Ra Ra Riot at The Waiting Room Oct. 8, 2010.

Column 292: Rock of Ages

Live reviews of Ra Ra Riot, The Sons of…

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I’ve never bought into the whole idea that age has anything to do with enjoying rock music, and I still don’t, but the question did come up this past weekend.

I waded into the crowd of suburban youth at The Waiting Room Friday night too late to see either of the opening bands, thanks to the Yankees. I considered skipping the show altogether because it was already 11, but I was on the list and I figured why not? While I’d heard of Ra Ra Riot — the headliner — they’d always slipped under my radar. I knew that they’d been in the College Music Journal top-20 shortly after their Barsuk release hit the streets. I’d read their description at allmusic.com, where their style was described as “chamber pop,” probably because the band employs a violinist and cello player, both young women.

Upon entering the club, there they were like a pair of gorgeous bookends standing on opposite sides of the crowded stage, divided by RRR’s shaggy frontman who leaned forward on the microphone in front of a mob scene down below. The show wasn’t a sell out, but it was handsomely attended, again by more women than men — a trend that’s becoming familiar for indie shows these days.

So I stood back by the soundboard with my Rolling Rock and tried to lock in, but couldn’t. Other than those strings, the six-piece didn’t sound much different than any of the crop of hot indie pop bands currently burning up the CMJ charts — Vampire Weekend, Tokyo Police Club, Yeasayer, even Local Natives, a band who played a sold-out show at TWR a week earlier.

Outside the venue on the sidewalk along Maple Street a fan tried to convince me that Ra Ra Riot was different than all those other bands, that there was something special in their melodies that set them apart from the herd. I listened quietly, and then told him that as much as I respected his opinion, he was wrong. I said RRR was just another kick-drum-fueled open-chord pop act trying to skirt the border between indie rock and dorm-room dance music, and while that was all perfectly fine, nothing stood out about the band’s music, no lyric or melody was memorable, and that I was getting tired of hearing the same old song that I’d been hearing by all these bands for the past two years.

And then the question came up: Was I turning into one of those “back in my day” old guys who couldn’t get with the latest sound?

In my dismay, I mentioned this to one of the 20-something regulars at O’Leaver’s the following night. “Yes, you’re getting old,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean that Ra Ra Riot doesn’t suck.” He then went on to admonish me for not having been at The 49’r the night before to hear the band I was about to hear.

O’Leaver’s is a tiny club compared to TWR, and when it’s packed, it feels even tinier. Saturday night the drunken throng pushed out the door into the concrete beer garden, there to see the reunion of The Sons of O’Leaver’s (the night before, they were The Sons of The 49’r), a local band that made its mark in the early part of the last decade. The band features some of the city’s most notable musicians: Frontman Kelly Maxwell and drummer Mike Loftus, who had been in 60-Watt Saloon, Shovelhead, and Hong Hyn Corp, which is a band that included guitarist/vocalist Matt Rutledge, who had been in Compost, Miss Lonely Hearts, Holiday and The Great Dismal, which is a band that included bass player Mike Tulis, who is known for his work in Full Blown, The Monroes and The Third Men.

In other words, The Sons of… is a veterans’ club made that much more venerable that night by the addition of Omaha expatriate Mike Jaworski (Hello from Waveland, The Cops), who was in town from Seattle.  Dressed to the nines in formal suits and ties, the band took to the area that O’Leaver’s calls a stage and ripped through an hour of gritty rock that bordered on punk. It was just what I had been thirsting for after the past few weeks of indie rock pabulum. I could have listened to it all night.

But didn’t this underscore the whole “old guy” argument? The Sons of… music clearly is a reflection of a by-gone era — a sort of homage to ’90s “college rock” (the phrase used before the term “indie” came into vogue) played by a bunch of guys in their 30s.

I stood back by the sound board with my Rolling Rock and looked over a crowd that was as locked in as I was — a crowd whose age spanned from 21 to 50+. After the smoke cleared, Little Brazil took the stage, a band as modern as any you’ll likely hear on Sirius XMU, but with a sound not that far removed from the band I just heard.

And I realized that I knew the answer. Some new stuff will never jive with me. On the other hand, I’ve been digging the new CDs by Pete Yorn, Land of Talk and Deerhunter. While Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and Ke$ha will always be greasy kids stuff. Rock music isn’t always universal; it doesn’t always span the ages, but in the end, the only person who can tell you if you’re too old to listen to it is you.

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Guster at Slowdown, Oct. 12, 2010.

I didn’t see many familiar faces last night at Slowdown for Guster. And I didn’t expect to, either. Regardless, the show sold out, and the big room was filled with hard-core Guster fans who sang along with the band throughout the evening. Performing as a five-piece, Guster’s usual trio had a second drummer and a second guitarist in tow. Overall, they sounded very good playing a broad selection of songs from all their albums, and making note whenever they played a new one. I know frontman Ryan Miller thinks their new record is a bold, new direction, but the songs fit into the rest of the Guster canon seamlessly, and could have come off any of the older records. Miller had good between-song shtick, talking directly to a few members of the crowd, including one poor person who said they saw him at dinner. His response: “I took a really good sh** today, too.” Hopefully, the poor patron wasn’t around for that.

In the end, it was a somewhat flat set by a band with lots of catchy songs that tend to blend into each other after an hour, which was when I reached my threshold. They seemed to be doing the set “by the numbers,” walking through the songs as if they’d been on the road for six months straight instead of just a few weeks — a general lack of enthusiasm from a band that’s been playing the same style of music for nearly 20 years. The performance, specifically from Miller, looked more like a chore than a spectacle.

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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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I have not forgotten you, dear readers. I simply have been… pressed for time. Tomorrow you’ll get a review of last weekend’s shows (in column form). But for now, a reminder that Guster is tonight at Slowdown, and tickets are still available for $30.50 at the door. Opening is Eli “Paperboy” Reed & The True Loves. The show starts at 8 p.m.

Also tonight, The Felice Bros. come to The Waiting Room with Adam Haworth Stephens (of Two Gallants), and the debut of Con Dios, the new indie supergroup featuring Matt Maginn of Cursive, Dan McCarthy of McCarthy Trenching and two more local heroes. $12, 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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Beauty In the Beast at The Waiting Room, Oct. 7, 2010.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The marquee outside The Waiting Room last night said “Eagle Seagull,” but everyone knew better. Maybe it was a marketing ploy. After all, why would anyone know who Beauty In the Beast is, especially seeing as the gig was their stage debut? Regardless, the ruse didn’t work and fewer than 50 people showed up — maybe the Huskers had something to do with the low turnout, or maybe the time is right to stick a fork in E*S…

First up was A Lull, a Chicago five-piece with two primary drummers but where everyone had some piece of percussion equipment to bang on. As you’d expect, the music was all very rthymic, almost tribal, with a guitarist adding distinctively Fripp-ian touches (no chords) while another guitarist sang in a dry, tonal sort of way. When it wasn’t droning it did remind me of latter-day King Crimson, and when all five members were pounding out rhythms, it became a celebration.

Our old friends Cowboy Indian Bear were next, doing their usual thing with the usual panache. It was suggested that the Lawrence band might be over-playing Omaha since they seem to perform almost weekly. Overexposure is never a good thing, but then again, people can’t seem to get enough of CIB.

Then came the debut of Beauty in the Beast — a three-piece featuring Eli Mardock and Carrie Butler, both formerly with Eagle*Seagull, and drummer Andrew Tyler. Mardock played acoustic and electric guitar and bass, switching between the three from song to song, while Butler played synths, and both handled vocals, though Mardock is still clearly the group’s “frontman.” The seven-song set started with an acoustic-powered ballad reminiscent of The Church, while the second song sounded very E*S; then Mardock switched to electric and things began to take off.

Unlike their recordings on their Facebook page, Mardock still has his warble-y, Bowie-esque affectation on stage though it’s much less pronounced on music that is more laid-back, more swinging (in a midnight sort of way) than E*S. I guess the word I’m looking for is “groovy.” Butler took over the lead vocals on the third song, and while her voice is pretty, it’s still not quite strong enough for the stage — that’ll improve over time. She was at her best when she shared vocals with Mardock in tight harmony. On the whole, Beauty’s arrangements are simpler and more straight-forward than E*S’ over-the-top dance explosions, with Tyler stripping the percussion to its bare essentials.

They closed with an upbeat New Wave number featuring Butler’s Gary Numan synths, while the seventh and last song featured Butler (on bass) and Mardock (on electric guitar) playing over a ghostly looped synth march that made for a dramatic Ennio Morricone moment.

As a whole, the set was mesmerizing, modern, and somehow strangely stylish. Beauty… is a big step forward for Mardock and Butler, and a step away from a what-could-have-been past that now seems very old-fashioned. That said, I’m skeptical how well this more contemporary sound will translate to traditional Eagle*Seagull fans, not that it matters…

* * *

Time to plan your weekend…

Tonight at The Waiting Room it’s Syracuse indie pop band Ra Ra Riot (Barsuk). File their music under the same college category as Tokyo Police Club, Vampire Weekend, SSLYBS, the usual suspects. Joining them are Chikita Violenta and We Barbarians. $15, 9 p.m.

Tonight also is the first of a two-night reunion of local heroes The Sons of

… Tonight it’s the Sons of The 49’r at, well, The 49’r of course. Joining them are our old friends The Filter Kings. It’s probably $5, and probably starts at 9 p.m. Then tomorrow night, the band magically transforms into The Sons of O’Leaver’s (featuring Mike Jaworski of Cops, Hong Gyn Corp., Hello from Waveland), with special guests Little Brazil. This one will be packed. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Back to tonight’s action… Bear Country and Thunder Power are playing at Stir Lounge in C.B. $5, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, there’s a last-minute show (replacing the canceled Justin Townes Earle show) at Slowdown Jr. featuring Strand Of Oaks, McCarthy Trenching, and Fortnight. 9 p.m. and absolutely free.

Tomorrow night (Saturday) in addition to that gigantic O’Leaver’s show, Rock Paper Dynamite is headlining a gig at The Waiting Room with High Art and SFS. $7, 9 p.m.

Down at Slowdown Jr. Saturday Yep Roc band Jukebox the Ghost is headlining a show with Hooray for Earth and AB & The Sea. $10, 9 p.m.

Finally, Sunday night, seminal ’90s alt-metal band Helmet comes to The Waiting Room with Intronaut & Goes Cube. $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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Column 291: These Uncynical Days

Guster’s Ryan Miller has hope for the future of music…

More with Guster’s Ryan Miller that didn’t fit into the feature story, which was posted yesterday, here, and which you should read before you read this. Go ahead, we’ll wait for you…

You’re back? Good. I should point out that I have some familiarity with Miller and Guster. I interviewed him way back in December 1999 in the band’s tour bus before a concert at the long, lost Ranch Bowl. Miller was a whirling dervish, jumping around the bus looking for a lost Wheat CD (you remember Wheat, right?) having just done an in-station performance at KCTY The City, an Omaha FM radio station that, in its day, was sort of ground breaking in that it had no real format, no play list. The DJ’s played whatever they wanted to, and Miller couldn’t believe it.

The KCTY experiment didn’t last very long, and the whole idea of a broadcast radio station that isn’t nationally programmed seems impossible now. Which brings us to the present and Mlller’s take on current-day radio. He and the band have just spent the past two weeks touring radio stations “educating radio programmers about their single,” he said. It didn’t seem much different than back in ’99, when Miller told me one of Guster’s main goals was to break through to mainstream radio. “We like our record label and we’re waiting for our shot,” Miller said proudly, almost defiantly way back then. “We feel we’re a commercial band, that we’re real and we’ve been doing this for a long time. I say congratulations to the Goo Goo Dolls, Sugar Ray and Matchbox 20. They’ve broken through.”

Now 11 years later, Guster still hasn’t broken through, though that goal remains in their sights, sort of. “It’s not thee goal,” Miller said last Saturday. “It’s a goal. We had an opportunity when (our contract with) Warner Bros was up after Ganging Up on the Sun (released in 2006). It was a moment when we said, ‘What should we do? Should we release the next one in-house on our own record label?’ We decided to give the major label thing one more shot.”

In some ways, Guster was bucking the trend when they signed with Universal instead of going indie. Miller said the band had watched how Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails did their successful pay-what-you-want self releases, and realized it wouldn’t work for them. That model “only works for bands that are already hugely established,” Miller said. “For us, it’s really helpful to have the machinery behind us, especially people who understand what we’re doing. Without it, we wouldn’t have been able to make the video for ‘Do You Love Me?'”

That video, a stop-action piece that shows the band performing dressed in long underwear while white-hooded (Klannish?) drones decorate the stage (and the band) with paint, was picked as iTunes “video of the week,” an honor that drummer Brian Rosenworcel called in a Gloucester Times article “The biggest news that ever happened in our band’s history.” Wow.

Miller said the video and its exposure is something they wouldn’t have had without the label backing. Still, he’s well aware that there are a lot of bands that are “breaking through” on indie labels.

“I’m not cynical about it anymore,” Miller said. “It’s an amazing time to be a musician. There are so many great records coming out, I download four or five every week and some are so uncommercial. What’s happening with the whole democratization of music is so inspiring, though it’s harder than hell to break into the monoculture.”

Which made me scratch my head and wonder how any band does it. Last week’s sold out Local Natives show at The Waiting Room is a prime example. Hundreds of fans were grouped around the stage singing along to songs that have never been heard on Omaha airwaves outside of small, 2-hour boutique radio shows like 89.7 The River’s stylish New Day Rising show (Sunday’s at 9). If that’s the only outlet, is radio important any more?

“I keep asking myself that same question,” Miller said. “It’s still hanging in there. I live in Brooklyn and never listen to the radio. I listen to (Seattle public radio station) KEXP on my iPhone, which plays a lot of music that I like. We still see popular bands on the radio, so we’re still willing to give it a couple weeks of our lives.”

Miller said these days publications like Pitchfork are acting as tent poles for new bands. “It kind of started with Broken Social Scene,” he said. “That band came out of nowhere and got a 9.2 rating (for 2002’s You Forgot It In People). A great review in Pitchfork can get you to sell-out 400-person venues in 15 cities, and that gets you your shot. If you’re shitty, it all goes away.”

Miller said that’s what helped break Local Natives. “All these bands — indie or blog bands — it helps them crawl up and crawl out of this Internet-only thing and become part of the culture. Today it’s Local Natives. It was Fleet Foxes before that and Vampire Weekend before that. And now Arcade Fire has the No. 1 record in the country. That band didn’t get played on the radio. That’s why I’m so uncynical about the whole thing. All of those bands are great fucking bands and they don’t sound like anything else. It’s all happening based on merit more than anything.”

* * *

It can now be said that Eagle Seagull is no more, just as their best album, The Year of the How-To Book

, has finally been released (You can find it on iTunes; I have no idea if it was physically released in the U.S.). Its availability marks the end of years of speculation if it would ever see the light of day. We all heard the Starbucks story (though I’ve never seen it documented) and assumed that after that debacle someone would pick it up. If the waiting seemed like forever for Eagle Seagull fans (the album was recorded in May 2007), it must have been an eternity for the band. When it was announced this spring that [PIAS] was releasing it outside of the U.S., the long nightmare appeared to be over. But it wasn’t. And now, eight months after that, the record is out but the band is no more.

And maybe it’s for the best. Because I just spent the last seven minutes listening to “Theologians Tell Me,” one of the demos available from Beauty in the Beast’s Facebook page, and am now listening to it again. Drenched in delay, frontman Eli Mardock sounds like early Anton Newcombe (Brian Jonestown Massacre) belting out a sinister baroque ballad in 3/4 time, complete with a two-minute instrumental interlude. Carrie Butler does a sly, graceful vocal on synth-fueled popper “If You’re With Me, You’re Against Me.” And while “King of the Crickets” is soft and dreamy (or spacey), there are touches in the effects-laden harmonies that will remind you of Eagle Seagull — but those few moments will be the only ones that do. Rounded out by veteran Lincoln drummer Andrew Tyler (Indigenous), you can catch the trio tonight at The Waiting Room and decide for yourself if Eagle Seagull’s passing is an occasion to mourn or celebrate. I’m leaning toward the latter.

A final little post script on all this: Eagle Seagull will go down as one of the most controversial bands in Nebraska history. They were hated as much as they were loved. For a number of years they were the biggest band from Lincoln and everyone thought they were poised to break through. But it never happened. My only regret is that I never got a chance to see them perform “Twenty Thousand Light Years” on Letterman. That would have been a gas.

Playing with Beauty in the Beast is Lawrence band Cowboy Indian Bear, who has become a local favorite thanks to their almost monthly treks to Omaha. Also on the bill, Chicago avant-pop band A Lull, whose rhythm-heavy style comes by way of no less than three percussionists. The Village Voice compared them to Blitzen Trapper, Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear — talk about your ultra-hip trifectas. $7, 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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Guster 2010

Guster: Better with Age

After two decades, Boston’s favorite pop band is still going strong.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

One of the best things about listening to a just-released Guster album for the first time: The comfort in knowing that you’re about to hear something that’s familiar, but at the same time, new and different. In other words, Guster never lets you down.

From the time the band formed in 1991 to when it released its first hit pop album on a major label with 1999’s Lost and Gone Forever, through its two successful follow-ups (Keep It Together in 2003 and Ganging Up on the

Sun in ’06), and onto their latest, Easy Wonderful, released this past Tuesday on Universal Republic, the band has consistently given its fans what they want — warm, tuneful, mature rock songs with strong central melodies and sing-along choruses.

Guster frontman Ryan Miller points to that consistency as one of the reasons why the band, which includes Brian Rosenworcel on drums and Adam Gardner on guitar and vocals, has managed to keep it together for nearly 20 years.

“Our first producer, Mike Denneen, said you’re so lucky that you’re a pop band. Pop music doesn’t go out of style,” said Miller after a soundcheck in Charlotte, North Carolina, this past Saturday.

On the other hand, Miller said he’s sometimes frustrated that Guster is not considered a “cool, contemporary band.”

“It would be nice to get reviewed in Pitchfork or get invited to Coachella or be profiled in Brooklyn Vegan or get to collaborate with Dirty Projectors,” he said. “But there was a moment when this record was being made where I realized it doesn’t sound like what most bands sound like right now, and that’s something I’m really proud of. In general, our music ages a little better.”

Better than, say, the latest by indie phenoms Sleigh Bells, which Miller said “is amazing. I know it will be played in every loft in Bushwick, but that stuff will sound so 2010 forever. That’s what it is, and it’s not a knock on them. It’s really contemporary, and I’d love to make a contemporary album. Radiohead felt contemporary, too, and their records don’t sound dated.

“I love these bands. I’ve seen Dirty Projectors seven times in three years, and I know that band doesn’t give a shit about me, but maybe they could. It’s frustrating, but our goal has always been to make a great pop record that transcends genre and is still contemporary.”

Guster, Easy Wonderful (Universal Republic)

While it’s true that you won’t classify Easy Wonderful alongside the latest by Best Coast or Animal Collective or Deerhunter, there is something contemporary about the album, at least in Guster terms. Opening track “Architects & Engineers” sports that classic Guster swing, the great harmonies, the shout-out chorus, but also sounds like a fresh direction. The first single, “Do You Love Me,” starts with hand claps and bursts with church bells. While dance track (yes, dance track) “This is How It Feels To Have a Broken Heart,” glides on a ’70s-flavored counter melody and a disco beat.

All right, maybe it isn’t contemporary in an indie music sense, but really, don’t we all need a break from the usual art projects every once in a while? Guster may not be redefining pop music, but that doesn’t mean their music isn’t good or relevant, and Easy Wonderful is arguably their best record in a decade. Will Dirty Projectors be able to say that about whatever record it releases 10 years from now (if they still exist)?

Ironically, the making of Easy Wonderful almost ended Guster. Miller said the band has spent the last four years since the release of Ganging Up on the Sun touring (for two years), having kids (Miller has two children, while Gardner has his second on the way) and writing the new album. It wasn’t until they found themselves in a New York studio with producer David Kahne (The Strokes, Sugar Ray, Regina Spektor) that the wheels began to fall off the wagon.

“It wasn’t a good mesh,” Miller said. “We didn’t see eye-to-eye (with Kahne) and didn’t have our eyes on the same prize. We couldn’t make it work. And while a lot of what was great about the record we did with Kahne, (he) wasn’t a great choice for us. He threw us for a loop.”

Miller said the experience left the band “emotionally battered.”

“After our first session (with Kahne) it was the darkest point where we really thought the concept wasn’t great and we weren’t communicating that well,” Miller said. “The process did a number on our confidence, and we didn’t know how to approach music again. We didn’t know what we wanted to do. There was a week where nothing was moving, and that was the first time that’s happened in 20 years.”

The band required a “hard reset,” Miller said. “The first conversation I had with Brian, we both said we want to be in this band. We built it up from there. After that, things were so good and so happy and so appreciative.” The band recamped at then-Guster member Joe Pisapia’s studio in Nashville for sessions that Miller said were “magical.”

“We had a lot of great ideas that came in big chunks,” he said. “It was our most creative moment, coming out of those depths.

“We needed that hard reset,” he added. “It’s an unnatural idea to have three dudes be in this band for  20 years after we met. We’re all growing, and we’re all alpha dudes. If you don’t recalibrate, if you don’t break and reset the bones, you’re not all going to grow in the same direction.”

Guster plays with Eli “Paperboy” Reed & The True Loves Tuesday, Oct. 12, at Slowdown, 729 No. 14th St. Showtime is 8 p.m. Admission is $25.50 adv.; $30.50 DOS. For more information, call 402.345.7569 or visit theslowdown.com.

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Tomorrow, Guster Pt. 2, where Ryan Miller talks about radio’s relevance (or lack thereof)…

* * *

Poison Control Center might as well just move to Omaha. Seems like they play hear every couple of months, so often that people are beginning to think they’re an Omaha band (uh-oh). They’re back and completely untethered tonight at O’Leaver’s (expect some gnarly high kicks and somersaults) along with singer/songwriter genius Kyle Harvey and La Casa Bombas. $5, 9:30 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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Tim Kasher’s solo outing, The Game of Monogamy, dropped today on Saddle Creek Records. The album just got reviewed in Pitchfork, which gave the disc a slightly better than mediocre rating of 6.6 (out of 10). The writer seemed to like it, though his final extremely long sentence somehow makes the disc sound less than inviting: “Still, if you want to take yourself to the edge of emotional catastrophe while maintaining a safe distance, Kasher’s got the best shit in town: I’m always hesitant to use the term ‘guilty pleasure,’ but I’ll stop short and suggest that the pleasure that Monogamy provides is at the very least unhealthy, a controlled substance that packs less buzz with each use and that Saddle Creek should at least have put a warning on saying ‘do not combine with alcohol or listen to while operating within heavy relationships.'” Read the entire review here; then read the Lazy-i review, here

. And there’s more: Aversion gave the disc three stars here; A.V. Club rated it a ‘B’ here; SPIN online gave it 7 out of 10 here; Consequence of Sound gave it four stars here; Austin Town Hall gave it 2 1/2 stars here; and BLARE gave it four stars here.

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Tomorrow, Guster Pt. 1.

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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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Local Natives at The Waiting Room, Sept. 30, 2010.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Sorry about the lateness of this post, but it’s been one o’ them days… Onward.

Walking up to The Waiting Room at just before 10 last night I could see a long line stretching along the sidewalk on either side of the door. I ran into one of the club’s legendary beer slingers on the street, apparently on his night off, and we both wondered what as going on. “Must be a late start,” he said, adding that it might have something to do with a sound check because the show’s advance sales had been weak, certainly not a sell out. The beer slinger went into Jake’s to catch the end of the Okie State game and I waited in line for about five minutes as people slowly began to file in with a band making noise on stage. It turned out that it was, in fact, a sold-out show, and the first band had already finished its set. That line was merely late arrivals, like myself, just waiting to get in.

Once inside, The Love Language was getting started, and the place was absolutely packed. More packed than a usual sell out, which leads me to believe that TWR does better business on nights like these then when a show sells out well in advance. You couldn’t get anywhere near the stage, and the closest I got was the soundboard.

The Love Language was a perfect opener for Local Natives — their sound is similar, though less trippy and more pop, upbeat and catchy, but while their music was well played, nothing left a mark with me.

With a guitarist/singer who looked like a cross between John Oates and Freddy Mercury (thanks to a big, bushy black mustache and a thick head of jet back hair), the band rolled into the songs off their debut album fueled by an enthusiastic crowd that knew the words. They played an old Talking Heads song (or so they said, I didn’t recognize it) then did one that sounded like an old Arcade Fire number. And then came the hits: “Airplanes” and album opener “Wide Eyes.” The crowd (as they say) went wild.

Freddy said this was a better show than the last time they came through a year and a half ago. I would think if they keep on this trajectory, the next time through they’ll be selling out Slowdown’s big room. But are they the next Arcade Fire? I heard that more than a few times last night. The answer is probably no.

I remember when Interpol came through and played Sokol Underground on a blizzardy night Jan. 15, 2003. Turn On the Bright Lights had been released the previous August and everyone knew that it was a game-changer. Their Omaha show was a coup on a number of levels, and if you were at the show, you knew you were seeing a band that was about to explode.

The same goes for The Arcade Fire when they played at Sokol Underground back on Sept. 29, 2004. The story goes that the booking had taken place well in advance of their meteoric rise, back when they were still playing bars/clubs, before they had been discovered by the New York Times and David Bowie. Despite being hugely in demand, the band faithfully played out their dates in smaller venues, including ours in South Omaha. Everyone there that night knew they were seeing something special, something that they’d never see again in such a small space.

I never got that feeling last night watching Local Natives. Yes, it was an enthusiastic, sold out crowd; yes they played a terrific set, but I never thought that I was seeing something that would have a lasting impact on the music scene like I did with the Arcade Fire or  Interpol. But then again, they probably said the same thing about Radiohead when Pablo Honey came out (an album that I bought). You just never know…

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Tonight is probably the best night of the entire Lincoln Calling festival.

As discussed in the column, highlights include Deerpeople and a reunion of Pablo’s Triangle (Head of Femur, Broken Bells) at Duffy’s; Conduits, Cowboy Indian Bear, Masses and Poison Control Center at The Bourbon Theater; Noah’s Ark, The Power and Little Brazil at The Zoo; Thunder Power and Talking Mountain at 12th St. Pub. The Lincoln Calling website

boasts day passes for sale, but doesn’t say how much or where to find them (Come on, Jeremy!). Other pricing and schedules are on the site. Lincoln Calling concludes tomorrow night, and among the highlights is the Speed! Nebraska showcase at The Zoo Bar. Check it out.

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Other than LC, ain’t much going on this weekend. Tonight The Photo Atlas returns to Slowdown Jr. with Bazooka Shootout and Baby. 9 p.m., $7. And that’s all, folks.

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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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I did not go to Retribution Gospel Choir last night at The Waiting Room. And judging by a post on David Leibowitz’s Facebook wall (Dave’s the guy behind New Day Rising — the only must-hear indie-rock music show on local broadcast radio (89.7 FM every friggin’ Sunday night at 9 p.m. DO NOT MISS IT)) no one else was, either. Dave said there was only six people there. Drag. If you have to blame something, I point to the band’s name. In all honesty, I didn’t know RGC was Alan Sparhawk from Low until I looked up the band over my lunch hour yesterday while putting together the daily blog post. Had they promoted themselves as Low or Low’s Alan Sparhawk or The Alan Sparhawk Project they might have drawn considerably more than six people. But when people see Retribution Gospel Choir, well, they just assume that it’s a local gospel choir playing a weird benefit gig at TWR, and who wants to see that?

Anyway…

There will be a much larger crowd at The Waiting Room tonight for Local Natives. The LA band’s debut, Gorilla Manor, was released on Frenchkiss Records way back in February and received an 8.4 by Pitchfork and 80 out of 100 at albumoftheyear.org

(where I’ve been finding composite ratings lately). The band and the album have that whole Vampire Weekend/Tokyo Police Club indie pop-rock sound that the kids love these days — you know what I’m talking about. I think it’s interesting that they compare themselves to CSNY and Zombies — two bands they have nothing in common with. I have heard them compared to Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear, which I also think is a stretch considering the overal lethargic quality of those bands’ music. Find out for yourself tonight. Opening is Merge Records artist The Love Language and Union Line. $13, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, experimental instrumental duo El Ten Eleven (Kristian Dunn and Tim Fogarty) are playing at Slowdown Jr. with Dosh and Baths. $8, 9 p.m.

And Lincoln Calling is going strong. See the full line-up at lincolncalling.com. The highlights from my lofty perch 50 miles north of “O” Street are all at 12th St. Pub, where it’s Once a Pawn, Honeybee, Bear Country and Pharmacy Spirits are playing, while The Photo Atlas is playing at Duffy’s at 11 and Ted Stevens and the Filter Kings are at The Zoo Bar at 10 and Brad Hoshaw and the Seven Deadlies are at The Bourbon at 9. Better get yourself a wristband so you can move around.

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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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Column 290: Lincoln Calling, Pt. 7

Nebraska’s biggest music festival returns.

For this week’s column, I simply could have listed the bands that are playing at this year’s Lincoln Calling Festival — along with their time slots — and been done with it. What else do you need to get your asses to Lincoln this weekend?

Instead, I’m telling you to use that magic box on your desk and go to lincolncalling.com — a website that lists all the particulars in a well-organized, well-designed online experience that will do a better job than I ever could (especially with my 900-word limit).

I could have just left it there, but you know me. I had to get in touch with the festival’s Svengali mastermind, Jeremy Buckley, who’s been pulling this musical rabbit out of his hat since the first annual event in 2004.  Back then, LC was 25 bands and a handful of bars. Today it comprises 100+ acts in 11 venues over five days. It’s mammoth.

I interrupted Buckley’s usual Sunday afternoon multi-screen pro football orgy to ask a few questions about the fest. Chief among them: What’s different this year? He said it came down to three things: 1) DJs, 2) Sponsors, 3) More (and better) out-of-town bands.

Points one and two came courtesy of Spencer Munson — a.k.a. DJ Spence, who readers may know from Gunk nights at The Waiting Room. Buckley said Spence helped pull together the nearly 30 DJs who will be playing at four clubs throughout the festival.

“(DJ’s) are an additional aspect that I didn’t focus on before,” Buckley said, confessing that when it comes to clubbing, he’s one of those guys who would rather watch than do. “I don’t go to too many dance clubs, but I have a lot of friends who do and like dancing. I sometimes go with them and sit at the table, drink my High Life and watch the coats, backpacks and purses.”

Despite his lack of love for the dance floor, Buckley said he recognizes that Lincoln has a strong culture for electronic music. That’s why he enlisted Spence to find the top talent from the region.

But that’s not all Spence did. “When he and I began putting this together last spring, I told him my long-term wish was to find someone reliable enough to be our marketing guru and help find sponsors. I don’t have the personality to sell product.” Buckley said. “Spence said, ‘Let me give it a shot.'”

Spence found Scion (which is part of Toyota Corporation), who plunked down $3,700 as a primary sponsor, along with the Downtown Lincoln Association and The Young Professionals Group – Lincoln, both of which threw in $1,000. Add a handful of food and hotel sponsors, and the total came to around $6,000 in sponsorships.

“With that money we built a decent website (lincolncalling.com), and paid a film crew to shoot a video of the event that we can send to agents and bands next year to get them to sign on,” Buckley said.

The dough also helped cover guarantees for larger out-of-town bands, such as The Hood Internet, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, The Love Language, Those Darlins and Sea Wolf. “I couldn’t have paid guarantees back when I was taking the risks all by myself,” Buckley said. “Now we can pay (those bands) what they need. The sponsors make a huge difference.”

The trade-off for all that cash is putting the sponsors’ logos on the website, posters, T-shirts and other promotional materials. “Since Scion is the main sponsor, we’ll have industry swag at each venue,” Buckley said, adding that he hasn’t had anyone call him a sell-out for taking corporate cash. “It was a step that was necessary for bringing in national talent that’s played on Sirius and MTV2.”

In addition to the larger bands, Buckley said he’s excited about the out-of-state acts that he specifically wooed to take part in the event, such as Lawrence’s Cowboy Indian Bear, Denver’s The Photo Atlas, and Deerpeople — a Stillwater, Oklahoma band that Buckley says “plays fun pop with disturbing lyrics.”

Deerpeople are playing at Duffy’s Friday night along with a reunion of classic Lincoln band Pablo’s Triangle, whose members included Matt Focht and Ben Armstrong of Head of Femur, and Jonathan Hischke, who’s been on tour with Broken Bells. “The Pablo’s Triangle reunion is a huge coup that brings together old-school Lincoln folks and kids who know about Broken Bells,” Buckley said.

That show, which also includes bands Shipbuilding Co. and Down with the Ship, is only $5. In fact, each show is individually priced for those who don’t want to wander around “O” Street all night long.

And just like in years’ past, every band that takes part in Lincoln Calling will go home with some cash in their pockets — something that makes this multi-day festival unique. Buckley said bands get their split after paying the sound guy, covering the promo costs and paying he and his partners their 15 percent cut.

This year, advertising costs topped $2,000 — it’s all part of trying to keep the festival growing. But with 100+ bands and 11 venues, does Lincoln Calling really have room to grow?

After seven years of putting it together, Buckley says he still doesn’t know. “We haven’t reached its limit, but we’ll never get 80,000 people in Lincoln over the course of a weekend, other than for football.”

Famous last words.

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Retribution Gospel Choir, who’s  performing tonight at The Waiting Room, doesn’t play gospel music and isn’t a choir. Who it is, however, may surprise you. The trio is fronted by Alan Sparhawk, who you’ll remember as the frontman of indie-rock monsters Low — yes, that Low. RGC released their latest album, 2, on Sub Pop this past January, and it roars. If you, like me, have missed seeing Low, here’s your fix. Opening is DJ M Bowen. $10, 9 p.m.

Also tonight at Slowdown Jr. it’s Paleo a.k.a. singer/songwriter David Andrew Strackany. Joining him is Zach LaGrou and Simon Joyner & The Parachutes. $7, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, Fortnight returns to Fabulous O’Leaver’s opening a show with headliners Bad Country and Nashville band Milktooth. $5, 9:30 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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

In case you missed it, our friends at Pitchfork reviewed the new Azure Ray disc, Drawing Down the Moon, a couple days ago, giving it a slightly-above-mediocre 6.5 rating. Their summary/closing graph: “The upside is that it sounds warmly familiar, a reminder of why we missed them in the first place, but the downside is that the album gives very few indications of what Fink and Taylor have learned during their hiatus– the new tricks they’ve picked up from their various projects and collaborations, the ways their individual outlooks might have changed, and why they got back together at all.”

You can read the full review here, and my take on the album is online here

.

Speaking of Saddle Creek releases, the new solo disc by Two Gallants’ frontman Adam Haworth Stephens, We Live on Cliffs, dropped today. You can also read my take of that disc here.

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It’s a loaded night of music tonight featuring bands that will be traveling to Lincoln tomorrow night for Lincoln Calling.

At the Waiting Room it’s Sea Wolf playing an acoustic set. Joining him is Sara Cahoone and Patrick Park. $12, 9 p.m.

Down at Slowdown it’s Those Darlins with Turbo Fruits and Dim Light. $8, 9 p.m.

Tomorrow night, Those Darlins will be playing at Duffy’s with Turbo Fruits, while Sea Wolf/Cahoone/Park will be at The Bourbon Theater. Check out the full Lincoln Calling schedule at lincolncalling.com, and check out my interview/overview on LC in tomorrow’s column.

Meanwhile over at The Barley Street Tavern, it’s noise night with Baby Tears and Nymph. $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 © 2010 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.