It was a warm, perfect summer evening at Lauritzen Gardens last night. Their makeshift stage is a patio behind the main building where a two-peaked white tent sheltered Brad Hoshaw from the setting sun. Brad looked like a grizz hunter with a guitar, playing solo acoustic in front of 300 or do picnic-ers sitting in the grass eating grapes and cheese, wine and PBR. The PA sounded remarkably good; so did Hoshaw though his set was back-loaded with a few too many slow, somber numbers, which Brad is known for but tell that to the nearby 2-year-old twins who were getting restless. After 45 minutes, I began to regret not bringing a picnic basket — the smell of nearby grub was killing us.

Fink came out to sing a duet that Hoshaw said he wrote for her a couple years ago. It was a pretty song that falls nicely within the Hoshaw canon, with a chorus that went “That was so long ago/Now we’re growing old/The kids are stealing our rock and roll.” Brad played for at least an hour and included covers by both Kyle Harvey (the one he always plays) and Twilight Singers (something I hadn’t heard before and though I like Twilight Singers, if you don’t have the initials GD it’s going to be a real rollercoaster ride). We contemplated what song we’d like to hear Hoshaw cover, and it was my cohort who came up with the perfect tune — “Please Come to Boston” by Dave Loggins, a song that we both love but that were sure Hoshaw would never sing because he’d think that it’s “not cool enough.” Ah, but he’d be wrong.

The evening turned out to be more of a Hoshaw showcase than Orenda showcase due to timing. At 7:15 the organizers were still fiddledicking around with sound and staging, and I knew we weren’t going to make it through even half of her set. Finally, Orenda came on at 7:25 (the concert, which started at 6, was scheduled to end at 8), accompanied by Art in Manila bandmate Adrianne Verhoeven. We made it through three songs before hunger got the best of us. By then about a third of the crowd had left, including a few that were probably headed to CB for My Morning Jacket at Stir Cove. Overall, a nice night, though we should have brought food along…

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I told you the Reader was going to launch their CD reviews this week, and here they are — with the first batch written by me. The plan is to have all of the Reader Music All Stars contribute reviews in the coming weeks (I’m told they’ll run monthly until the Reader gets its scheduling act together, and then they’ll run more frequently). Unlike Lazy-i reviews, these will be rated on a five-star system vs. the usual yes/no rating, which seemed too draconian for The Reader. That said, all five of these albums would get “yes” ratings.

Albums are rated on the usual five-star scale, where you’re suggested to avoid those with one star and deify those with five.

The Faint, Faciinatiion (blank .wav) — It’s no wonder that the album’s best song, “The Geeks Were Right,” also is the most straightforward and least dependent on technology to “make it sound different.” You see, I like frontman Todd Fink’s voice just the way it is. And with all of the electronic bleep-blooping going on elsewhere, Dapose’s opening guitar riff feels downright organic. But a straight-up rock band is not what the throngs of stylish, sweaty youth are looking for. Give them the robot-voiced dance machine with its dense bass and thump-thump-thump rhythms. They want to bounce, not think. What are they singing about? Who cares as long as there’s a thick-ass beat and plenty of strobes. Which makes me wonder what would happen if these guys stepped away from the synths, vocoders and effects pedals and picked up traditional instruments once again. They could be that great rock band we’ve all been waiting for, if they wanted to be. But they never will, not now, not when they don’t have to. With a slew of classics already in their quiver, it makes you wonder why they even bother making new CDs in the first place. Rating: 3 stars.

Conor Oberst, Conor Oberst (Merge) — It differs from Bright Eyes in its more minimal production, though it’s far from stripped down (just Mogis-less). Song wise, it’s not a stretch at all, though Oberst does seem more relaxed, even resolved to his stricken condition of being ordained the rambling “voice of his generation.” Call him that if you want to; he’s not listening. Unlike Lifted or Wide Awake, there’s no need to block off your afternoon or give it your undivided attention to enjoy it. Like he says on album opener “Cape Canaveral”: “There’s no worries, who’s got time?” No one, Conor, no one. And while there’s nothing as striking as, say, “Lua” or “Waste of Paint” or “I Must Belong Somewhere,” it has its moments of absolute clarity, including country stomper “I Don’t Want to Die (in the Hospital)” and rock anthem “Souled Out!!!” Oberst is too smart to do either. Rating: 4 stars.

Shiver Shiver, Soulless Sex Appeal (self-release) — I liken their band-nerd music to a warm, soothing embrace by someone you just met — it’s inviting but at the same time, awkward and a little unnerving. Certainly you want to hold onto their sound — keyboard and drums that have more in common with funk ‘n’ jazz than rock ‘n’ roll. Frontman Jordan Elsberry is an Omaha version of Joe Jackson but without Joe’s interesting stories. Jordan’s voice is soothing, even sexy in a geeky sort of way, but you won’t remember a single secret that he whispered in your ear once you’ve left the dance floor. The honest album title couldn’t be more accurate. Rating 3 stars.

Silver Jews, Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea (Drag City) — The album can be summed up in one perfect song: “San Francisco B.C.,” where drawling frontman David Berman croons a story of a break-up with a “local martyr in the vegan press,” a crime story that finds our hero “in the possession of burglary tools” only to confront the bad-haired murderer who orphaned his true love. Along the way there’s plenty of “fist cuisine” and “insignificant shit” and other tossed-out genius that makes this one song better than Tarantino’s last three films. Musically, it’s laid-back, rolling, countrified slacker rock, with Berman sounding like the second coming of Johnny Cash, and wife, Cassie, providing the June Carter harmonies. Rating: 4.5 stars.

Randy Newman, Harps and Angels (Nonesuch) — At age 64, Newman’s voice is starting to wind down, not because he can’t sing, but because he’s too damn lazy to. By the time he gets to center-point songs like the slice-of-life testimonial “Potholes,” he’s merely speaking the lyrics Kentucky colonel-style over the usual, lilting rag-time arrangements. Even then, he’s a better singer than most of the folks you’ll hear on the radio. Besides, songs like the snarky, dead-on “A few Words in Defense of Our Country,” with the lines “You know, a president once said / ‘The only thing we have to fear is fear itself’ / Now it seems like we’re supposed to be afraid / It’s patriotic, in fact / Color-coded” don’t exactly invite listeners to sing along as much nod knowingly. Rating: 3.5 stars.

Hey local bands, want your records reviewed? Send your CDs and vinyl to The Reader c/o “Reviews,” P.O. Box 7360, Omaha, NE 68107. While submissions will be considered, space limitations prevent all from being reviewed..

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O’Leaver’s beer garden is deceptively large compared to how it looks from the parking lot. You can easily get 30 or 40 people out there if you stand them up and lean them against the railing. It’s so inviting that there were more people outside drinking and smoking than were inside Saturday night while the bands played. Opening was The Third Men, sounding solid despite having not performed in months.� Domestica were their usual amazing selves, playing all the hits including songs off their new Mommyhead 7-inch (pressed on luscious orange vinyl, available from Speed! Nebraska Records). There’s not much more to say about their performance other than Jon Taylor could have turned his amps up louder (He finally did at the end of the set). I don’t remember seeing the old Mercy Rule floor-floodlights the last time they played. It’s good to see them back, illuminating Jon, Heidi and Boz like a trio of rock ‘n’ roll ghosts.�

In other O’Leaver’s news, I’m told that Worker’s, Chris Machmuller’s new sandwich shop located right next door to the bar, is slated to open today. I’m also told the weekend hours could be as late as 2 a.m., meaning that I’ll no longer have to drive through Taco Johns for grub after the bar closes.

***

Tomorrow night (Tuesday) at Lauritzen Gardens, it’s a special 6 p.m. outdoor concert featuring Orenda Fink and Brad Hoshaw. Concert-goers are encouraged to bring their own chairs, blankets, food and blankets (and booze, which is permitted). The $7 charge also gets you into the gardens, which are open for roaming until 8:30.

Also Tuesday night, it’s Reagan Roeder, Tomato a Day and Tina Sparkle at O’Leaver’s. $5, 9:30 p.m.

And yes, I didn’t forget, My Morning Jacket plays Tuesday night at Stir Concert Cove. 7:30, $26. I doubt the show will exceed their performance at Sokol Underground in May 2004. Still, this has all the makings of being one of the best shows of the year.

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Blue Scholars is playing tonight at The Waiting Room. I bring it up only because they’re one of my favorite touring indie hip-hop acts. I’m painfully discerning when it comes to hip-hop. There are only a handful of hip-hop recordings that I have in my collection. Beyond the usual staples (NWA, Public Enemy, Beasties) there’s Danger Mouse, Evil Tambourines and a slew of Blue Scholars CDs. I know nothing about the rest of the bill, which includes headliner Hieroglyphics, Musab, Tonya Morgan and Knowbody. 9 p.m. $15. Also tonight, classic ’90s Omaha punk band Cordial Spew opens for Red City Radio and Bent Left at The Saddle Creek Bar. 9 p.m., free.

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So how did Conor Oberst and The Faint do in their first week’s sales of their new albums? Here’s the skinny by way of Homer’s General Manager Mike Fratt:

Conor Oberst’s self-titled album sold 28,546 copies last week, plus 354 copies prior to street date for a total of 28,918 copies. That’s good enough for the album to chart at No. 15 on Billboard. Conor Oberst also was the No. 3 best-selling download on iTunes, moving 9,941 digital units.

The Faint’s Fasciinatiion sold 11,333 last week, plus 222 copies before street date for a total of 11,584 copies — good enough to claim the No. 45 position on the Billboard charts. Fasciinatiion also was the No. 15 best-selling download on iTunes, moving 3,250 digital units.

FYI, digital downloads are included in the overall total sales number. Thanks again to Mr. Fratt for the data. Overall, an impressive first week by both artists. I think you could see both albums continue to climb the charts, but especially Fasciinatiion, which has had less pre-release media attention, and is only now getting the notice it deserves.

This week’s column combined info about The Reader‘s introduction of CD reviews next week with Monday’s blog-entry review of the Shiver Shiver show. Here’s the stuff you haven’t seen yet.

Column 185: Comparatively Speaking
Reviews return…

We’re starting up CD reviews again next week at The Reader. It’s something that’s been talked about for, well, as long as there’s been a Reader. But for whatever reason, it just never happened. The last time we tried it, the editor-in-charge passed along a handful of some of the worst local recordings ever made and told the writers to “have at ’em.” Not surprisingly, no one wanted the arduous task of subjecting themselves to an hour’s worth of the city’s most derivative second-rate drivel and then try to glean something meaningful out of it. The music scene has come a long way since then, or so we’ll see next week.

Here’s a little secret about music journalism — it’s harder to write a concise 100-word CD review than it is to write a 1,000-word band profile. Much harder. Yes, for profiles it does take time to schedule and interview a (hopefully lucid, coherent) band, then listen to their music and come up with a hook to make it all worth reading. But you’ve got quotes and one-sheets (industry speak for a band’s press release) to help piece it together. The hardest part is describing the band’s sound without stringing together a list of comparisons, such as “The opening track sounds like up-tempo Pixies meets low-fi Pavement with howling vocals by The Kinks…” It’s sloppy, lazy journalism that I’m as guilty of doing as anyone. No good band ever wants to be compared to anyone else, especially if the comparison is dead accurate.

But have you ever tried to sit down and describe music without using comparisons? Think about it. It’s like trying to make a sculpture out of mist — all the tangible elements are all in your head, and when you try to mold them into something concrete, they blur and become unrecognizable. That’s how dumb-ass, meaningless descriptions like “angular guitar work,” “powerful riff” and “yearning vocals” get created. Clichés become addictive, and fatal. The best critics in the world, like personal writing mentor Robert Christgau (formerly of the Village Voice, now contributing to Blender, Rolling Stone and MSN Music) in the fewest words can make you clearly understand exactly what he thinks about a band’s music. For example, his take on the new Death Cab for Cutie album: “Unfailingly melodic, surprisingly dynamic, somewhat overextended love problems, and if he’s so smart why doesn’t he shelve music and solve them?”

Christgau gave that album an “honorable mention.” I have no idea if we’ll be using a rating system (I hope so). Our focus will be mostly on local releases, but there also will be reviews of notable national releases thrown into the mix. I write this as an incentive to the editors to actually follow through this time. Think it’ll work?

Tonight at Slowdown Jr. Washington/Brooklyn indie-rockers Deleted Scenes plays with local walking muppets Talkin’ Mountain, Hyannis and White Elephant Gift Exchange. What I’ve heard on the DS myspace is mighty good. $6, 9 p.m.

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I’ve commented to a few people who hang out at Slowdown that the venue’s small stage — a.k.a. Slowdown Jr. — has all the makings of the perfect jazz club. Actually, Slowdown’s bar vibe — all black tile and shiny surfaces, exposed ceiling and dark, ambient lighting — doesn’t feel so much like punk/indie as much as urban hip (as in an NYC club). Maybe it’s the tables with the glass votive candleholders or the intimate stage with its glimmering, pristine sound. I don’t know. I also don’t know if Omaha even has a viable jazz scene these days. I know its history (I’ve interviewed the late Preston Love a few times), but other than the antiseptic Jazz on the Green muzak festival, I’m not aware of anything going on around town.

I say all this as a lead-up to last Saturday night’s Shiver Shiver CD release show at Slowdown Jr. SS, to me, isn’t so much a rock band as a hybrid of pop and smooth jazz, not so much Steely Dan as Bob James with Squeeze, Ben Folds and Todd Rundgren thrown in. As I said last week, I’d heard the band perform twice — at O’Leaver’s and at “Dario-fest” — and neither performance captured the essence of their recordings. Last Saturday night’s show did, thanks to Slowdown’s jazzy vibe and state-of-the-art sound system. The two-piece of Jordan Elsberry and Chase Thornburg glided through a set of songs off their new album, Soulless Sex Appeal, with the casualness of seasoned road veterans playing yet another gig. Drummer Thornburg is a jazzy Max Weinberg, just an amazing guy on the skins. But it’s Elsberry who plays the role of frontman. Looking like a bespectacled Adam Samberg standing behind a pair of keyboards in faux Armani (actually, both wore suits), he got the crowd of 100 or so grooving with his bouncing keys and swarthy vocals. As one member of one of the city’s more popular Creek-related bands said from the side of the stage, no one around town is doing anything like this. They’ve got the market to themselves playing a style of music that has a universal appeal (certainly more so than Slowdown’s usual bands). Now we’ll see if they do anything with it, as in hit the road and make a name for themselves outside of Nebraska. They certainly have the chops to do it…

I couldn’t let the evening get away without dropping by The Saddle Creek Bar for the Big Al 1-year anniversary show. I only caught the last few minutes of the Filter King’s roaring set before they packed up and headed off to The Niner for yet another show. Big Al and Metal Barbie ripped into the same set of home-made metal standards (with the volume turned to 11) that they played a year ago. including “Oregano,” “It’s War You Die” “Cold Hard Steel” and all the rest, along with a second helping of “Oregano” just before 1 a.m. Now it’s onto year two, which one hopes will bring with it some new material…

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Billboard reports that Conor Oberst’s self-titled solo CD debuted at No. 37 on the UK album charts, where it’s competing with the likes of Coldplay, Abba and Rihanna. So how well did it do on the U.S. charts? We’ll have to wait and see. For what it’s worth, the album currently stands at No. 6 on the iTunes download chart, fueled in part by a massive feature in last Friday’s New York Times by Jon Pareles (here). An interesting scheduling comment at the end of the piece: Pareles said Oberst had a year of work lined up outside of Bright Eyes, what with a solo tour that will last well into next year and a new record with M. Ward and Jim James (There’s no word what label that’ll be released on). If that’s the case, don’t expect another Bright Eyes album until 2010, maybe longer…

In other Saddle Creek news, DCist reported last week (here) that Georgie James, one of the Creek’s more recent signings (May 2007) called it quits. Look for solo efforts by both members in the near future.

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Chatting with one of the security guys at the Tilly and the Wall show last night, we talked about why they didn’t just have the show at Slowdown — a natural size-step up from TWR, where they last played. I figured the reason had something to do with the city’s new all-ages policy, which wouldn’t apply to Sokol. But this guy pointed out that there weren’t that many in the crowd under 18, which reminded me that Tilly has been around for seven years, under-age listeners who followed the band from way back when would be well over 18 years old by now. In the end, the Sokol decision probably was based on crowd-size expectations, and as per usual the promoter (and the band) were right. The draw was around 700, according to the promoter — a nice-sized crowd, but far from the 1,400 needed for a sell out. To help fill the main ballroom, the balcony was closed (though a few people still got up there somehow).

I arrived right at the end of The Ruby Suns and just in time for the painfully loud and distorted between-set “dance music.” I moved as far away from the stage as possible, seeking shelter from the bone-rattling bass-noise. Twenty minutes later, someone threw a hundred or so balloons into the audience. Ten minutes after that, the band went on.

The distorto-bass remained a problem for the first three songs. Hats off to the sound guy for getting things adjusted early in the set. You could argue that the biggest change in the band’s sound is the addition of bass and drums, though it’s really the bass that had the biggest impact last night and not necessarily in a good way. In fact, the whole set got off to a rocky start with a ho-hum version of cuss-fest “Too Excited,” as well as some of the band’s more droll songs featuring Kianna and Neely singing the same melody lines — i.e., no harmonies. What’s the point of that?

They didn’t hit their stride until after a rather flaccid rendition of “Falling Without Knowing” that sounded like the girls were singing the chorus an octave lower than on the recording, sucking the life out of one of my favorite songs on the new CD. Things got rolling after that, though. I continue to be convinced that Tilly’s future lies in the style of dance music heard on their single, “Beat Control,” which got the crowd dancing (sort of). The remainder of the set was the best I’ve ever heard Tilly perform, and included “Dust Me Off,” “Jumbler,” the acoustic ballad “Tall Tall Grass” and B52’s-flavored single “Pot Kettle Black.”
Staging wise, Tilly has added computer-controlled spots to the usual confetti, balloons and smoke. At the center of it all, of course, is Jamie Pressnall standing like a ballerina atop a three-foot-high tap-dance box. With her gittering wrist bands, it’s impossible to ignore her throughout the set. She is the stage centerpiece, even though Tilly clearly has begun to step away from its reliance on tap to provide rhythm.

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A very brief look at the weekend:

Tonight Team Love performing artist Mars Black has a CD release show at Sokol Underground. Guests include Surreal the MC, Articulate and Richie Daggers. $7, 7 p.m.

Tomorrow night Shiver Shiver has its CD release show at Slowdown Jr. with Tim Wildsmith and Brent Crampton. The SS disc, Soulless Sex Appeal, reminds me of a cross between Todd Rundgren and Squeeze — it’s smooth, well produced keyboard-driven rock. I’ve seen SS twice live and neither time did their sound resemble what’s heard on their recordings. Could the Slowdown stage make the CD come to life? Find out tomorrow. $10 w/CD; $5 otherwise. 9 p.m.

Also Saturday night, Big Al is back at the Saddle Creek Bar for a return engagement that also includes The Filter Kings, The Upsets and Dylan Davis. $5, 9 p.m.

And Sunday, The Bodeans return to Omaha, this time to Slowdown. With Ha Ha Tonka, $17, 9 p.m.

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Tonight at Sokol Auditorium it’s Tilly and the Wall with The Ruby Suns and Go Motion. 8 p.m., $13. This morning I was discussing whether this show will sell out. One guy said he thought it was a sure bet. I’m doubtful. The last time Tilly played in Omaha was at The Waiting Room in March. I can’t remember if that sold out or not. Other than that, they did a show last year at Sokol Underground, as well as a shows opening for The Faint, Rilo Kiley and Bright Eyes at Sokol Auditorium over the past couple years. There’s no question that Tilly’s popularity continues to grow (Their new album is No. 16 on the CMJ radio charts, right under Conor Oberst’s), but selling out the 1,400-capacity Sokol Aud? Hmmm… We’ll see tonight.

And speaking of Oberst, he and his Mystic Valley Band played on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night. Oberst and crew came on at the end of the show after Jack Black and the winner of the Pillsbury Bake-Off. I thought they might do “Souled Out!!!” Instead they did a rollicking version of “Get Well Cards” that sounded surprisingly good for a live network broadcast. Overall, a very straight-forward performance. Now when is The Faint going to get on Letterman?

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I just counted and there is something like, what, 1,000 reviews of the new Conor Oberst solo CD, which hit the store shelves today (sort through them all here). Taken as a whole, the average rating has been 3.5 stars or B+. The critics like it, and they like Oberst, who’s also done a shit-ton of press in support of this release. My take after listening to it for the past few weeks: It’s not dramatically different than what you’ve heard from Bright Eyes in the past, except for the much-needed stripped down production (and I think Oberst could take it down even further). While there’s nothing as striking as, say, “Lua” or “Waste of Paint” or “I Must Belong Somewhere,” the record still has its moments, including opener “Cape Canaveral,” country stomper “I Don’t Want to Die (in the Hospital)” and funky-hooked “Souled Out!!!” As a whole, it holds together as well as Wide Awake, and on a certain level, even better. It’s gonna be huge… for Merge.

Conversely, using Google News search, I’ve found considerably fewer (actually almost no) reviews of the new Faint CD, which also dropped today. I’m not sure why all the crickets, though I speculate on one possible reason in tomorrow’s column…

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