Gringo Star plays at O’Leaver’s tonight…

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Atlanta 4-piece Gringo Star is keeping alive the sound their grand-parents adored — ’50s and ’60 rock ‘n’ roll.

“Our grandad started out in radio in the ’40s and ’50s in Columbus, GA.,” said Nick Furgiueles, who started Gringo Star with his brother, Peter, in 2007. “He was a huge promoter of R&B back when it was still super segregated, and he was playing black music and putting on shows with Little Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Sam Cooke & the Soul Stirrers, a lot of Gospel shows. So we grew up hearing all these stories, listening to all this music. Our grandfather was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame posthumously. And my grandma — all her photo albums are like Jackie Wilson shirtless backstage, hanging out.”

The sounds of those AM gems reverberate in Gringo Star’s modern take on classic rock infused in surf, garage, doo-wap and psychedelic. The band’s been playing around with indie brethren like The Black Angels, Wavves and Best Coast for years, then at SXSW they caught the attention of Nevado Music execs who put out their new album, The Sides and In Between, just last week. Hear the band play it live tonight at O’Leaver’s.

I sent the Gringos the ol’ Ten Questions survey and Nick was kind enough to fill it out.

1. What is your favorite album?

Nick Furgiueles: David Bowie- Ziggy Stardust

2. What is your least favorite song?

Everything by Fleetwood Mac

3. What do you enjoy most about being in a band?

Doing interviews

4. What do you hate about being in a band?

Doing interviews

5. What is your favorite substance (legal or illegal)?

The jalapeño.

6. In what city or town do you love to perform?

Bacup, England

7. What city or town did you have your worst gig (and why)?

Savannah, GA, we recently played a daytime show that was outside and it was no cooler than 108.  And the stage was in the sun.

8. How do you pay your bills?

Usually I write a check.

9. What one profession other than music would you like to attempt; what one profession would you absolutely hate to do?

I always wanted to be a professional baseball player, but I’d hate to be a police man, having to constantly ticket and leech off the public to maintain the war machine.

10. What are the stories you’ve heard about Omaha, Nebraska?

In 1879 the trial of Standing Bear v. Crook was held at Fort Omaha. During the trial General Crook testified on behalf of Standing Bear, leading the court to recognize American Indians as persons. This was the first time this occurred in a U.S. Federal Court.

Gringo Star joins Hussies and Eklectica tonight at O’Leaver’s, 1322 So. Saddle Creek Rd. Entry is $8, show starts at 9 p.m. For more information, go to liveatoleavers.com.

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Hey, remember that festival that took place a few weeks ago called Maha? Well, I went to it and wrote this long-ish review for everyone’s favorite arts and music alternative monthly, The Reader. And now that review is finally online. No, this isn’t Throwback Thursday, and yet here I am, asking you to step into the Wayback Machine and read my thoughts and ruminations about Nebraska’s premiere one-day indie music festival. Of course if you prefer the analog version, you can pick up the latest issue of The Reader, which is on news racks ’round town.

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Better Friend at The Sydney during Benson First Friday Femme Fest, Sept. 2, 2015.

Speaking of festivals, I swung by Benson First Friday Femme Fest last week for a drop in on Lincoln band Better Friend at The Sydney (seein’ as they came highly recommended by a certain executive at Hear Nebraska). Fronted by vocalist Meghan Munyon the band cranked out a rough but lively set of dark rock they describe as punk on their Facebook page, though I think leans more toward mid ’90s-era emo (as opposed to, say, ’80s-era emo — there is a distinction (at least in my book)). Munyon is a howler in a sort of Thalia Zedek vein, and when one of her guitarists adds a layer of scream/screech vocals, the emo turns to screamo. The crowd of around 30 seemed into it, and there’s  a lot of buzz about these folks, though I think we’re just seeing where they’re starting off. Where they go next, well, now that could be very intriguing…

As for Femme Fest, there’s little doubt that the annual event (in its second year) has surely become “a thing” that will continue for years to come.

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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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Eric in Outerspace at O’Leaver’s, Aug. 31, 2016.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

How is it, you ask, that I’m able to go out to a rock show during the busy work week? Well, instead of my annual trip to NYC, this year I’m enjoying a “stay-cation” right here in beautiful Omaha. So naturally I don’t have to get up at 5 a.m., which allows for late-night rock ‘n’ roll fun. Like last night’s show at O’Leaver’s.

Triathalon was on deck when I rolled in at around 10:30 to a very sparsely attended show. I’m talking fewer than 20 people were sitting around watching the Savannah four-piece play laid-back R&B-infused rock masquerading as baby-making music for nerdy indie types, all (or mostly sung) in a Beckian falsetto.

Triathalon at O’Leaver’s Aug. 31, 2016.

For the last tune, frontman Adam Intrator put down the guitar and provided some gnarly shoulder-rollin’ dance moves that got everyone smiling. Also smile-inducing was how he ended every song in the set with a spoken “Thank you.” Nothing wrong with good manners.

Local heroes Eric in Outerspace closed out the show after a lengthy set up as no one could figure out what was wrong with the stage monitors. After a lot of fiddling around, I don’t think it got figured. It didn’t matter to the audience, however, because we could hear the band loud and clear.

Despite apparently being under the weather (you couldn’t tell) frontman Sean Paul and company crushed a set of indie rock songs that stylistically recalled Pavement, Nirvana and assorted ’90s-era indie bands like Vitreous Humor and (I’m not sure why) a slowed down version of New Sweet Breath. There were times when Paul’s voice sounded a bit gravelly but that only added a weathered world-weary nuance.

Favorite songs included one about how much he hates summer and another that featured a grand-build all-hands-on-deck guitar-attack ending. I’m listening to the band’s Soundcloud tracks now and there ain’t a one that I don’t like (especially this one playing right now called “Trailing Away,” which I think was that grand-build song I just mentioned). Check them out when they play O’Leaversfest Sept 23 with Bien Fang and Flowers Forever (reunion?).

* * *

Milk Run has another of its 4-band specials tonight. The headliner is Chicago act Dowsing (Asian Man Records). They call their sound “Chicago emo.” Yeek. Joining them is Diners, which calls their sound “Arizona desert bedroom pop,” and which seems to be an apt description. Laid-back groovy. Opening are locals Timecat and Bed Rest. $7, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, Brothers Lounge is hosting a deathmetal show with Horrendous, Flak and Manslaughterer. $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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Sam Martin at O’Leaver’s Jan. 29, 2016. He opens for Triathalon tonight at O’Leaver’s.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

We all talk about influential records we owned growing up or when we were gaining our critical footing, figuring out what we like and don’t like (that is, if you were able to form your own opinions without being brainwashed by radio or television, which very few people are). One of those records for me was the original motion picture soundtrack to the film Athens, GA – Inside Out. I bought the record from a cut-out bin having never heard of the movie but recognizing a few of the bands listed on the album sleeve, specifically R.E.M. and Pylon.

It was through that record, which was released in 1987, that I was introduced to The Squalls, Flat Duo Jets, Love Tractor, Time Toy, Bar-B-Que Killers and The Kilkenny Cats. But what I enjoyed most about the record was that it was recorded live at venues throughout Athens. You got a snap-shot of what the scene must have been like during its short-lived hey-day.

Live at DBA, Start Your Own Fucking Show Space (2016, Famous Class)

Nearly 30 years later, along comes the three-record set called Start Your Own Fucking Show Space, Live at DBA — or as it was more affectionately known, Death By Audio, a warehouse space in Williamsburg founded in 2007 by Oliver Ackermann of the band A Place to Bury Strangers. DBA hosted more than 1,800 shows before it was evicted by Vice Media in November 2014, effectively ending an era. But before it ended, DBA hosted a month of shows whose recordings make up this album.

Omaha music fans will recognize a lot of the included artists because they’ve also played at places around town like O’Leaver’s, 1% Productions spaces, Sweatshop, house shows or DIY spaces. Among the bands are Parquet Courts, Deerhoof, Pujol, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Screaming Females, Don Deacon, Ty Segall, Future Islands, Metz, Nots, Protomartyr, Jeff: The Brotherhood, Lightning Bolt, as well as some bands I didn’t recognize like Pampers, Shellshag, the Numerators, Downtown Boys, Coasting w/ Patty Conway, Natural Child, Sleepies and Grooms.

The album’s 26 tracks not only document DBA but also an underground indie-garage-noise scene that flourished in small venues throughout the past decade. Every song is a keeper and the massive vinyl set, released by Famous Class Records, is bound to be this generation’s Inside Out. Rating: Yes.

* *

BTW, I could see Live at O’Leaver’s releasing a similar album as Live at DBA. Get on it, Ian.

* *

Speaking of O’Leaver’s, tonight they have an epic show headlined by Eric in Outspace, with Sam Adam Martin and road band Triathalon — a wicked little indie R&B/surf-pop-flavored five piece from Savannah, GA., whose new EP, Cold Shower, comes out Sept. 16 on Broken Circles Records. $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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

The crowd with hands in the air, as directed by Vince Staples during Saturday’s Maha Music Festival.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I’ve written a lengthy review of Saturday’s Maha Music Festival, but it won’t appear until the September issue of The Reader comes out in a couple weeks. Boo!

That said, here’s the CliffsNotes version: The weather was great, the park was wet, and the music for the most part was pretty good. Favorite bands of the day were (no surprise) Car Seat Headrest, Diet Cig (actually a huge surprise considering how poor their Slowdown set was a few months back) and Grimes. Diarrhea Planet also was a surprise, as I’ve never been a fan of their records.

All the locals I saw were good, but especially See Through Dresses. Matthew Sweet sounded shit-loads better than he did at 1200 Club a year or so ago (but how could he not considering how poor the sound was that night?). That said, he played too long. Someone should have told him he wasn’t the headliner.

Jay Farrar Trio was fine. Kind of boring, actually. Vince Staples did not resonate with me, but I don’t like that style of tuneless hyper-rap (but the crowd sure did). The Joy Formidable were technically on point playing forgettable songs.

Who am I missing? Oh yeah, the headliner. I made it through three Passion Pit songs before heading out. They weren’t awful, they just weren’t that interesting. But as I say in the review, I’ve never stuck around for the full set of Maha’s closing band.

Anyway, read the whole review when it comes out long after you’ve forgotten this year’s festival. It’ll be like Groundhog Day for those of you who went (Yes, I miss the days when The Reader was a weekly…). In the meantime, here are some photos taken at Saturday’s show…

Diet Cig drew a surprisingly large crowd for playing so early in the day.

See Through Dresses are always solid.

Jay Farrar Trio were the first ones on the big Weitz Stage Saturday.

Diarrhea Planet and their four guitarists. Loud. Fun.

Warren Buffett sings an a capella version of “Feelings” during Maha. It was… touching. (Just kidding, don’t sue me, Warren).

Car Seat Headrest gave my favorite performance of the festival.

Matthew Sweet on the Javlin Stage.

Grimes and one of her crazy dancers.

Passion Pit peering through the smoky haze.

* * *

Tonight Kanine Records act Hockey Dad headlines at Slowdown Jr. with Muuy Biien and Fun Runner. $12, 8 p.m.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Protomartyr at Slowdown Jr., Aug. 12, 2016.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Protomartyr brought the big noise with them Friday night at Slowdown, Jr.  The four-piece, fronted by nattily dressed Joe Casey, who looked like a young, slim version of John Goodman (get ready, Joe, you’re going to look just like him when you’re in your 60s), belted out at least 45 minutes of pure indie punk, gliding on Greg Ahee’s amazing guitar tone (and skill) and Casey’s barking vocal delivery.

Those vocals: Call them atonal, call them simply yelling, the closest we’ve got is Gary Dean Davis’ enthusiastic bark. Or maybe Craig Finn’s talk vocals, but that’s not quite right. Finn always sounds like a college guy snottily reading slam poetry when he fronts The Hold Steady, whereas Casey’s bark vocals seem more like someone scolding you about what’ll happen if you don’t start paying attention. And whereas Hold Steady songs play like ironic pictures of hipster America, Casey’s vision is darker, psychologically dystopian, not so much lacking in hope as providing a warning. But fun nonetheless.

Casey sold it all with his visual cues — a sort of sarcastic glare or look of indifference — as if none of it matters because you’re not listening, anyway. You’re just trying to dance. Which they did. Friday night’s crowd (of around 75?) was one of the youngest I’ve seen at an indie punk show, with mainly of young women crowding the stage. Mark Kozelek would have been envious.

* * *

You’re going to be hearing a shit-ton about the Maha Music Festival this week, seeing as it happens this coming Saturday. I’m adding to the din with this month’s Over the Edge column in The Reader wherein Maha Executive Director Lauren Schomburg explains how they came up with this year’s line-up, which features electro-dance headliner Passion Pit. Read the column here.

Apparently Ryan Adams was in the running. So were a lot of other acts, but in the end, this line-up made the most sense both fiscally and for their target audience (a younger crowd than in year’s past).

I asked Schomburg what her “dream line-up” would be. Her answer: “Probably some combination of Florence and the Machine, Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem.” Yes, that would be impressive. It also would cost a bazillion dollars and would have to be held somewhere much larger than Aksarben Village.

At the time of the interview, Schomburg said Maha’s ticket sales had been slower than last year’s festival. She pointed out that festivals have taken a hit this year across the board nationally. Bonnaroo 2016 was the least attended year in that festival’s history, with attendance down 45 percent since its 2011 peak. Attendance at the 80/35 Festival was down as well versus the previous year.

Schomburg said the election year could be playing into the attendance decline as well as the fact that we seem to be saturated with festivals these days. That said, Maha’s line-up appeals to a younger audience, an audience that waits longer to purchase tickets. Expect a solid run-up in sales this week and the day of event. “The community is always supportive,” she said, adding that sponsorships “have been phenomenal.”

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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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Pleasures at O’Leaver’s, Aug. 6, 2016.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I can’t think of a band as densely electronic as Sarasota’s Pleasures, who played at O’Leaver’s Saturday night. The four-piece drenched everything in technology, from the guitar, which was run though an onslaught of pedals, to the the stack of synths to Katherine Kelly’s vocals that were twisted and stretched and strangled by synths and vocoders and pedals all night. The music dripped in a haze of buzzing distortion cut through by a top-notch rhythm section that kept things grounded and rocking.

As interesting as the tech was, there were a few too many times when the vocal distortion got in the way of the music, and I wondered how the songs would have sounded had Kelly simply sung them sans electronic filters. The few moments when her voice peeped through the digital fog reminded me of a young Grace Slick, and certainly she carried the stage with a similar pomp.

Universe Contest at O’Leaver’s, Aug. 6, 2016.

Pleasures were followed by Lincoln’s Universe Contest, whose pounding riffage and bellowing vocals were as musically subtle as hitting a thumb-tack with a sledge hammer — massive walls of throbbing sound and quirky (though barely recognizable) proggy melodies a la early Modest Mouse. The band had one of the better rhythm sections I’ve heard in recent memory, fantastic drumming. And hat’s off also to the violinist, who added much needed sonic nuance (and to the sound guy for somehow making sure she was heard through all the racket).

* * *

That massive Faint / Gang of Four tour is beginning to make more sense. I had been wondering why The Faint had signed up for so many dates without a new album to push. Then last week the band announced that it’s set to release Capsule:1999-2016 on CD and digitally on Sept. 30 and 2xLP on Oct. 28 via Saddle Creek.

The retrospective collection represents a golden era for The Faint and includes 16 of their most beloved songs from five albums reaching back to Blank-Wave Arcade (What, nothing from Media?). The 2xLP is pressed on sexy silver vinyl and the first pressing will contain a bonus  7-inch featuring new songs “Skylab1979” and “ESP,” which feature the newest member of The Faint, Graham Ulicny (Reptar) on synths. Pre-orders are being taken at The Saddle Creek online store, where you can check out the track listing.

It’s a pretty solid collection, though most early Faint albums are pretty solid top to bottom. In fact you can’t go wrong with the trilogy of Blank-Wave Arcade, Danse Macabre and Wet From Birth, whose tracks dominate this new collection…

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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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Marcey Yates at Burke’s Pub as part of Benson After Dark, July 30, 2016

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Benson’s getting crazy. Saturday night’s Benson After Dark crowds were impressive, but activity on the streets was over the top. But it’s getting that way almost every weekend in Benson. Now if they could just figure out a way to get a little biz in the daylight hours.

Here’s another observation from this weekend: For the first time I can remember, Benson Days worked. After the parade, Maple Street from down by the post office up to the Masonic Lodge was lined with tents and food trucks (maybe the most food trucks I’ve seen at one Omaha event). Hundreds of people crowded the streets. It was… surprising, exciting. When I came back later that afternoon, around 3 p.m., the crowds were still hanging on.

I have no idea if Benson After Dark was a success because the bars would probably have been jam-packed anyway. The venue where I spent a couple hours — Burke’s Pub — had a steady stream of people paying to hear the music.

I hung out at Burke’s not only because my wife was working the door, but because Marcey Yates was on the line-up. Actually, I’m not positive the project is called “Marcey Yates.” Op2mus? The Dilla Kids? Stdnt Body? All those names were used at one point.

The group consisted of a drummer, bass player and two guys with microphones, one of whom controlled samples. Not every song used a sample; some merely featured bass and drum and voices. That minimal, spare production gave them breathing room for the rhythms and backing track.

On a musical level, Yates’ is enticing. Warm, subtle rapping atop the beats. It’s a pleasure to see live instruments at a hip-hop show rather than someone yelling over pre-recorded tracks. The rap flowed smooth from one man to the next; and the room bounced  with the rhythm. The drawback (for me, anyway) was I couldn’t make out a word either of the rappers were saying. I could hear them just fine, rhythmically they were a smooth force, but the meaning was lost, and that’s a shame.

I need to hear and understand the words to get to the next level. Maybe not “understand” as much as comprehend what’s being said. My favorite hip hop (and it’s a short list) has easily recognizable lyrics that take me to wherever the artist is living. Kendrick, for example, can race along at a furious pace and I can still make out every word. Friday night the lyrics were lost on me. Maybe it was the PA, though this morning I’m listening to some of Yates’ Bandcamp stuff and while the production is first class it’s still a struggle to catch all the rhymes.

But I love the groove. So much so I’m contemplating hitting up this Friday night’s New Generation Music Festival at Aksarben Village featuring the Dilla Kids (Marcey Yates and XOBOI). Read more about the event in today’s Hear Nebraska blog entry.

* * *

Wavves returns to The Waiting Room tonight. Seems like the band is making Omaha a regular tour stop. This is the fourth time they’ve played here, if my math is correct (2011, 2013, Maha 2015). Tonight they’re playing with Philly act Steep Leans (Ghost Ramp Records) and Party Baby. $23, 8 p.m.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Refrigerator at O’Leaver’s, July 1, 2016.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Refrigerator is a literate indie rock band that puts its guts out there for everyone to see, but still doesn’t take itself that seriously. Case in point: Halfway through their set Friday night at O’Leaver’s, guitarist Dennis Callaci decided it was a good time to form a congo line and bounce on out to the beer garden with his brother, frontman Allen Callaci, while the bassist and drummer kept the beat in the club. And out they went doing the usual bunny hop with grins on their faces (along with the dozen or so people who joined in, hands on hips).

The show had been promoted as a special occasion based on the fact that Refrigerator has never played in Nebraska before, despite having close ties with some prominent Nebraska musicians — Simon Joyner chief among them. To me, the band is identified with The Antiquarium, which was where you’d find their albums and cassettes, along with other releases on Callaci’s label, Shrimper. Their music has the same pleasantly abrasive style of a few of my favorite ’90s indie bands like Silkworm, Grifters, a more refined Guided by Voices — smart, earnest rock with a crashing beat that gets you moving. It was a great set.

The band had a big spread of their releases available at the show — lots of cassettes and some vinyl. But with only $20 to spare, I bought a copy of Allen Callaci’s book, Heart Like a Starfish, a handsome tome and a challenging read that I began tackling this weekend. The story recaps Allen’s medical struggles involving his heart. I’m just 40 or so pages into it and it’s getting rather grim, but I know the book has a happy ending because I saw it being lived out on O’Leaver’s stage.

Simon Joyner at O’Leaver’s, July 1, 2016.

During the opening set, Simon Joyner on electric guitar, accompanied by a drummer, ripped through a number of new songs as well as some chestnuts like “Joy Division” (or at least part of that song) and “Javelin.” Always a good time.

* * *

Lincoln Calling Oct. 6-8

As you may or may not know, Lincoln Calling is getting a rather massive facelift this year. The primary change: Hear Nebraska is now putting on the three-day festival, which is being held Oct. 6-8 in venues throughout downtown Lincoln. Believe me, you will be impressed by the line-up, which HN will begin to announce July 13 (they’re doing incremental lineup announcements).

That said, tickets go on sale this Thursday, July 7. Early bird, three-day general admission festival passes will be available at a discount price of $29. Once those sell out, 3-day passes will increase in price to $39 for a limited time, and will eventually sell for $49.

Sales of all-ages 3-day passes that allow entrance only into two venues — The Bay and Tower Square — also go on sale Thursday for $25. Comedy-only passes will be sold for $25.

And then there are the two specialty passes:

— Trustee passes at a cost of $250 includes a three-day festival pass, access to a lounge area with comfortable seating and tables, food and drink tickets, and additional perks to be announced.

— SPEED! passes at $150 (only 10 available) gets the bearers to the front of the line at every concert, and allows access even when shows are at capacity.

One-day passes may be available day of show — subject to availability. In other words, at these price points, they’re expecting to sell out those 3-day passes.

No doubt Hear Nebraska is going for a South By Southwest-type event. The difference is they’re combining national touring acts of various genres with some of Nebraska’s finest bands, all playing in multiple venues for multiple days.

BTW, I have seen the initial line-up, and yes, it rivals this year’s Maha Festival. Get your tickets Thursday morning at lincolncalling.com.

* * *

Tonight Detroit disco-punk-new wave-garage-metal band Electric Six makes its annual pilgrimage to The Waiting Room. Joining them are In the Whale. $15, 9 p.m.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Twin Peaks at The Waiting Room, June 29, 2016.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The kids, they love their Twin Peaks. Last night’s show at The Waiting Room had all the charm of a modern day American Bandstand production.

The Chicago five-piece has evolved from the garage band that played at Midtown Art Supply a couple years ago to a full-blown stage act with four dudes sharing lead vocals. My favorite was probably the guitarist who looked like Greg Brady and sounded like Mick Jaggar or maybe the bass player who looked like Bobby Brady belting out rockers in his deep basso voice, or the guitarist in the overalls with the shag cut that fell over his eyes or the keyboardist/left-handed-guitarist in the white T-shirt who really leaned into the microphone. No wonder there were so many young girls in the audience pressed against the stage. Twin Peaks is the veritable Tiger Beat of rock bands.

They meld a ’60s rock vibe to a ’90s indie-rock esthetic. The acts that came to mind: Pavement, The Stooges, Velvet Underground, maybe the most central was mid-’60s era Rolling Stones circa “Get Off of My Cloud.” While I dig their new album, Down in Heaven, the recording seems  subdued compared to the live versions, which added manic energy. Or maybe it was the young crowd, who danced/slammed/jumped, even tried a bit of awkward crowd-surfing atop the estimated 150 or so on hand. Maybe rock ‘n’ roll is back?

Ne-Hi at The Waiting Room, June 29, 2016.

Opener Ne-Hi reminded me of a different kind of stones — The Stone Roses — thanks to the band’s awesome rhythm section — a rolling bass that owned the melody while the drummer pounded away on those heavy toms. Add post-wave guitar lines and you’ve got a band that would sound at home in Manchester as well as its hometown of Chicago. Keep an eye on them. They’re label-mates with Twin Peaks on Grand Jury Music. When is their next LP going to arrive?

* * *

There’s a very interesting under-the-radar show tonight at Reverb Lounge. London artist Sinkane is described as “a musician who blends krautrock, free jazz and funk rock with Sudanese pop.” His last full-length, 2014’s Mean Love, was released on NYC-based independent dance-punk label DFA, who you might recognize as the label of such acts as The Rapture, Hot Chip, Holy Ghost! and most prominent of all, LCD Soundsystem, whose mastermind, James Murphy, co-founded the label. When was the last time we had a DFA-type artist in our town? Carl Miller & The Thrillers opens. $12, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, Minneapolis, MN grunge-pop band Lunch Duchess headlines at Milk Run with Apes of the State, Anna McClellan and The Way Out. $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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Outer Spaces at Milk Run, June 24, 2016.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

First, let’s put a capstone on last week’s question about who’s running Milk Run. Sam Parker, who was at Friday night’s Milk Run show, made it clear he’s still very much involved with the venue. He’s enlisted members from a few local punk bands (No Thanks and See Through Dresses among them) to help run shows. And that Facebook post asking for people to help book the room was merely a way to give others an opportunity to try their hand at the show promotion game.

Parker will continue to book Milk Run, along with his promo company Perpetual Nerves. In fact, Parker mentioned a couple interesting upcoming shows at Milk Run that have yet to be announced, so stay tuned. Missing from the equation is Chris Aponick, who Parker said has stepped away from both Milk Run and Perpetual Nerves for personal reasons.

If that wasn’t enough, Parker, who also works at the mysterious Hi-Fi House, has been über busy working on yet another exciting live music project, which you will hear about shortly.

Friday night’s Milk Run show was held not in the micro-sized music room, but the adjacent, larger art gallery. They made the move because the AC in the small room was on the fritz. One reason shows haven’t been held in the gallery was fear of the acoustics — it’s a bigger room with a tin ceiling — but bouncing sound wasn’t a problem for this show. Even with their smallish PA, the room sounded pretty good.

So did Outer Spaces. The Baltimore four-piece (looks like they added a new bassist) played a short, sweet set of songs from their just released album, A Shedding Snake (2016, Don Giovanni). On that record, frontwoman/guitarist Cara Beth Satalino has a voice that at times is the spitting image of Edie Brickell’s, at other times she reminds me of Maria Taylor, whereas my wife think she sounds like Anna Waronker (That Dog). Performing live, Satalino has a simple, quiet quality all her own on songs that are classic ’90s-style indie. The live set was more laid-back than what you get on the record, which is one of my favorites from the first half of the year.

I told Parker he should use that gallery space for shows more often. In addition to sounding good, it was more comfortable, with plenty of room to move around. No doubt the room’s capacity is twice as much as the small room, and concerns that the gallery would feel empty during small shows was unfounded. Friday night’s show felt well-attended even though only 15 or 20 people were in the audience.

Find out for yourself tonight when Austin band Pale Dīan plays at Milk Run, a band whose music has been described as “dreamy swirling melodic sounds inspired by classic 4AD artists like Cocteau Twins and Lush.” Shrinks and Hiraeth open. Price ranges from $5 to $7 (you pick). Show starts at 9

The Pale Dian show has been cancelled.

Also tonight at The Waiting Room it’s the return of Portland-based indie folk group Blitzen Trapper (Vagrant, Sub Pop). Opening is Frontier Ruckus. $18, 8 p.m.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.