by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Brad Hoshaw and the Seven Deadlies took the stage for only the third time this year Friday night at O’Leaver’s and uncorked a slew of new material that one assumes is destined for an upcoming Long Player.

Hoshaw has shifted up his core band quite a bit since the last time I saw them, with a new drummer (Wayne Brekke), new bass player (one of the Fergesen clan) and the addition of a mandolin. That left only one remaining Deadly — Matt Whipkey on electric guitar, the one piece of the puzzle that cannot be replaced without irreparably marring Hoshaw’s music. Whipkey’s role as sideman is absolutely core to this band. His fills and leads give Hoshaw’s tunes an added dimension that frankly would not be there without him.

Matt Whipkey is one of the longest running singer/songwriter veterans in the Omaha music scene. I remember seeing him way back in the early ’00s doing a solo acoustic gig with Landon Hedges and Joe Knapp. Since then, Whipkey has gone on to front a number of bands, from The Movies to Anonymous American to The Whipkey Three, but his guitar his never sounded better than when it’s backing Hoshaw. Maybe it’s a question of focus, or maybe the two are the perfect compliment to each other.

Hoshaw’s new songs continued in the same gritty folk vein as heard on his amazing debut full length from a couple years back. Opening number “New Tattoo” is the best Bob Seger song that Bob Seger never wrote or sang, sort of an updated version of “Turn the Page” (but boiling with broken-hearted venom) that underscores every ’70s folk-rock reference that permeates Hoshaw’s lean, melody-driven song-writing style, perfect for playing in the back of Sammy Johns’ 1973 Chevy van.

While adding the mandolin seems like a good idea, we’ll have to wait until Hoshaw & Co. play a different stage to know for sure, as it was almost completely buried in the mix. But what wasn’t unheard was Whipkey’s guitar, which was pushed to full throttle on the second-to-last song of the evening, featuring Whipkey in full rock-star freakout mode. If Hoshaw can capture that energy in the recording studio, we’re in for another fine Hoshaw/Deadlies album.

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There’s a decent show going on every night this week. Maybe we all should take a week off from work? Why not?

It begins tonight with the return of Deerhoof to The Waiting Room. The band is touring in support of its latest Polyvinyl release, Breakup Song, which came out just a couple weeks ago and earned a 7.2 on the Pitchfork meter. Quirky? You bet. They certainly were the last time I saw them back in June 2010. Opening is Buke And Gase, Raleigh Moncrief, & Rahypnol Rangers. $13, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, Mount Eerie plays at Daniel Muller Studios, 6066 Maple Street in the heart of Benson, with UUVVWWZ. $10, 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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Wild Nothing at Sokol Underground, Sept. 14, 2012.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

In a lot of people’s minds, last Friday night’s Wild Nothing/DIIV show was a make or brake sitch for The Sandbox, a club that’s been struggling to become “sort of” legit, booking bands on a regular basis for the past few months. Well, a few hours before showtime, I got an email from someone associated with the show saying that it had been moved to Sokol Underground. No reason for the move was given.

The Sandbox posted the following on Facebook this morning, pointed at the show’s promoter, Slow Burn Productions:

“Sorry to do this, but so much shit talking and misinformation has been spread about this fucking major screw up on the part of the promoter. When what something called a ‘sound rider’ is given to a promoter, it details everything a band will need for sound and or lighting for an event. For this Wild Nothing / DIIV show no sound rider was given to us, the venue, in advance by said promoter so we really had no idea what the bands were expecting for sound needs. As such, we were under assumption business as usual in the sound dept. Needless to say, the bands were not satisfied with this. We easily could have got the extra things and mics the bands were expecting HAD WE KNOWN ABOUT IT AHEAD OF TIME, like any reasonable and conscientious promoter would have done. Thank you.“

I haven’t been to the Sandbox in almost a year, but the last time I was there, its meager PA system could have handled the show. I’ve been told that since then, there have been a lot of improvements in sound, stage and lighting. I guess I’ll have to wait until the next “big” indie show rolls through there to find out, as the style of punk usually booked there hasn’t sparked my interest.

So it was off to Sokol Underground. I hadn’t been down there since last winter, when my nephew’s band played a death metal showcase. I used to go to Sokol Underground a few times a week back in its indie heyday, when it was booked by One Percent Productions (and before them, by the Saddle Creek duo of Robb/Jason). Since the One Percent guys opened The Waiting Room — a far superior music venue that’s literally walking distance from my house — other promoters have booked Sokol Underground almost exclusively for metal/death metal/goon rock showcases, a reflection of the years of influence radio station 89.7 The River has had on the scene — i.e., the emergence of Cookie Monster Metal almost a full decade after it went out of style around the rest of the country.

And it’s a shame, because Sokol Underground is still a fun place to see a show, as last Friday night’s Wild Nothing/DIIV show proved. Walking down the stairs into the club it felt just like old times except that Marc or Jim wasn’t there to give me the nod to let me into the show. Instead, I handed my printout ticket to the strapping young lad at the register, walked over to the bar and tried to buy a Rolling Rock, but was told they just sold their last bottle, leaving to me drink Lucky Bucket the rest of the evening — not a bad alternative.

The room itself hasn’t changed much, though the PA looks and sounds less powerful than during the golden years. The rock stickers (including my Lazy-i sticker) have been stripped from the poles; the bulletin board across from the cash register that used to be covered with show fliers is empty. But other than that (and some much-needed paint) the room is virtually the same and still has that quality I loved from its early days — you can always go unnoticed in Sokol Underground. The dismal room lighting makes it easy to hide. But beyond that, unlike the upscale Slowdown and The Waiting Room, Sokol Underground is so dumpy that no one cares who you are… or at least that how it seems. The brokedown-palace atmosphere is oddly relaxing. I can’t explain it any other way.

By the time I arrived at around 10:15, the first two openers already had left the stage and DIIV had just started. DIIV is an ambient/dream-pop band in the vein of M83 — lots of chiming, layered guitars and tonal vocals. Definitely a vibe band with an obvious shoe-gaze sound that at its best can fall into a droning, rhythmic groove that’s full-on Stone Roses-esque. The drawback is in its lack of variety. Every song — in speed, rhythm and style — sounds like it was cut from the same sonic cloth, and becomes one dimensional, especially with vocals that have more to do with mood than lyrics.

Wild Nothing is very similar but more straight-forward — less vibe, more songwriting, better compositions. They reminded me of ’90s champions The Church and The Cure with bigger guitar riffs and vocals that you could actually understand. While there was a basic droning common denominator, their set had a satisfying ebb and flow that DIIV lacked. The young crowd of between 100-150 soaked it all in at the edge of the stage, a few even tried to dance (sort of).

It really is a shame that more indie shows aren’t booked at Sokol Underground, but with One Percent (who books almost all the good indie shows that come through town) already having two main clubs for indie — The Waiting Room and Slowdown — why should they bother? I get it, especially when they can take home the bar sales at TWR, something they’ll never get at Sokol. Still, it seems like there have been fewer and fewer CMJ-quality indie shows coming through town over the past couple years. I blame the economy, the decline in the music industry, and  what appears to be a decline in interest among those who (should) go to these shows. I also blame lack of radio, though in this era of XMU-satellite and everything being online, does it really make that much of a difference? Yeah, I think it does.

Bottom line: If I could choose between TWR/Slowdown or Sokol Underground to see a show, I’d always choose TWR/Slowdown — better sound, better sight lines, easier access, and in TWR’s case, much closer to home. But that said, I’d still love to go to Sokol three or four times a year for a solid indie show like the one I saw last Friday night. It’s going to take a new promoter like Black Heart or Slowburn or someone else to make that happen.

Wild Nothing at Sokol Underground, Sept. 14, 2012.

* * *

Sumtur Amphitheater is about 10 miles south of Benson in Papillion. I’ve never been there before, but from what I’ve been told, it should be a great place to see tonight’s Silversun Pickups show. Opening is School of Seven Bells and Atlas Genius. $30, 8 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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Twin Shadow at The Waiting Room, Sept. 8, 2012.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Before I headed out to see Twin Shadow at The Waiting Room Saturday night, I sat out on the back patio of my Dundee/Memorial Park home and caught Dim Light’s set. No, Cooper and Co. weren’t playing in my back yard; they were playing miles away at Jake’s “Because We Can” outdoor festival in Benson, and never sounded better. While pure volume does wonders for these guys, I wonder how many fish floated to the top of Benson Park’s lagoon overcome by the sonic density of it all, a la circa 1971 Pink Floyd.

I don’t know who was playing Jake’s when I finally got to Benson a half-hour later, but they were just as loud; way louder than they needed to be to entertain the hundred or so milling about behind the chain-link fence at the edge of Military Ave., but not loud enough to seep through the thick walls of The Waiting Room, where Niki and the Dove were opening for Twin Shadow.

I knew virtually nothing about N&TD other than it was a duo (the name gave it away) and they played Euro-synth music direct from Stockholm. There on stage was Niki a.k.a. Malin Dahlström, sounding and looking like a Swedish Carol Kane singing Laura Branigan’s greatest hits. Her voice is sort of a nasal-inflected version of Stevie Nicks meets Kate Bush and is indeed lovely. The Dove is Gustaf Karlöf (how do you pronounce an umlaut?) the bearded ABBA-looking guy behind a rack of synths. While the music consisted mostly of prerecorded synth/rhythm samples, for a couple songs Gustaf pounded out beats on a small drum kit behind the keyboard rack, adding tasty Euro-tribal flair. Though clearly influence by ’80s synth-dance music, the duo were at their best when playing more intricate Eno-esque rhythms, closing out their set with a grand cascade that would have made Ms. Bush proud.

Smoke bellowed out of a fog machine for 10 minutes before Twin Shadow finally took the stage like a second coming of Prince, backed by his own 3-piece version of The Revolution. I’m not sure why I made that comparison, as Twin Shadow a.k.a. George Lewis, sounds nothing like the Purple One. TS’s recent 4AD release Confess is an homage to every ’80s and early ’90s New Wave dance project that you can think of, from General Public to Peter Gabriel. Even the album’s production cues sound purposely dated to fit the era.

But on stage, Twin Shadow was oddly modern-sounding, taking those ’80s-themed love songs and ramping them up with a more intricate, more intense approach; throttling back the synths and pumping up his electric guitar. The set was front-loaded with the best songs off Confess, including personal faves “Five Seconds” and “The One.” The crowd of somewhere around 150 grooved it up in front of the stage, doing the classic ’80s shoulder-shrug dance while George pounded out the chords on his guitar. There was a macho drama to everything he did, more intense than fun but fun nevertheless.

* * *

Unless you subscribe to Jeremy Messersmith’s various social media channels you’re probably unaware that the singer/songwriter who has played at Slowdown Jr. a couple times in the past (including opening for The Mynabirds and the debut of So-So Sailors) is playing a special “Supper Club” house show tomorrow night somewhere in Bellevue. Tickets to the intimate performance are still available from the tour website for $15. Don’t forget to bring a covered dish.

* * *

There’s a sweet review of FYF Fest in The Orange County Register declaring The Faint and Desaparecidos as highlights from the LA festival’s second day. From the review, which went online Sept. 3: “But three bands from Omaha – Cursive, the Faint and Conor Oberst’s recently reunited post-hardcore project Desaparecidos – also were on the  bill, and without a doubt the latter two ruled the day.” The write-up called The Faint’s set “a final dazzling pick-me-up after a hot and particularly dusty weekend,” and went on to declare Desa as Oberst’s best project. “While Oberst’s other projects (Bright Eyes, the Mystic Valley Band) have been hit-or-miss, there was no question – throughout 45 minutes of loudly intoxicating new and old tunes, including a thrilling cover of the Clash’s ‘Spanish Bombs’ – that this is his most affecting outfit.” Whoa! Read the whole thing here. One question that came to mind: No love for Cursive? Come on… By the way, though Desa’s brief tour is over and Conor is now headed out on some solo dates later this month, I’m hearing rumblings that we haven’t heard the last from them…

* * *

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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Did a little bit of bar-hopping last night in Benson. I started out early at The Barley Street for the debut of Killer Blow. The duo of Genie Molkentine on drums and vocals and Todd VonStup on electric guitar came on around 10 and played about 15-20 minutes of sweet guitar garage jams that recalled bands like Oblivians and Urinals. I’m not sure which songs were originals and which were covers because, well, I’m not the most well-schooled in classic garage/punk. Molkentine has a gritty riot grrrl snarl that’s dead-on for this style of music, as much yelp as growl. Plus she’s cute as a button and can play drums standing up while singing (though her drum set only consisted of a snare, tom and crash cymbal). Her drumming at times was kind of shaky, but give her a break — this was their first show. VonStup played guitar with his usual raunchy panache, and together they made a cute team. In fact, they’re married, which made it all that much cuter. Keep an eye on them…

After their set I high-tailed it over to The Sydney to catch Digital Leather. The Sydney crew cleared out the tables and chairs prior to opening to give the room more space, and in fact it felt like a punk show. I got there just in time to catch the last couple songs by (who I assume was) Video Ranger — fun punk that prominently featured trombone, which got me thinking about ska, which they weren’t playing (when I was there). Then on came Digital Leather playing a better-than-usual breakneck set of garage rock that got a few guys doing a circle mosh-step (Were the mosh-dance guys from Agent Orange? I don’t have a clue as I didn’t stick around for their set). It was one of the more high-energy DL gigs in recent memory. The only disappointment was that the set list didn’t vary much from the last time I saw them play (except for the inclusion of “Sponge,” which created a lull in the middle of the set). They’re sticking with the new stuff, which is fine, though I’d love to hear something off one of the earlier albums thrown in for fun. Come on, guys, it’s ’bout time you reintroduce “Please Be Quiet.”

* * *

Danse Macabre Deluxe Edition, The Faint (Saddle Creek, 2012)

Yesterday The Faint and Saddle Creek announced that they’re reissuing the 2001 classic Danse Macabre as a remastered and limited edition offering. According to the press release: “The remastered release, which features six bonus tracks from the era as well as an extensive booklet, will be available on CD in a triple-disc format with a DVD, and on double vinyl that also includes the CDs and DVD. Additionally, the DVD will include archival video footage from the band, live projection videos from that era’s tour dates, the ‘Agenda Suicide’ music video, some live footage, and more. Copies of the physical album will be limited to 5,000 for the 2xCD/DVD package and 3,000 for the 2xLP/2xCD/DVD package.”

Street date is Oct. 30. The band also announced a tour to support the release starting November 8 in Denver that will find the group performing Danse Macabre in its entirety for the first time ever, along with the usual set of old favorites. The tour ends with a show at Sokol Auditorium Dec. 14 with upstarts Icky Blossoms opening. In fact, IB will be tagging along for 14 dates on this tour. I can’t think of a better way to introduce the band to the world.

Some thoughts on Danse Macabre on its 10th anniversary. And check out the remastered “Take Me to the Hospital” right here. You can pre-order the album right here at the Saddle Creek online store.

* * *

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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

The Faint at The Slowdown, Aug. 18, 2012.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

What to say about The Faint’s performance last Saturday at The Slowdown other than “same as it ever was”?

Team Faint came on around 11 dressed in normal street clothes — a contrast to the old days when they wore dramatic all-black stagewear. Yes, they’ve given up on the costumes, unless you count Todd Fink’s droopy fishing hat (a tribute to Jack Klugman?) and funky, onesie-style jumpsuit complete with exo fabric wrap around his left knee, which was either a fashion statement or a therapeutic device (I tend to think it was the latter).

Top of mind (at least to me) was how they would sound without Faint ex-pat Joel Petersen on bass. I doubt any of the bouncing sold-out crowd that turned the Slowdown’s dance floor into a giant trampoline noticed a difference. Saturday night Dapose handled bass most of the time when a bass was needed, though Todd strapped on a bass for one song (see above action photo). The Faint use a lot of low-end programmed synth parts, so there’s never a loss for any bottom regardless of a bass being on stage.

Overall, if there was a difference soundwise to this new four-piece version of The Faint it was subtle. There were points where the music sounded slightly less dense. And as a whole, the set was less overwhelming than, say, when The Faint played at The Waiting Room and the low end was so excruciating that every organ in my body turned to guava jelly. I did not feel my organs vibrate with bass Saturday night, but that may have more to do with The Slowdown’s acoustics and/or the sound guy rather than what was happening on stage.

Like I said, most fans won’t notice a difference other than seeing one less person on stage bouncing around like a coke-addled marionette. The Faint sound like The Faint, and that’s what matters. They played all the “hits” from their past albums, i.e., what people came to hear. But unless my Faint knowledge is flawed (and considering that I don’t have an encyclopedic knowledge of all their recordings, it very likely is) they launched their set Saturday night with a new song (“An Unseen Hand”?) that swayed oh so slightly from their typical sound to something more “Manchester-ish” in its rhythm and style. View a bootleg vid of the new song here on YouTube. Very promising.

They closed with a three-song encore of “Glass Danse,” “Victim Convenience” and, of course, “Agenda Suicide.” The crowd wanted more. No doubt many returned Sunday night to catch them again. If there’s a criticism of Saturday night’s show it was that the band seemed more stripped down, less “theatric,” and as a result, less sinister. At their best, there is a darkness to The Faint, a layer of dread that adds depth to everything they do. Hopefully, as they move forward, that dread will return.

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What is the opposite of dread? Why Andrew Bird, of course. And tonight Mr. Bird takes the stage at The Holland Performing Arts Center with Bloodshot/ANTI- artist Kelly Hogan. Tickets are still available for the 8 p.m. show for $33 at Ticket Omaha

.

Also tonight, Red City Radio (Oklahoma City, Paper + Plastick) plays at Slowdown Jr. with Dummy Head Torpedo, Arliss Nancy, and Divided Heaven. $8, 9 p.m.

Red City Radio, “Two for Flinching”

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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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

There will be more details on Maha and its future in this week’s column. That said, here are some of my initial thoughts:

— Set up in Stinson Park involved construction of a massive second stage next to the Stinson’s permanent stage structure. I was told this was needed because of Garbage’s staging requirements. Though I’m sure it cost a fortune to erect this second “main” stage, the effect was to give the local bands a terrific second stage to play on. The set-up was hands down an improvement over last year’s second stage sitch (and much better than the Lewis & Clark Landing rinky-dink second stage from years 1 & 2). It just elevated the local bands to another more-professional level for folks who have no idea who they are. The only downside: It sounded like one of the amps/speakers was blown in the second stage’s left stack, causing some annoying crackling.

— Food options were adequate, though they could have used a second pizza vendor judging by the snaking line outside the pizza table throughout the day. Bottom line: Given a choice, most people will pick pizza every time.

— I didn’t show up until Josh Rouse. I would have liked to have seen Conduits and Eli Mardock but they were too early in the day, and I didn’t care about Frontier Ruckus or the other early-day bands. I continue to have zero interest in rural-flavored Americana/roots music. That applies to Delta Spirit, though I see them more as a throwback to leather pants ’70s freedom rock. Not my cup of tea, but I have to hand it to them for playing a good set.

— Favorite performances: Dum Dum Girls and Icky Blossoms. Lining up DDG was a coup for Maha — a fantastic band that plays modern rock music; a band that any festival would be lucky to have. Icky Blossoms will be remembered as having one of the most talked about performances of the festival — a full-on frontal dance attack played to a crowd itching to groove. Let’s see if they can make it translate outside of Omaha.

— A solid band with a national rep, Garbage still seems like an odd choice for this festival, though they were probably responsible for selling most of the tickets. In a bill that consisted mostly of indie bands, Garbage has been on Warners or Geffen up ’til their latest (and weakest) release, which came out this year on V2 (owned by Universal). Garbage is more of an alternative rock act than an indie band, and in some ways, a departure for Maha. Did it pay off? We’ll have to wait and see what the numbers say. In some ways, it only confused matters regarding what Maha is supposed to be about. Is it an indie music festival? An alternative rock festival? That said, they played a solid set that laid heavily on their radio-friendly, formulaic back catalog.

— The rain sucked. It’s hard to complain about it since we haven’t had much rain over the past summer. Throughout the last half of the day it rained just enough to annoy, eventually driving people to nearby tents only to stop after a few minutes before starting up again. But whaddyagonna do?

— I would say about a quarter or more of the crowd left before Desaparecidos began playing. Conor and Co. never sounded better as they pushed the festival’s midnight deadline. I could hear the roar of their guitars as I took off early, hightailing it back home on my bike while there was a break in the rain on the radar.

Now here’re some shitty photos taken with my iPhone. Looks like I’ll be getting that iPhone 5 when it comes along because these days my camera makes everything look like it’s covered in a London fog.

UUVVWWZ moments before they started their set. The Lincoln band was the quirkiest, arty-est band of the day. Either you were into it or you weren’t. I for one can’t wait to hear their new album.

One of the highlight performance at this year’s festival was the Dum Dum Girls. Red hot!

Maha Festival 2012 crowd mid-festival, taken from on top of the northwest hill with cars zooming by on Center Street behind me.

Mynabirds at Maha Festival 2012.

Icky Blossoms bask in a dance glow emitted from the Maha crowd.

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Garbage at Maha Music Festival 2012. Smudge on the far right is Shirley Manson. Honest.

No shots of Desaparecidos as everything looked like a blur in the night stage lighting. For whatever reason, no direct spotlights were used on either stage.

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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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Oh my achin’ head… It’s going to be one of THOSE weekends — a show every night… and day.

Before we get to that, even without a bass player Peace of Shit lived up to its name last night in front of a pizza-farting crowd at O’Leaver’s. The free grub was both a play on words (Pizza Shit… get it!) and a donation from a band member who works at Godfathers. All night I watched the lettuce slowly wilt on a half-eaten taco pizza that sat with its grease melting in a half-open pizza box, the cardboard slowly turning brown to black like an old diaper. Pizza shit indeed. Next time bring some friggin’ Cinnamon Monkey Bread, pizza boy.

I missed opener Watching the Train Wreck as I was home watching the train wreck that is the U.S. Olympic diving team. Traveling band Oakland’s Bonnie & the BANG BANG (an ill fit on a bill of garage music) played a set of adult contemporary indie that would have been right at home at P.S. Collective rather than O’Leaver’s, where it went mostly unnoticed by a crowd that sat outside smoking in the beer garden waiting for them to get done. POS came on at around midnight as a trio without a bass player, which was missed but not a deal breaker as the rest of the band stepped up and nailed the landing with little or no splash (That’s a diving reference for you unpatriotic sports haters, btw). I like this band and stand by yesterday’s statement that they would have made a fine addition to the Maha Festival though that will never happen as their trashy looks resemble a group police mug shot featuring Randy Travis

, Nick Nolte and Mr. Peabody. I spent the morning listening to their new cassette Business as Usual (Rainy Road, 2012) at work and getting the usual squinty, annoyed looks by people passing my veal fattening pen, a sure sign that you should seek out this tape and purchase it immediate and then play it as loudly as possible in your ’98 Trans Am (That’s a Randy Travis reference for all you unpatriotic sports haters, btw).

Tonight we do it all over again, but this time at The Barley Street Tavern where a cast of O’Leaver’s All Stars takes Barley’s hippie-fied stage. Headlining the sleazy brigade is Digital Leather who are about to embark on a mini tour of the Pacific Northwest. I don’t know if they’re the best band in Omaha but they’re my favorite. Not that it matters. Opening is New Lungs (DMax, straight from last night’s Little Brazil 400 Bar gig w/Desa) and The Fucking Party. Expect a higher-than-normal number of cop cars cruising the streets of Benson triggered by the influx of the degenerate O’Leaver’s crowd. $5, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, The Casualties play at The Sandbox with a handful of punk bands including the always dashing Cordial Spew. $15, 8 p.m., more details here

.

Then comes Maha.

The full lineup and all the particulars about this 4th annual event are available at mahamusicfestival.com.

If you’re still looking to buy tickets, a friend of mine forwarded me this offer from Daily Mav

that takes $10 off per ticket. It expires at midnight tonight. Keep your eyes peeled for other offers, or quit being a cheap-ass and just buy your tix at the Maha website (Tix will be $40 each at the gate, so better get them now).

So when you going to get there? Here’s the stage schedule:

12:10 — The Seen
12:45 — Conduits
1:30 — Eli Mardock
2:05 — Frontier Ruckus
2:55 — Universe Contest
3:30 — Josh Rouse
4:35 — UUVVWWZ
5:10 — Dum Dum Girls
6:15 — The Mynabirds
7:00 — Delta Spirit
8:10 — Icky Blossoms
9:10 — Garbage
10:40 — Desparecidos
Show ends at Midnight

Maha keeps boasting that there will be lots of parking, and I’m sure they’re right. Regardless, if you live within biking distance (as I do) I recommend pedaling it over there. Omaha Bikes is suppose to have a bike corral set up over by the Aspen Athletic Club. Check out the map at the Maha website. This should be a blast.

* * *

Your weekend ends Sunday back at The Barley Street Tavern for Capgun Coup along with Candywhompus and the always entertaining Worried Mothers. $5, 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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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Simon Joyner & The Ghosts at The Sydney, Aug. 3, 2012.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

You wouldn’t know by attending Friday night’s show at The Sydney that Simon Joyner’s new album, Ghosts, consists mainly of down-tempo numbers. That’s because Joyner wisely only played the most uptempo stuff off the double LP during his set. Tunes like rousing drunk ballad “When the Worst Doesn’t Happen,” playful death nod “If I Left Tomorrow” and acid shot album opener “Vertigo.”

The seven-member drone-folk orchestra kept the vibe in a noisy haze throughout the night, filling every inch of dense space with waves of feedback, pedal steel, violin and cello, with two percussionists keeping beat for the tribe. Joyner did slip in one of the album’s most distorted, dissonant and disturbing tunes, the 6-plus minute noise ballet called “Answering Machine Blues” a dark, foreboding nightmare reminiscent of hours spent playing records backwards listening for hidden messages in the grooves. He closed the set with a rarity — “Tums” off the ’93 album Iffy, a tune that’s screaming to be rerecorded with this full band. As a whole, it was a very satisfying night spent listening to a dark orchestra play dark balladry in the dark. What more do you want?

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Tonight Jack White of the White Stripes plays at The Music Hall. I’m one of only a handful of people in the entire world who never “got” Jack White, always found his guitar work derivative and never much cared for his voice. But I can’t fault those who are into the guy, who by everything I’ve read, has done a lot for the garage scene. This one has been sold out for a long time.

Also tonight, nerd-core messiahs Harry and the Potters play at Slowdown Jr. with Potter Puppet Pals. Early 8 p.m. show, $10.

Finally, Trampled by Turtles is playing at The Waiting Room. I have never heard a single song by this band, whose music is described as “bluegrass.” Opening is Joe Pug. $18, 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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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Fear of Ghosts at The Waiting Room, July 20, 2012.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Among the discussion topics outside of The Waiting Room Friday night where R.E.M.odeled and Fear of Ghosts performed: What’s the difference between a tribute band and a cover band?

According to our old friend Wikipedia, “The main way in which a tribute band differs from a cover band that simply plays songs by other artists, is that it strives to capture every nuance of the imitated artist’s actions and appearance for a perfect imitation.” That sums it up for me as well. To me, a tribute band tries to personify the band whose music they’re playing. A cover band merely plays the bands’ songs.

The two bands that played Friday night meet in the gray area between those definitions. There was no attempt to “impersonate” the bands as much as simply relish in their respective catalogs.  So when R.E.M.odeled’s Jeff Bell, playing the role of Michael Stipe, came out with an acoustic guitar, the initial reaction was “Hmm. I don’t remember Michael Stipe playing a guitar.” That’s because he didn’t. Does it matter? I guess it would to the hardcore fan that expected “tribute” treatment, but to the rest of us, not really.

What did matter was that Bell sung like Stipe, which he did very well. As a whole, the band did a good job playing tunes off R.E.M.’s Murmur

and Chronic Town albums. It was fun. As was Fear of Ghosts, who were playing songs by The Cure. Braden Rapp did a respectable Robert Smith impersonation, right down to his black fright wig. And the crowd of between 100 and 200 loved it. And that’s all that matters. I could quibble at great lengths about both performances, but what would be the point? In the end, it was a fun night of covers by two bands with great respect for the bands that they were honoring.

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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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Digital Leather at O'Leaver's, July 14, 2012.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The next time you’re feeling the heat for something you’ve done or are sweating a decision you’re about to make, remember this one all-important thing:

No matter what you do or what you say, you’ll always be welcome at O’Leaver’s.

And I’ll leave that for you to decipher.

It was a classic red hot summer night this past Saturday at O’Leaver’s. I walked in about halfway through Worried Mothers’ strong set of sweaty, angsty, dissonant punk. I have no idea who or what this band is other than they are very good, very out there and very in your face. So in your face that the frontman went after someone in the audience during the set closer, both of them tumbling to the floor in a torrid embrace, before he stripped off his clothes Full-Monty style. Which gets me wondering — why are big guys like him and Darren Keen (who, btw, recently lost weight) able to strip on stage without anyone thinking twice about it, whereas if a buff guy stripped it would send a completely different, egotistical message? Let alone a woman. A woman would never go Full Monty

at a punk show. Certainly not at a punk show at O’Leaver’s.

Anyway…

Minneapolis band Serenghetto was next — loud, fast punk unafraid of a good, meaty riff. Dueling male/female vocals took it to the next level. Angry. Abrasive.

Finally on came Digital Leather, playing a fast, tight set that included a few new songs. In fact, I’ve seen these guys well over a dozen times and I’ve never heard them play these songs this fast. And while playing that fast naturally amps up the energy level in the club, subtle nuances can get lost, especially on songs like “Your Hand, My Glove,” or even set closer “Deliver Deliver Deliver.” Ah, but I’m merely picking nits now. Digital Leather continues to be my favorite local act and one that could be huge if they ever get “discovered” (and they will, eventually, whether they want to be or not).

I found out at the show that Digital Leather has a new cassette tape coming out on Southpaw Records. Titled Yes Please Thank You, the ship date is this Wednesday. You can pre-order your copy here for a mere $5 plus postage. Check out “Mountains Are Dreaming,” from the new release, below:

While clicking around looking for that cassette, I also discovered that DL has a new single, “Assault,” out on Floridas Dying, which you can order here. Get them both while you can.

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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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.