by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

And so we have Mono in Stereo, a four-piece rock band that played to a crowd of around 30 friends and family (or so it seemed) at O’Leaver’s Friday night.

No doubt influenced by the power pop they grew up listening to, frontman/guitarist Charles McNeil threw out “pub rock” as one of his influences. I had to look it up in wiki to discover he means: “rock music that emerged in the early to mid-1970s in the UK, a back-to-basics movement which incorporated roots rock and was a reaction against the expensively recorded and produced progressive rock and flashy glam rock scenes at the time.” 

There are a number of bands identified with the “movement” that I’ve never heard of, but musicians Joe Strummer, Ian Dury and Elvis Costello all cite pub rock as an influence. 

From a modern-day American music perspective, I would be more apt to classify Mono in Stereo as very cleaned-up garage rock with power-pop influences, though when I think of “power pop” my addled mind immediately jumps to Titan! Records artists like Arliss or The Gems or Boys (which MiS don’t really resemble), and, of course, Big Star and any of its affiliated acts, to whom they kind of bear a slight resemblance. 

In my iPhone Notes app, I jotted down “Competent dad-rock version of garage rock; manicured, except for the vocals, which have a well-worn, lived-in, Midwestern feel. Restrained.”

All are seasoned veterans from other bands, and it’s obvious they take band practices seriously, sounding as if they were reading sheet music. This ultra structured approach takes them out of the garage rock world and into something that more resembles straightforward studio-created post-punk. If there was a British influence, I didn’t catch it other than McNeil’s Union Jack guitar. 

Top moments were songs “1970 Stereo” (which the crowd loved) and the band’s “attempt at a Fleetwood Mac song” that sounded nothing like Fleetwood Mac, but as McNeil shifted up his vocals, in a way resembled Neil Young. If they roughed it up a little, the song could fit right alongside something from Ragged Glory.

They let their hair down for their closer, a cover of Aussie band DM3’s “1 Times 2 Times Devastated,” which saw everyone in the band (and some of the crowd) joining in on the killer chorus. Good times.

Despite being around for years, Mono in Stereo have no formal recordings. McNeil has placed a few demos on his Soundcloud page. With songs in hand, they appear to be waiting for the right studio and right producer. So, heads-up, producer folks. 

I thought about splitting after Mono in Stereo’s set, but hung around long enough to catch the first few songs by Infielder, a very young four-piece pop-rock band who started their set with a cover of Neon Trees’ “Everybody Talks.” I was about to leave when they said the next song was an original. It was much more interesting than the cover, in an emo-rock sort of way. They followed with another original, but I left after they said the next song would be another cover. I get that they’re probably just starting out and have to play covers to fill their set. It’ll be interesting to hear where they go when they have a full set of originals.

BTW, O’Leaver’s security-cam-style stage camera was turned off Friday night. What gives, O’Leaver’s?!

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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 more things change, the more they stay the same. In the case of fabulous O’Leaver’s, things just seem to stay the same.

Or so it seemed last night when I dropped by The Club that Cursive Built to catch a set by Anna McClellan. The post-Omaha singer/songwriter is crossing the country on tour with Matt Norman. She said from stage she’s moving out of LA and headed to the East Coast, and who can blame her?

First up for the evening was Nutrition Fun, which turned out to be a solo electric performance by Andy Berkley. With guitar in hand, Berkley rifled through a set of micro-songs, none lasting more than 30 seconds, each with its own quirky, punky, slice-of-life imagery. Fun, cool.

Matt Norman took the darkened O’Leaver’s “stage” next. Seems like the last time I was at the club they at least had a three or four colored floodlights pointed at the performers. Not last night. A black-and-white security camera was pointed at the stage area and the performances were displayed live on a large flat-screen TV mounted along the wall to the left, which actually was kind of cool. O’Leaver’s now now not to livestream every performance.

Norman’s songs, played on electric piano, were also quirky, slice-of-life ditties but felt like jaunty ’80s TV theme songs. A few songs in, McClellan joined him on stage singing harmonies. Again, lots of short, sharp songs (and another short set).

Finally, at around 10:30, McClellan took her place behind the same electronic keyboard for a solo set taken from her most recent album, Electric Bouquet. Norman squatted off stage left and sang harmonies. Two standouts — along with set-closer “Omaha” — were new songs “Veronica” and “Restless,” that have me looking forward to her next record. 

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This 4th of July weekend looks rather weak for shows. Only one of note. It’s back to O’Leaver’s Saturday night for an electric evening of music headlined by post-Omahan Darren Keen a.k.a. PROBLEMS. Keen’s music is a kaleidoscope of synth sounds and beats augmented by his often humorous vocals. Darren’s always entertaining.

Also on the bill is Laserbulb, an electronic project by Clark Baechle of The Faint. Baechle is another post-Omaha guy, now living in Philadelphia. While researching this blog entry, I fell across Baechle’s music producer business page. “Whether it’s polishing up a band’s rough demo, programming synthesizers, or actualizing sounds and ideas that only exist in my head, there’s just nowhere else I’d rather be,” he says on the website, which also includes a number of music examples. There’s not much info about Laserbulb aside from the Bandcamp page. 

DJ Beetlebitch opens this one at 9 p.m. and (as per usual) there’s no cover. Expect the healthy crowd to include plenty of old scene faces out to welcome back an old friend. 

That’s all I got for the weekend. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a happy holiday. 

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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

A friend of mine who lives in Utah asked how “Ringo and friends” were last Friday night. “Did you get the idea folks were excited to see a living Beatle, or were just there for the fireworks?”

No doubt some folks there were excited to see a Beatle, and most of them were up by the stage. I never got anywhere near the front of the enormous crowd, having entered the seething, sweat-slicked morass at around 9:30 to the strains of Ringo’s “Photograph” (which just so happens to be my favorite Ringo song, co-written by George). 

I had heard the rest of the concert from my back yard as, for some reason – maybe it was something in the winds – this was easily the loudest Memorial Park Concert in recent memory… as heard from my house about a half-mile away from the stage. 

Earlier that afternoon, while working on my laptop in the back yard, I experienced the funk-intensity of the All-Starr Band’s soundcheck in the form of Average White Band’s “Pick Up the Pieces,” played over and over and over as if the band was performing on the other side of my fence. I now know how Noriega felt during the 1989 Panamanian standoff when U.S. forces tortured him day and night with loud rock music outside the embassy where he was holed up. At least Noriega got Van Halen and GNR. After a half-hour of AWB, the music stopped, then five minutes later on came Toto’s “Rosanna,” on repeat. I took shelter inside. 

The Omaha World-Herald didn’t even try to estimate the concert’s crowd size, simply saying “Thousands came to see a former Beatle…” but if I had to guess I’d say it was well over the usual 50,000 who usually attend these concerts. Ringo and his band sounded great, and it was inspiring to watch the 84-year-old on stage singing as if he were still in his 30s, doing jumping jacks in the sweltering heat clad in a denim jacket.

Except for two people (me and Teresa), I can’t tell you how many were there for the music, the fireworks or just to see a functioning Beatle in action; but I can say the fireworks were impressive….

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This being Independence Day week, it’s looks thinner than usual show-wise, especially if you like indie music. There’s Fishbone at The Waiting Room tomorrow night. The Sydney has a semi-interesting indie band Thursday night called Tonguebyte. And Anna McClellan also plays at fabulous O’Leaver’s Thursday night with Nutrition Fun, which was the name of a band she was in with Noah Sterba and others who released a couple albums on Unread Records before the pandemic. More on those shows later…

BTW, The Slowdown has no shows at all booked until July 10 – what’s that all about? 

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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

This is part 2 of the mid-year album reviews round-up (Pt. 1 is here), wherein I point in the direction of albums that somehow floated through the thick moss of my email and/or Spotify playlists to stand on their own as notable additions to my personal 2025 indie music catalog. Some are better than others; all are worth checking out, some deserve a download. But you be the judge…

Wishy, Planet Popstar (Winspear) – It’s time to reconsider the EP and Wishy’s Planet Popstar, released this past April, is a stellar example of this format. Only six songs, no filler, the album is unevenly split between the band’s two primary songwriters and vocalists — Kevin Krauter and Nina Pitchkites. Both came from separate projects and approached Wishy as a sort of “twee pop” experiment (according to this insightful interview in First Revival). That said, Planet Popstar sounds more like stripped-down indie rock than any K/Slumberland stuff I grew up with. Some folks file Wishy under the shoegaze category, but that’s not right either.

Album opener “Fly” and the dreamy “Chaser” – both Pitchkites-led outings – are flawless indie pop songs bound to catch the ear of savvy college radio programmers. Pitchkites’ pitch-perfect vocals sound pure and untouched. 

On the other hand, the Krauter-led songs, while no less poppy, feel slightly over-produced with Krauter’s vocals sometimes lost in buzzing studio effects. The title track, for example combines metronomic percussion with fuzzed-out guitars and even more fuzzed-out vocals. The fuzz is pulled back on the band’s  primary single, “Over and Over,” though Krauter can’t help but lay on the vocal effects, giving both tracks a nostalgic ’90 sheen.

They could have stopped after those four songs, but tacked on two more Krauter-led tracks, including the dreamy beach-combing closer “Slide.” Press photos show a five-piece band but the EP sounds like it was a Pitchkites / Krauter studio project, and that’s part of the charm. 

Six songs is plenty but what’s the old adage about leaving them wanting more? For those who are, or who want something physical to add to their vinyl collection, Planet Popstar was combined with 2023’s MBV-flavored shoegaze collection, Paradise EP, for the LP Paradise on Planet Popstar. I’ll stick with the EP, thanks. 

Dutch Interior, Moneyball (Fat Possum) – After hearing the single “Fourth Street,” I was ready to compare them to Pavement, but upon further examination, Dutch Interior has more in common with alt-country playthings Wilco. For every indie-slacker track (“Canada,” the aforementioned “Fourth Street,”) there are a few dusty, pedal-steel powered country songs (“Horse,” “Christ on the Mast,” “Sweet Time”). I may have been momentarily fooled by the vocals — everyone has a laidback Malkmus delivery — but ultimately, it’s the Tweedy twang that wins out. 

Arcade Fire, Pink Elephant (Columbia) – Remember when these guys were the next big arena act to emerge from the indie Petrie dish? Their plans for world domination were no doubt hampered by Win Butler’s controversies, which he seems to have emerged from somewhat unscathed (judging from the recent SNL appearance). I lost track of them after 2015’s Reflektor, though since then they released at least three more LPs, including 2022’s WE, which sported the single “Unconditional (Lookout Kid).” 

In contrast with their first three albums, Pink Elephant is by-the-numbers and less collaborative, feeling more like a Win Butler/Régine Chassagne side project. You’ll recognize their trademark melodic through-lines and there are a couple standout tracks (“Year of the Snake,” “Circle of Trust”), but overall, this album feels like a placeholder for whatever comes next. 

Horsegirl, Phonetics On and On (Matador) – The Chicago trio pulls back on the noise heard on their 2022 debut, Versions of Modern Performance, for a stripped down collection that has more in common with mathematics than phonetics. Each song is tightly wound, controlled, with minimalist rhythms and repeated guitar lines (they say they were heavily influenced by Kraut rock’s rigid structures). They somehow always grow an ear-worm melody out of each granite-tight arrangement. The result can feel constrained and limiting, kind of like when you watch electronic artists perform live knowing they’re confined by the limits of their synth programming. While there’s joy in repetition, I’d rather hear these women break out of their rhythmic shackles. 

More reviews to come…

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Tonight at Reverb Lounge, Atlanta-based self-proclaimed emo artist Michael Cera Palin headlines. While his music does have distinctively emo elements, there’s more than a little Wheezer influence, especially on his latest album We Could Be Brave (2025, Brain Synthesizer). Tongues of Fire and Valley Street also are on the bill. $22, 8 p.m. 

Meanwhile, around the corner at The Waiting Room, The English Beat play another return engagement. Locals The Bishops opens the show at 8 p.m. $35. 

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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

We’re already halfway through a fairly good year for indie album releases, though there hasn’t been a single overpowering album that’s made an impact on the national psyche like, say, records released in 2024 by Charli XCX, Cindy Lee, Fontaines or The Cure (and the list of 2025 local indie releases through May is all but non-existent – what’s happened to our local indie scene?). 

I thought maybe the new Perfume Genius album (Glory) or Sharon Van Etten album (Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory) would crack through the indie glass ceiling and make waves in “greater pop culture,” but while both are, indeed, very good, they still remain firmly buried in the indie ghetto micro-niche. 

Anyway, for your gatekeeping pleasure, below are some albums from the first half of the year that deserve your attention, just as they’ve caught mine. 

Florist, Jellywish (Double Double Whammy) – The album by the Brooklyn-based quartet fronted by singer/songwriter Emily Sprague is a quiet meditation on her life and world view. While the mostly acoustic music couldn’t be any prettier or more comforting, there’s a thread of deep anxiety that winds through the entire album that no doubt reflects a generation’s angst as it wonders how it’ll survive in a post-global-warmed-over world divided by polarized political discourse. As their song goes:  “It’s been a good time in the right places / It’s been a bad time for a lot of humans.” 

Sextile, yes, please (Sacred Bones) – LA-based trio has emerged over the past few years as EDM giants, thanks to their knack for creating irresistible beats and synth sounds reflected in sonic chrome. But while their previous album, 2023’s Push, leapt atop their most infectious single, “Contortion,” yes, please is more focused on creating dance-enabled slogan-themed anthems like “Women Respond to Bass,” which, while true, is hardly a revelation. And while it feels like we’ve heard most of these synth sequences before on their previous outings, yes, please rewards repeated listenings thanks to clever nuances that sneak out of the cracks. When the band stretches out of its confort zone, on tracks like trance-inducing “Soggy Newports” and pop candy “Kiss,” we get a glimpse of where they could be headed.  

Perfume Genius, Glory (Matador) – Early singles “It’s a Mirror” and “No Front Teeth” gave the impression this album was destined to make frontman Mike Hadreas the rock star he deserves to be. But after those opening tracks, things return to the familiar, moody, lilting territory he shares with acts like Sufjan Stevens. Hadreas has a way for making gorgeous, anxiety-driven song-poems (“Mr. Peterson” from his first album is still my favorite), but I know there’s a complete, muscular indie rock album still waiting to turn him into an arena act.

Palmyra, Restless (Oh Boy) –  The Richmond trio’s sound is indie-folk or indie-country or, maybe even emo-folk. With upright bass, electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin and banjo — along with the layered three-part harmonies — it’s easy to lump them in with dusty crooners Avett Brothers, but Palmyra’s songs are way more poppy and hook-filled than anything by those old sad sacks. 

They wisely add a solid drummer to these recordings, pushing the album away from traditional folk and toward more approachable indie singer/songwiter stuff by the likes of, say, The Frames’ Glen Hansard, alt-country legends The Silos, or London alt-folkies Flyte, thanks to their uncanny knack for finding ear-worm melodies for songs about surviving breakups and overcoming loneliness and identity struggles. Pained confessional “Shape I’m In” feels emo until you realize singer Sasha Landon is describing his life-long battle with manic depression. Standout “Palm Readers” sounds like a Mountain Goats chestnut until they belt out the chorus that turns it into an anthemic confessional. 

Rounded out by Mānoa Bell and Teddy Chipouras — all three contribute songs — there’s not a bad tune in bunch. Maybe there’s something to this whole emo-folk thing….

More to come…

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Tonight at Reverb Lounge, which has become (or maybe always was) the home for touring indie acts, Oklahoma singer/songwriter Samantha Crain headlines.

Crain, a prominent Choctaw Nation songwriter and three-time NAMMY (Native America Music Award) winner, is a tour veteran and first-string collaborator, having toured with everyone from Avett Brothers to Racheal Yamagata. Her vocals can be heard on albums by First Aid Kit, Wild Pink and Murder By Death, among others.  No doubt her music was influenced by all those collaborators, along with a healthy dose of Kate Bush. 

Her latest LP, Gumshoe, dropped this past May on Real Kind Records and continues in an upbeat, indie-pop direction. Opening for Crain is Alaskan singer/songwriter Quinn Christopherson, whose latest LP, Write Your Name in Pink, was released in 2022 by PIAS. 8 p.m., $22.

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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

Shortly after the conclusion of the scorching opening set by Heavy Clippings Friday night at Reverb Lounge, a concerned-looking man in his 30s walked up as I perused the merch table and asked who just played. 

“They’re Heavy Clippings. They’re from here,” I said. The guy nodded and asked if they had an album and if he could buy it. I’m not sure why he was asking me, but I said the band indeed had a new album, but they don’t have physical copies that I was aware of. “It’s on Bandcamp, and probably on Spotify,” I added.

He nodded again, then walked away. I noticed other folks examining the unmanned merch table, likely also looking for a copy of a record that didn’t exist. 

This prompted a discussion with another band on the bill, wherein I asked when they were going to put out their next record. The band member simply asked, “What’s the point?”

It’s a good question, especially if you’re at a certain level of the indie music food chain or a local band with few or no aspirations of “making it big” and/or “getting to the next level” and/or making any real cash playing music. 

For them, the live performance is the heart of their artistic passion; and while it would be great to record physical formats — vinyl, CD or (ugh) cassette — doing so is almost always a big money-loser at a time when money is becoming harder to come by. For the most part, vinyl albums are for collectors; most people listen to recorded music via streaming or downloads. 

This is the point in the review where I should be writing “despite that, I would have bought a copy of Heavy Clippings’ new album, Dog & Bird in Grass.” But that would be a lie. I wouldn’t buy a copy, not because the album isn’t awesome (it is, along with their performance Friday night), but because I don’t have the money or space to keep buying vinyl. 

However, bands still need to keep recording and releasing recorded material, even if it’s only digitally. As I told Mr. “What’s the Point?” — how else will anyone hear your music other than going to your infrequent shows? We gotta have new music, and bands need to document their creations. And while we all know Spotify and Apple Music are hardly revenue distributors, we can still support bands by buying digital downloads from Bandcamp, which everyone who doesn’t buy physical media should do. 

So… back to the show. I only caught the last 20 minutes of Heavy Clippings’ set, but I’ve seen them at least three times in the past, and Friday night’s performance was right up there. The band consists of two former members of the band Yuppies — Noah Sterba and Jeff Sedrel — along with Vince Franco and Tanner Rogerson. Their new album was produced and recorded by Jim Schroeder of Mesa Buoy and David Nance and Mowed Sound.  They sounded “heavier” than their usual hypnotic post-punk – which is sort of Midwestern version of Lewsberg or The Feelies with Sterba providing plenty of folkie drawl — good stuff.

Minne Lussa, who followed Heavy Clippings, is easily the best dream pop / shoe-gaze band from ‘round these parts. Dense and dreamy, they remind me of early Galaxie 500 or Luna, with warm, glowing instrumentals that add an Album Leaf flair. The guitar interplay between frontman Matt Rutledge and guitarist/vocalist Eric Bemberger (ex-Beep Beep) is masterful and otherworldly, but Friday night the band introduced new member, Zoie, who added yet another shimmering layer of guitar as well as vocals on a new song she wrote. The band appropriately ended with a gorgeous cover of “Alison” by Slowdive that left the crowd wanting more. If you haven’t seen Minne Lussa in a while, it’s time to get reacquainted. 

Closing out the evening was Matt Focht and his band Head of Femur, a project that has been around for well over 20 years. They started as a four-piece and have since expanded to as many as eight players, though Friday night there were only six on stage. 

Combining guitars, keyboard and other assorted instruments including violin and bongos, their unique sound touches on a variety of styles, from ‘70s prog acts like King Crimson and Moody Blues to post-punk bands like early Talking Heads to modern-day progressive indie acts like The Dear Hunter or Panda Bear. 

Focht’s energy ignites the band into an exuberant celebration that naturally invites the audience to come along for the ride, and most of the around 50 on hand certainly did. Halfway through the set, Focht and company threw out a tasty, unexpected cover of the Bee Gee’ “Nights on Broadway” that fit right in with everything else they were doing, and added to what was another very fun evening at Reverb Lounge.

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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

Given the average demographic of Lazy-i readers, the simplest way to explain a project like Florist (who played at Reverb Lounge Saturday night) is to draw comparisons. 

With that in mind, the easy button points to K Records or acts like The Softies or Ida or Lois. But that isn’t quite right. While there were plenty of soft, muted melodies to go around, Florist proved it can lean into a down-low riff and play it out, sort of like Red House Painters or Bedhead or Galaxy 500 or even Low. 

All of these comparisons, however, are lost on an audience consisting mostly of very young people who have never heard of any of those bands but are familiar with the likes of Adrianne Lenker and Big Thief – who clearly belong in the chat. Your mileage may vary based on your mileage. 

What the 50 or so on hand universally received were thoughtful songs played well by a talented four-piece consisting of bass, guitar, synth/drums and frontperson Emily Sprague on guitar and vocals. Florist has been described as a “friendship project” – a label that seemed apt. Mostly quiet and always ethereal, the band performed songs from their latest, Jellywish, as well as some older numbers, all in the same acoustic style augmented at times by synths provided by the drummer who did double duty. 

Though the evening remained at the same even keel, the highlights included “The Fear of Losing This,” off 2017’s If Blue Could Be Happiness, “Vacation” from the band’s debut EP, 2015’s Holdly, and “Our Hearts in a Room” from the new album, which received a long between-song-while-tuning introduction, where Sprague talked about her life in a way that implicitly asked the audience if they were satisfied with theirs, which matched the song’s theme and the mood of the evening as a whole. 

Opener Allegra Krieger played a solo acoustic set and seemed to struggle getting comfortable behind the microphone (even saying as much at the end). The bare bones approach obviously lost some of the dynamics heard on her band-powered releases, but still managed to hold the audience’s attention. I’d love to see her with a full band.

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North Carolina’s Southern Culture on the Skids, who play tonight at The Waiting Room, have been playing their brand of surfy, twangy, alt-country post-punk for more than 40 years. Sort of a cross between Creedence and The B-52s. Their last album was 2021’s At Home with Southern Culture on the Skids (Kudzu Records). And they just keep on touring, god bless ‘em.

Our very own tractor-punk legends, Wagon Blasters, open the show at 8 p.m. $25.

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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

How many of the 100 or so folks on hand for last Saturday’s Anna McClellan show at Slowdown had a clue who Kassie Krut was? McClellan said from stage that the show happened because both her and Team Krut were looking for an Omaha stage on the same date and agreed to combine the shows. So it was sort of a two-headliner show. 

However, Slowdown promoted it as an Anna McClellan show and simply listed Kassie Krut as an opener, along with local hip-hop artist Cash Too. I can’t say I blame them. I hadn’t heard of Kassie Krut until I started researching the band for last week’s preview. It was then I discovered the trio was the last vestiges of former Saddle Creek Records band Palm, and that their 2024 debut EP had been heavily lauded by the likes of All Music, Pitchfork and Northern Transmissions. And then I listened to the EP… wow.

The audience was in for a pleasant surprise. The trio came on stage and took positions behind an array of digital equipment, keyboards and electronic drum pads. On either side of the stage, Kasra Kurt and Matt Anderegg hammered at their equipment – one with drum sticks, the other with mallets – while Eve Alpert stood in the middle behind a keyboard holding a microphone. Throughout the set, all were bathed in blood-stain red light.

Their modern, futuristic electronic music tripped forward on a fat cushion of deep bass and an avalanche of rhythms; the perfect soundtrack for a gleaming sci-fi movie set in a dystopian, robotic future where the streets  also are bathed in blood-stained red neon.

Through the cacophony of drum-stick triggered digital sounds was a central rhythm more than enough to get the crowd to move their bodies, especially during set closer (and single) “Reckless.” Kassie Krut would be a welcome match on a bill with acts like YHWH Nailgun or Sextile. Someone at the show said they reminded him of Nine Inch Nails (I assume he meant their early stuff). I felt lucky to be there.

Anna McClellan couldn’t have been a bigger contrast. After Kassie Krut cleared their battery of electronic equipment, up came McClellan holding a table lamp that she plunked down right next to her keyboard in an effort to create a homey vibe on the sterile stage.

I’ve seen McClellan perform at least a half-dozen times over the past decade and last Saturday night’s show was the best she’s ever sounded.  To capture the essence of her last album, 2024’s Electric Bouquet, she surrounded herself with some of the area’s best players, including members of McCarthy Trenching (Dan, James Maakestad) and vocalist Pearl Lovejoy Boyd, whose harmonies took these songs to a different place. 

McClellan, who I believe now lives in LA, testified her love of Omaha before singing her song with the same name, with the line: “Lilting and besot / Why’s Omaha lost in thought?” – a question no doubt asked by an army of Omaha ex-patriots who have ventured to places like LA and Chicago looking for something better, and in most cases, finding it. But never forgetting where they came from and the people still there who helped make them who they are… 

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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

For years, the indie music festival identified with Stinson Park in Aksarben Village was the Maha Festival. That fest is moving downtown this year, but another festival hopes to one day take its place in the village.

After three years of being held in organizer Madeline Reddel’s back yard, the Garden Party festival, which features female-fronted bands from around the country, made a giant leap to Sonny’s in Aksarben Village with Stinson Park in its sites. If Saturday’s crowd is any indication, it just might happen. 

Whenever you hold an outdoor festival, you’re rolling the dice, and this Saturday the ol’ bones came up sevens. While a bit hot in the late afternoon, the weather couldn’t have been much better. By 5:30, a respectable crowd already filled Sonny’s picnic tables and had begun to encroach on the green. Former Omahan now-Chicagoan Ione and her guitarist played to the young-ish crowd, many joined by their dogs.

When I returned after dinner, the crowd had ballooned, filling the entire green space. A long line stretched from Sonny’s bar through the partially covered patio, but moved quickly and before long I had one of their rather strong margarita’s in my hand while Keo & Them played on stage. We left again and walked over to Kinkader Brewing Co. for a beer. When we returned for headliner Abby Holliday, the crowd had peaked, but we were still able to find a place to sit down and listen just off stage right.

Sponsor support no doubt powered the festival; one being Sonny’s, which had to have enjoyed a good night’s business; another (I’m told) being Noddle Companies, the village’s primary developer. Smart investment. 

Saying the festival was “chill” would be an understatement. Convenient access, free admission and the ability to come and go as you please made it easy for patrons to enjoy the rest of Aksarben Village (including a jam-packed Inner Rail food court) and still return for more music. 

Hard to guess total attendence, but at its peak maybe a few hundred folks were enjoying the low-key indie music from Sonny’s as well as nearby green spaces and patios. While Garden Party’s talent was impressive, it will take bigger names to justify moving the festival to Stinson Park. Last year’s Grrrrl Camp Festival, held at Falconwood Park, boasted indie darlings Hurray for the Riff Raff, Mannequin Pussy and Indigo De Souza among its talent — arguably the best collection of touring indie artists at any Omaha event last year. And yet, I’m told (at this time) there’s no plans for another Grrrl Camp festival this year. 

Bigger doesn’t always translate to being better, however in Garden Party’s case, there’s plenty of room for the festival to grow…

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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

Sometime around 2007, Omaha’s indie music scene had all its plates spinning in harmony — three very successful touring bands, an industry-respected record label, and two brand new, shiny venues destined to become the city’s most important indie music stages.

I began having a vision of a night when it all came together. It would be like in the film The Last Waltz, but instead of Robbie Robertson calling Neil Young or Joni to join him on stage, members from Omaha’s indie scene would come together and perform each other’s songs. After all, these bands grew up together and shared similar careers. 

But it never happened. Maybe the closest we came was 2010’s Concert for Equality in Benson, a gig that saw performances by Bright Eyes, Desaparecidos and Lullaby for the Working Class, but even then, there was no mixing and matching, no classic moment where someone came in from the wings. 

Well, last night’s Bright Eyes / Cursive concert at The Astro sort of filled that fantasy for me, at least with two iconic bands who grew out of the Nebraska scene. And it happened three times. 

The first instance came toward the the end of Cursive’s propulsive opening set, which included all the usual chestnuts (“Sierra,” “Art is Hard,” “The Martyr,”) as well as a rousing version of “What the Fuck” from the new album, Devourer, and set-closer (and personal Cursive favorite), “From the Hips.”  

Frontman Tim Kasher introduced the mashup-song, “Recluse I Don’t Have to Love,” giving no hints as to what was about to happen, simply saying, “Let’s see how this goes.” Halfway through the usual jangling version of “The Recluse” on bounded Bright Eyes frontman Conor Oberst as if he just got back from a trip to Cabela’s, wearing a camo-hoodie that partially obscured his face. He grabbed the mic and spit out lines from “Lover I Don’t Have to Love,” perfectly melding it with “The Recluse.” The crowd of around 1,200 (in my guestimation) went wild.

But the real mash-up moments came during Bright Eyes’ workman-like set. When the band first kicked off its tour late last year in support of their latest album, Five Dice, All Threes (2025, Dead Oceans), YouTube videos began popping up showing a groggy, out-of-it Oberst struggling to get through the night. Fans lambasted his performances on social media. In mid-September, the band announced it was cancelling or postponing tour dates “on the advice of doctors,” including an upcoming appearance at Riot Fest and a show at Steelhouse Omaha. Oberst reappeared in an online video in mid-October saying he “was feeling a lot better” and that the tour would go on in 2025 “if all goes well as planned.”

Well, it obviously has, as Oberst appeared to be recovered from whatever ailed him last year.  Considering last night’s Astro concert was the last of this leg of the tour, one would expect his voice to be slightly ragged, but Oberst was in fine voice throughout the night, preforming a 19-song set and three-song encore that included selections from throughout the Bright Eyes catalog. 

Among the highlights were rousing versions of “Mariana Trench,” “Shell Games,” and a cover of Daniel Johnston’s “Devil Town.” Joining the core band of Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott were drummer Conner Helms Conor Elmes, bassist Alex Levine and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist MiWi La Lupa. Oberst did his usual politicizing when he introduced “Old Soul Song (for the New World Order),” imploring fans to do something – anything – to protest against actions of the current administration. “I, for one, do not plan to live in Elon Trump’s fascist wet dream,” he said. The crowd roared with approval. 

But for me, the set’s high-water mark came when Oberst called members of Cursive to the stage to join him on a couple songs. First was a stunning version of “Nothing Gets Crossed Out,” from 2002’s Lifted, with Kasher handling most of the lead vocals and cellist Megan Siebe adding layers of emotional depth. 

The second came during the encore. Oberst again called for Cursive, but especially for Ted Stevens, who would sing leads on a cover of Lullaby for the Working Class song “Hypnotist (Song for Daniel H.),” from 1997’s I Never Even Asked for Light. Stevens fronted Lullaby before joining Cursive. Siebe again joined him onstage along with drummer Pat Oakes.  In both cases, Oberst joined in on vocals, and it was very much the kind of shared moment I’d always dreamed of. Siebe and Oakes remained on stage for a boisterous version of “Let’s Not Shit Ourselves (to Love and to Be Loved)” that closed out the night in celebratory style.

Now if we could only get The Faint to join Bright Eyes and Cursive on a tour…

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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.