!”

But it’s not such a surprise when you consider — like Richards and the Rolling Stones — how influential Deerhoof’s music has been.

Odd, quirky, adventurous and never boring, Deerhoof’s sound melds rock, jazz, classical and noise to create a hybrid that’s as disturbing and unusual as it is catchy and beautiful. The band has been cited as aninfluence by an army of today’s most creative musicians, including Sleigh Bells, Dirty Projectors, Grizzly Bear, Of Montreal, The Flaming Lips, Fiery Furnaces, Sufjan Stevens and St. Vincent. Locally, Deerhoof’s influence can be heard shining through on UUVVWWZ’s debut album. It’s the San Francisco band’s habit of taking a melody in the most unpredictable directions that has made it a touchstone for other artists searching for their own voices.

Saunier said he doesn’t mind when Deerhoof is name checked. “Are you kidding?” he said. “Flattery will get you everywhere. We never thought we’d be a touchstone for anything. And anyway, it’s not just journalists – I’ve had musicians tell me that Deerhoof has been an inspiration to them, and I’m so moved by that. It means the world to me.”

Deerhoof - Offend Maggie

Since its formation in ’92, each Deerhoof record has taken a slightly different sonic path. That shift in sound sometimes also reflected a shift in their lineup, but in the past few years, the band has settled on core players Saunier, John Dieterich, Ed Rodriguez and Satomi Matsuzaki. Their latest album, 2008’s Offend Maggie released by Kill Rock Stars, could be their most accessible, thanks to its infusion of heavy-metal guitar riffs, traditional rock rhythms (or as close to traditional as they ever get) and Matsuzaki’s cooing vocals.

In fact Matsuzaki’s voice is as much an instrument as a way of conveying the songs’ meaning; especially considering that half the lyrics are in Japanese. On the jumpy, childlike song “Basketball Get Your Groove Back,” Matsuzaki can be understood chirping the triplets “Basketball, basketball, basketball” followed by a syncopated “Rebound rebound rebound.” Does it matter if anyone knows what she’s singing?

“Satomi writes most of the lyrics, but not all,” Saunier said. “John (Dieterich) and I both (write a lot). For us the words are a big deal and we spend a lot of time on getting them just right, putting all our themes in place. We put all our lyrics in all of our CDs or LPs, although I guess that doesn’t really help anyone who is downloading the album.”

There’s little doubt that Deerhoof’s music can be an acquired taste. But despite their challenging sound, the band has cultivated an intensely loyal following that continues to grow.

“Oh we were so obscure in the mid-’90s,” Saunier said. “We lost money when we made a record or went on tour, let alone making a living. There’s no comparison (to today). What’s been great about the change is how gradual it’s been. We never had an overnight success. I guess it must be a thrill, but it can backfire so easily. Our listeners have been so loyal to us.”

Saunier said the band is in the middle of recording a new album. “Even though we are really excited about (the new songs), I don’t know if they’re going to be ready for the stage by the time we leave (on tour),” he said, adding that The Waiting Room audience might get “a little taste” of the new material Friday night.

He said it was no accident that Omaha was chosen as the first date on this latest tour that will take Deerhoof north to Canada through the PNW and California. “We just loved playing in Omaha the last time – both the venue and the audience were just tops,” Saunier said. “I have a real strong memory of it. We decided right then and there that we have to come back whenever we can.”

Which makes me wonder if he was bullshitting me again.

Deerhoof plays with Southeast Engine and Broken Spindles, Friday, June 25, at The Waiting Room, 6212 Maple St. Showtime is 9 p.m. Admission is $12. For more information, visit waitingroomlounge.com.

* * *

A trio of shows are happening this evening. First, the Burger Records Caravan rolls into The Hole, 712 S. 16th St., tonight at 7 p.m. Burger Records is a label and record store based out of Fullerton, CA, that started out releasing cassettes from bands such as Nobunny, Black Lips and Harlem. These days they’re also releasing music on a new-fangled format called “the Compact Disc.” This time, the caravan features low-fi garage punkers Todd C, Audacity, Cum Stain and The Cosmonauts. Also on the dance card are locals The Prairies and Baby Tears. 7 p.m., $6.

If you decide to continue hanging out downtown after the show, swing by The Slowdown for the Benefit for Nebraska Friends of Foster Children featuring Simon Joyner, Outlaw Con Bandana, S.A.M., Sean Pratt, and Conchance. $8, 8:30 p.m.

Last but not least is the 30 Days ’til MAHA Showcase at The Waiting Room, a “battle of the bands” competition where the audience votes for their favorite performer. The one with the  most votes will be invited to play on the Kum & Go second stage at this year’s MAHA Festival July 24 down at Lewis & Clark Landing. The five contestants tonight are  The Matt Cox Band, Midwest Dilemma, Honey & Darling, Tim Wildsmith and Landing on the Moon. If I had a vote in the talent show I’d cast it either for Honey & Darling or Landing on the Moon, but it’ll be Tim Wildsmith that will walk away the winner. Show starts at 8 p.m., and admission is absolutely free.

* * *

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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

The Lepers - Feels So Good

The Lepers: From a Dark Place

Adversity drives The Lepers’ new sound.

by Tim McMahan

If there are moments on The Lepers’ new album, Feels So Good

, that sound desperate, it might be because the songs were born out of a desperate situation.

“It was the moment when you realize that you’re out of gas, your cell phone is dead, you’re in the middle of nowhere and you’re fucked. There is no lifeline, there are no more resources,” said guitarist/vocalist Owen Cleasby, who fronts the duo with drummer/percussionist Ken Brock.

Cleasby said the band hit “rock bottom” upon discovering that the tracks they spent two and a half years recording with five different people were gone, technically unlistenable. “We were going to mix them and our engineer tried to pull up the files and they were screwed. The whole album was lost.” He immediately tried to track down an archived version, only to discover that one didn’t exist. “It was the most empty that I’ve ever felt. I was ready to say fuck this. I felt cursed.”

That was in 2007, five years after the duo’s last album, Love From Above, was released on Lincoln’s now-defunct Caulfield Records. That album captured the Lepers’ then-signature sound with one impressive, drawn-out noise symphony after another, each as bleak and disturbing as the next, an orgy of dark brooding that bordered on dread and fear. Not exactly toe-tapping stuff.

Cleasby said the music on the lost tracks had continued in the same dismal, art-fractured direction. But he was so frustrated by what had happened, he had no appetite for trying to rerecord the material. “It left the taste of bitter shit in my mouth,” he said. “I didn’t want to sing those songs or deal with it. I spent a month sitting at my desk with that feeling like winter was never going to end.”

And then, the first sign of spring arrived in the form of a used bass guitar. “I ran across this bass at a pawn shop for $130,” he said of the 80-pound Harmony that’s now his favorite side arm. “It was a huge turnaround.”

Switching to a bass from a guitar was evolutionary to The Lepers’ sound. Instead of the usual drone-over-tribal-drums layering, Cleasby and Brock’s new approach borders on club music. The poppiest moments of Feels So Good (the first two songs, “Baby Blues” and “You’re Not the One”) find the band reaching for a dark groove, desperately trying to reinvent simple punk-beat music reminiscent of Factory Records, Joy Division, Gang of Four and even Love and Rockets. At its least poppy moments (the rest of the album) the band gives worship to Sonic Youth, amping the noise with Brock’s ever-present toms and Cleasby’s thick, fuzzy bass lines that drive the songs forward while he barks out lyrics of isolation with an atonal yelp.

“The first thing you hear on this record is a kick drum and that beat,” Cleasby said. “We had to find a new way of making music to stay interested in being a band. I think it rocks a little more, and is less of an art project.”

Recorded in a South Omaha apartment with Engineer Mark Wolberg on two 8-track Tascam analog decks, and mixed in the spring of ’09 by Joel Petersen of The Faint, Cleasby said he sent copies of Feels So Good to a handful of labels and “got some chatter but no one sealed the deal. It was the most attention we’ve had from any previous project, but it was still a little disheartening.”

That didn’t stop them from pulling together artwork, finding a reasonable CD manufacturer in Texas and pressing the album themselves. “Now I’ve got a bunch of CDs in my living room again,” Cleasby said. “It feels great to be able to do what I want to with them. I think it was a huge step in the right direction to put this out ourselves.”

Plans call for touring later this year, as The Lepers try to find a niche to fill hat will help them make money off the album. “If you’re not making money doing what you’re doing, you’re facing a labor of love, but a bleak future for your endeavor,” he said. “Or you become a local legend or the undying hobbyist.”

Neither of which, he said, he’s interested in becoming.

The Lepers play with Bazooka Shootout and Kyle Harvey, Tuesday, May 25, at The Brothers Lounge, 3812 Farnam St. Showtime is 9 p.m. For more information, call 558.4096.

Column 271: Comfort Zone

The return of Criteria.

Criteria frontman Stephen Pedersen has a problem that most of us would die for: He’s completely content.

His search for contentment began in 2005 when Pedersen quit a posh job as a lawyer at Omaha’s most prestigious law firm — Kutak Rock — to hit the road with his band Criteria under the proud banner of Saddle Creek Records. But, as the story goes, things didn’t quite work out as planned. And Pedersen returned from the road, put his guitar away, pulled the business suit out of the closet and returned to his leather chair and desk and daily lawyer grind with full knowledge that at least he tried to make it as a rock star. How many of us can say we took an honest stab at following our dreams?

Now, almost four years later Pedersen has no regrets. In fact, he couldn’t be happier. And as any artist or musician can tell you, that can be problem when it comes time to draw from your creative well for new material. What is there to sing about when you’ve got everything? It’s a problem, especially when you’ve got a reunion show coming up — this Saturday to be exact, with pals Ladyfinger at The Waiting Room.

“There are new songs, and we’ll play some of them on Saturday,” Pedersen said from the comfort of his elegant midtown living room, a glass of dark red wine in hand, picking his words judiciously, thoughtfully, as any good lawyer would. “My context has always been based on some kind of frustration or latent aggravation in my life, whether it was politics or a relationship or my career getting in the way of my dream. Now I’m content, and it’s been harder to come up with lyrical content from that emotional place.”

He casts aside the idea that he simply is no longer inspired. “I’m inspired by my group of friends, my wife, things that are hard to articulate. It’s a context that doesn’t lend itself to this. You can only write so many thank you letters in song.”

And despite some precedent-setting tunes such as Sammy Hagar’s “I Can’t Drive 55,” and Judas Priest’s “Breaking the Law,” there isn’t much to sing about when it comes to the legal profession. “My job is intellectually stimulating, but it doesn’t lend itself to songwriting,” Pedersen said.

So what’s left to sing about? “Right now, it’s about trying to be happy in the moment,” Pedersen said. “So much of my adult life is spent looking at the future at the next task to accomplish that I have a very difficult time being in the present.”

Maybe he’s not so content after all. And as much as he loves being around his bandmates — drummer Mike Sweeney, bassist A.J. Mogis and guitarist Aaron Druery — Pedersen said he hasn’t exactly pined for the stage. “This is the bizarre thing about being a musician at this stage of my life, I don’t miss it like I would have if I was 25. I have a very full life outside of rock music, but I’m looking forward to the show now that it’s booked, practiced and ready to play.”

He’ll probably only roll out three new songs Saturday in a set that will lean heavily on classics from his two Saddle Creek releases, En Garde (2003) and When We Break (2005). Pedersen said that those old songs have held up over time. “I still see it as modern rock,” he said. “The bands that journalists write about and friends talk about are not rock bands, certainly not in the style of Ladyfinger or Criteria, which play heavy but with a sense of melody based on a verse-chorus-bridge structure. Vampire Weekend is a rock band, but there’s not a lot of distortion in those guitars. There are no bands like Quicksand and Superchunk and Fugazi and Cursive (before the turn of the century) that were making very visceral, full-bodied rock music.”

He says all of this, however, while Thelonious Monk plays in the background from hidden speakers. Something tells me that Pedersen doesn’t listen to much rock music these days, and he never liked going to rock shows. “I treat rock music like sports — I’m not interested in watching it, I’m interested in playing it.”

And he certainly isn’t interested in taking another shot at making a living off of it. Pedersen agreed that the Internet has changed the rules so dramatically that it’s no longer possible to judge a band’s success based on record sales. On the flipside, technology has never made music more accessible. “I believe the positives outweigh what are pretty harsh negatives in that a really talented kid can make an album on his own on his computer and put it onto the Internet, and if it’s great, it’ll find its way into your life. That could not happen seven years ago.

“We are in such a transitional phase between the old system and what will be a new ecosystem rather than a system,” he added. “It’s going to float a lot more boats, but in some respects, it’s more challenging for artists to distinguish themselves from the pack.”

He also wouldn’t want to start a record label now, or be running one. “It’s a difficult business model with which to generate income,” Pedersen said. “The new business model is being the band. As the band, if you have your wits about you, you can manage the distribution and the booking and the recording in a way you couldn’t 10 years ago. Part of that began with Fugazi, but the advent of technology from a recording and distribution standpoint has made it so much easier to untether yourself from labels. If you’re savvy enough, you can find success without leaning on that old model.”

Whether that logic applies to Criteria, however, we’ll likely never know.

* * *

Thursday: The Lepers

The Return of Matt Pond PA

The Brooklyln band keeps on keeping on…

by Tim McMahan

Seven years ago on a rainy Wednesday night indie band Matt Pond PA rolled into Omaha to play a show at Sokol Underground with Bitter Bitter Weeks and Lefty’s Deceiver. Five people were there to see it. And that was the last time Matt Pond PA played in Omaha, until this coming Tuesday night.

Pond thinks things will go better this time. “There couldn’t be less people there than at that other show,” he said. “We have nothing but optimism.”

He’s optimistic for good reason. Pond is on the road touring with a new band supporting a new album, The Dark Leaves, released last month by Altitude Records. The album was recorded in an isolated cabin in Bearsville, New York, a tiny town near Woodstock, with his pal Chris Hansen, who played guitar, sang and handled the engineering chores. “It was just me and him sitting there, doing and undoing the album,” Pond said.

That sense of freedom and space — and aloneness — surrounds the album’s gorgeous, flowing pop on gently rocking songs like “Brooklyn Fawn” that glow with insight and soul from a musician who has continued to refine his craft for more than 10 years over seven full-length albums, always flying just beneath the radar.

Little has changed since that ’03 concert.  “I’m probably at the same point in my career,” Pond said via cell phone while driving back from the forest into NYC. “Things are probably simpler because we have an album coming out, and there’s optimism and fear and all sorts of little things.

“The biggest change is that I’m not as tied to things as I was back then. I’m tied to my songs, but not tied to what critics say or what does or doesn’t happen. It’s a lot easier to let things go now. When you get knocked around a bunch, you stop feeling it. I love doing this, and if you love doing it, you can’t get so worked up about details and people or reviews.”

Matt Pond PA, The Dark Leaves

Pond sounded a bit surprised to still be working in the music business. “I probably didn’t think I’d still be doing this back in ’03,” he said. “There’s that pang for the supposed ‘real life’ that I’ve had since I was a kid — this idea that you’re supposed to have a job. You imagine you’ll have a stable career and some kind of family.  I never thought I’d be playing music, but it’s better than being a doctor or lawyer or a professional. Now, even though it’s not the most stable job or career, I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

Another reason for optimism was the reaction Pond received at this year’s South by Southwest Festival in Austin. “I swore I’d never play (SXSW) again,” he said, adding that the last time he was there was (again) back in ’03. “I did two shows — one was for 15 people; the other the soundman was too drunk to lift his head off the soundboard — so one had no sound, the other had no people.”

The only reason he did SXSW this year was because another band he plays in– the Wooden Birds — was scheduled to be there.  On the day of his performance, the venue — the Galaxy Room on Austin’s 6th St. — was packed with a few hundred people (myself among them), all of whom looked as if they were greeting a long, lost friend. Pond, who looked like a bearded Jimmy Fallon, smiled from the stage. “People were singing along,” he said. “It was fun.”

It was a nice welcome after taking a couple years off from performing. “I’m excited to do this again,” Pond said. “I love playing live. And there’s more focus now on music rather than extracurricular people in the band.”

Pond wasn’t sure who would be playing with him when he returns to Omaha, other than Hansen and most likely Leslie Sisson of The Wooden Birds, who he said are now the core of his band. “You end up being closer to these people than you are with girlfriends,” he said.

And despite The Dark Leaves only being out a month, work has already begun on the next Matt Pond PA album (The “PA” tag, by the way, is an homage to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, even though Pond hasn’t lived there since he moved to Brooklyn years ago). “We’ve recorded six songs for the next record,” he said. “(Recording is) the one part of this process that I don’t have a problem with. There will always be a good and bad part to this life, but that part is pretty pure to me.”

Matt Pond PA plays with Bobby Long, Tuesday, May 11, at Slowdown, 729 No. 14th St. Showtime is 9 p.m. Admission is $12. For more information, visit theslowdown.com.

The Mynabirds: Zen Songs

The existential sounds of Laura Burhenn

by Tim McMahan

Sometimes you just have to let it go.

But before you do, you have to acknowledge the situation — reach a level of acceptance — and then, move on. It’s a very Zen philosophy, and it’s worked for Laura Burhenn, singer/songwriter of The Mynabirds.

She’s applied that existential attitude throughout her career, starting as a solo artist before joining with former Q and Not U frontman John Davis for indie pop act Georgie James in 2006.

Georgie James checked off most of the items on the must-do list for indie rock success. They released an album on a respected label (Saddle Creek Records), toured internationally, had their video played on MTV and performed on a late-night network talk show (Late Night with Conan O’Brien).

“From an outsider’s perspective, you see those benchmarks and check them off and say that the band was really successful,” Burhenn said last week while sipping a Manhattan on the patio at Slowdown.

But less than a year after the October 2007 release of their debut, Places, Burhenn and Davis found themselves trying to communicate through walls, before finally splitting up. “We had different ideas of what we wanted to do musically and where we wanted to go with our lives,” she said. “It made sense to do different projects. I never wanted the band to break up. I figured we might go our separate ways for awhile and come back and do another album, but it wasn’t to be.”

The Mynabirds - What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood

While Georgie James was still in full swing, Burhenn had continued writing and performing as a solo artist in her former hometown of Washington, D.C. “I had been holding back songs for the next record,” she said. “I wanted to write a record about reflective consciousness, something really political and heady. I was trying to mathematically work out this symphony.”

But Burhenn knew after recording demos that the concept was too complicated and wasn’t going to work. Wanting to make a complete break from her Georgie James past, Burhenn was convinced by friend and fellow musician Orenda Fink to move to Omaha in the fall of 2008 and to also join her on tour as a keyboard player and backing vocalist for Fink’s project, O+S.

“That experience was totally life changing,” Burhenn said. “Orenda’s a songwriter that isn’t afraid to approach music as art.”

When Burhenn returned from the tour, she threw out almost everything she had been working on and started over. She took her new material to the Oregon studio of personal musical hero Richard Swift, a singer/songwriter whose 2007 album, Dressed Up for a Let Down, was a huge inspiration. “The first time I met (Saddle Creek label chief) Robb Nansel I said, ‘You have to hear this record. It’s amazing.’ And he kind of laughed and told me that Saddle Creek put it out overseas.”

The label facilitated connecting Burhenn and Swift, and the two finally met at the South by Southwest Festival in 2009, where they agreed to collaborate on her record, with Swift focusing on the arrangements and the two playing almost all the instruments. Joining them on the recording was Fink, musician/engineer/producer AJ Mogis; Tom Hnatow (These United States) on pedal steel; and Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes), who arranged the horns.

The result was What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood, a 10-song collection of rootsy, gospel-influenced songs about love, loss and resolution that reflects soberly on the past but looks forward with a glass-half-full optimism.

Among the opening numbers is the piano-pounding rocker “Let the Record Show.” With the lines “Let the record show, you gave a real good fight / And let the record show, so did I,” the song is an after-the-fact account of a relationship gone wrong.

"The album is a very simple story about loss and recovery.”

“It’s the most cathartic song on the record,” Burhenn said, acknowledging its thematic connection to Georgie James. “The idea is that it’s not going to help anyone holding onto a terrible experience. It says, ‘I don’t know what happened here, but I’ll figure it out eventually. Let it go.’ It’s about forgiveness.”

That healing theme continues with the dense, gorgeous heart-breaker “Right Place,” that looks back at a failed relationship, and closes with the line “I haven’t changed my mind, God knows I tried.” Burhenn said it was the last song written for the album.

“Until I wrote it, I didn’t think I had a song in this whole story that made peace with anything. That song went there,” she said. “There’s something sad and kind of mean at the end, but resigned. I tried to sing it from my perspective as well as imagining John Davis singing that song. The idea that we tried our best, it didn’t work, and it’s where it needs to be.

“The album is a very simple story about loss and recovery,” Burhenn concluded. “I turn to music to lift me out of dark times.”

With the album in the can, Burhenn said other labels were interested in releasing it, but that she stayed with Saddle Creek Records despite reservations she would be “mixing business with pleasure.”

“I was thinking, ‘These are my friends who I’ve grown to love. Is this healthy?’ But then I thought why wouldn’t I want to put out a record with people I trust and admire? Saddle Creek puts out records that they love or by people that they love. I always admired Saddle Creek because it’s like a found family.”

Burhenn once again looked to Orenda Fink to help put together yet another found family — her touring band The Mynabirds. The group is a who’s who of Omaha talent that includes Johnny Kotchian (drums), Dan McCarthy (bass and vocals), Pearl Lovejoy Boyd (vocals), Ben Brodin (guitars and vocals), and Alex McManus (guitars, horns, and vocals). Plans call for a short northeast tour in early June, followed by a full U.S. tour later in the year.

The Mynabirds play with The So-So Sailors and Jeremy Messersmith, Saturday, May 1, at Slowdown, 729 No. 14th St. Showtime is 9 p.m. Admission is $8. For more information, visit theslowdown.com.

Some additional notes from the Jeremy Messersmith interview…

Messersmith said the hardest part of his music career has been dealing with criticism. “I’m too sensitive to bad reviews,” he said. “I remember the bad reviews the most, and they make me not want to do this anymore. At the same time, these people (critics) are justified in their opinions.” On top of that, Messersmith said he’s also started to get hate mail — that’s right, hate mail. “It’ll be a random Myspace comment or e-mail from someone I don’t know. It’s weird. Stuff like ‘You epitomize hipster assholery.’ At the same time, when people hear my music, I want them to really like it or really hate it. Anything’s better than indifference.”

Finally, Messersmith said he “loosely shopped around” his new album, The Reluctant Graveyard, but “I’ve always been more of a do-it-yourself person. I’m not sure what a label would offer other than additional money. There aren’t any labels in Minneapolis that I want to be part of, and I don’t know a whole lot of record people. As a singer/songwriter — rather than being in a band — it’s easier to connect with people using web tools. So it seemed like a good fit (releasing the album) myself.” And, he added, no label showed interest. “Most indie people thought my stuff was too direct or too poppy; and it wasn’t poppy enough for the majors. I occupy some sort of nether region of music.”

Column 268: The Reluctant Rockstar

Jeremy Messersmith’s scarce goods.

It was pure, unbridled serendipity that I ever discovered Jeremy Messersmith’s music. As you can imagine, I get quite a few CDs in the mail — most of them by anonymous-sounding bands with bad names and poor taste in art. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise: Album artwork (even on CDs) is very important. If your art is bad, bland or just plain poorly conceived and printed, it’s going to get lost in the shuffle/pile/mountain of discs that stack up (or get placed under) an editor’s desk. And if your band name is offensively stupid, it’s going to get thrown in the trash.

There was nothing particularly interesting about Jeremy Messersmith’s name or the packaging and artwork for The Silver City, his second album that came out on tiny label Princess Records a couple years ago. There was no reason that — instead of throwing the disc on “the stack” — that I took it with me and listened to it in my car on the way to wherever. But I did, and am better for it.

The story was unfortunately familiar to Messersmith. “Probably one of my biggest failures of last year was not marketing (the CD) better,” he said. “I did the best with the infrastructure I had to work with.”

Speaking from his home on the edge of The Greenway — a bike path that cuts through the southern part of Minneapolis — Messersmith sounds exactly as you expect the creator of his three albums to sound — warmly quiet, laidback, funny, NPR-intelligent, probably smiling on the other end of the line while he nods his head knowingly.

The Silver City is one of the most straight-out catchy and satisfying albums I’ve ever heard — a floating puffy white cloud in a perfectly blue sky held up lightly on the warm current of Messersmith’s friendly voice that invites listeners to sing along. It was produced by superstar fellow Minneapolitan Dan Wilson, originally famous for Trip Shakespeare and Semisonic until he teamed up with The Dixie Chicks and won a “Song of the Year” Grammy for co-writing “Not Ready to Be Nice.” Wilson’s uncanny knack for melody permeates The Silver City‘s perfectly crafted songs about falling in love in the heart of suburbia.

Now comes The Reluctant Graveyard, the final installment in Messersmith’s three-album song cycle that began with 2006’s The Alcatraz Kid, an album about “me in my basement hating life,” Messersmith said. “It feels like an adolescent-growing-up record. The Silver City is that same person after moving to the suburbs, commuting and going to his job. The Reluctant Graveyard wraps it up with songs about death. Not to sound too morose, but I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately. I’m 30 now and every day I wake up and see a new gray hair. When you’re younger you think that maybe there’s some sort of ‘out’ — a loophole or something or that maybe by the time you get old they’ll have death figured out. So it’s me thinking a lot about the fact that I’m going to die, and asking what am I doing with my life, what’s the point of it all and how do I find enjoyment.”

It sounds depressing, but the record is as fun as any of his others, with the same catchy Beatle-esque, sunny-sidewalk melodies. Messersmith produced this one with Andy Thompson, the two leaning on what they learned from Wilson, especially this golden rule: “Never underestimate the importance of a well-sung line. Make sure that it’s the best it can be, and you’re saying exactly what you want to say.”

How is Messersmith going to avoid having his new album get lost in the endless, fathomless sea of releases? He’s following the path of Radiohead and Trent Reznor by giving it away online. Well, not actually giving it away. Folks that go to jeremymessersmith.com have the option to “Pick your price” to download the album, an option that’s also now available for his first two records. Fans can also buy the album on vinyl, CD and (get this) cassette tape. On average, Messersmith said people pay about a buck download.

“I’d rather have it be easier for people to hear my music, and wouldn’t want money to be a limitation to that,” Messersmith said. “It costs to make the recording, but beyond that it doesn’t cost me anything to distribute or manufacture (mp3 files).”

But doesn’t giving away his music make it harder for those who want to make a living selling music? “I don’t expect everyone to be a winner; someone always has something to lose,” he said. “I don’t make the bulk of my money making music, and maybe never will. This is a sustainable way of doing it.”

Messersmith’s strategic model: Connect with fans as much as possible using the Internet and social media (twitter.com/jmessersmith, Facebook, YouTube), then give them a reason to buy your physical goods — make it something that’s cool and useful. “Touring is the ultimate ‘scarce good’ from an economic standpoint,” said Messersmith, revealing his nerd underbelly. “Scarcity is something you can charge for, and I can only be in one place at a time.

His philosophy while staring in the badly beaten face of the crumbling music industry: “I would rather have a smaller piece of the bigger pie than a larger piece of a smaller pie.”

You’ll have a chance to consume some of Messersmith’s “scarce goods” when he opens for The Mynabirds at their CD release show this Saturday, May 1, at Slowdown. Get there early.

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Yesterday morning, the folks in Digital Leather launched an online effort to generate money to purchase some new equipment. From their Facebook page: “Digital Leather has a new album, which is pretty much the most amazing record ever, and we need to send it out to labels. But first we need some way to self-master and get it there. We found a sweet machine for a relatively low cost, and in exchange for helping us get this mixer/ recorder, you get things.”

The deal: Those who pledge $10 get an album download before the actual release date. And for $15, they get the download plus a vinyl release with a numbered, super-limited edition cover.

They wanted to raise $600 within 45 days. By this morning, they were at $741, and there’s no stopping it. The fact is, $15 is a steal for a download and limited-edition vinyl. Get in on the deal while the getting’s good. Here’s the link to the offer.

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Tonight at The Waiting Room, UK garage-rock queen Holly Golightly and her band, The Brokeoffs, perform in support of their new album, Medicine County (Transdreamer Records). Whipkey/Zimmerman open. $10, 9 p.m.

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Tomorrow: The Mynabirds