New York singer/songwriter Jeffrey Lewis and his band – Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage – are doing an in-store performance tonight at Grapefruit Record in the Old Market (1125 Jackson Street). You really should go.
Lewis and his band have played Omaha a few times over the years – way back in 2013 opening for Quasi at Slowdown, and again in 2016 with David Nance at Reverb Lounge – great shows. I spoke with Lewis for that 2016 show — that interview reads like one long, run-on sentence. I’m not sure why I didn’t edit the interview more thoroughly, except for the fact that it took place on the cusp of the 2016 elections, and let’s face it, everyone’s mind was occupied with the disaster that was about to take place at the polls. Sort of like right now.
Lewis’ Rough Trade 2001 debut LP, The Last Time I Did Acid I Went Insane, captures his earliest urban folk storytelling in all its glory. But I think I actually first heard Lewis’ music when Rough Trade released 12 Crass Songs (2007, Rough Trade) –a collection of covers of ’70s English punk band Crass.
Lewis’s story-songs have the same raw, matter-of-fact narrative style and humor as my favorite underground comic book writers/artists, like R. Crumb, Daniel Clowes and Harvey Pekar. And as a matter of fact, Lewis even augments his music career with his own comic book series, Fuff — or at least he did back in 2016. I’m not sure if he still does — a lot has happened since then.
For this tour, Lewis and his band are playing as-yet-unreleased songs from an upcoming 2025 album along with “some old favorites” from his 20+ year career. Joining him tonight are touring band Grasping Straws and our very own Megan Siebe. Tickets are $20, doors at 7:30 p.m.
Though exhausting, last weekend was the best weekend of indie music Omaha has seen in quite a while. It also was a weekend of broad musical contrasts. Let’s start at the beginning…
Based on the publicity and online buzz, I thought Friday night’s Brigitte Calls Me Baby concert at Reverb would possibly sell out before I had a chance to get to the venue (as we had another successful art opening at Ming Toy Gallery earlier that evening that kept me “bartending” ’til 9). To my surprise, the club was merely comfortably full when I arrived.
Brigitte Calls Me Baby at Reverb Oct. 4, 2024.
Looking more like posh ‘80s post-glam Londoners than five lads from Chicago, the band tore into their catalog, which consists mostly of their debut album, The Future Is Our Way Out (2024, ATO), a pointedly retro-sounding collection of rock songs clearly influenced by ’80s “new wave” MTV icons. Pick your favorites: Dream Academy, Roxy Music, Modern English, and yes, undeniably, The Smiths/Morrissey.
Like most of us who grew up in that era, I love those bands and that style of music. The boys in Brigitte must love it as well, as they aped that sound with a capital A. First-rate musicians all, they were honed to recording-quality perfection, no doubt thanks to endless rehearsals and touring.
Frontman Wes Leavins is one of the most talented male vocalists I’ve heard in some time. Flawless. He, along with the rest of the guys on stage in their black suit jackets and big hair, resembled the prom band from your favorite John Hughes coming-of-age flick — a perfect fit for an audience where middle-aged (and older) dudes outnumbered young girls by two-to-one.
But unlike those influential ’80s bands, Brigitte showed zero passion while performing. The gig felt very much like a SXSW industry event where the band shuffles on stage and plays their catalog without acknowledging the middle-aged audience of industry slubs standing in judgement.
These talented hairdressers looked bored and disinterested as they rifled through their set, no doubt wondering what they’re doing in Omaha and where they’re going to eat afterward.
It was like watching a super-tight tribute band, with Leavins playing the Morrissey/Bryan Ferry role without any edge or appeal, though I admit the guy is a serious crooner. He could do a killer Elvis or Roy Orbison impersonation. And as if reading my mind, for their encore the band played a knockout cover of “In Dreams” that would have made Dean Stockwell proud.
You could not draw a bigger contrast to Brigitte’s performance than Saturday night’s killer set by Fontaines D.C. at The Slowdown.
It was the first time I felt like I was at a rock concert since my Civic Auditorium days. Though from Dublin City, they reminded me of ‘90s Madchester acts if only for their looks – frontman Grian Chatten bouncied like Bez in his white sunglasses and black oversized long-sleeved T while the rest of the band looked Euro cool standing back in their own shades.
Fontaines D.C.’s Grian Chatten at Slowdown, Oct. 5. 2024.
Unlike Brigitte’s Leavins, Chatten was the ultimate rock showman, leaning out to the crowd with arms outstretched atop a monitor or dancing a jig with a tambourine in hand. He was magnetic, egging on fans throughout a set that showcased mostly songs off Fontaines’ latest and greatest, Romance (2024, XL) along with a few from 2022’s Skinty Fia.
The band’s albums are some of the best indie rock recordings of the current era, but the songs took on an entirely new life on stage – they were harder, more dynamic, more interesting. Like any band, Fontaines sound owes much to their influences. A fellow musicologist in the audience texted me during the set: “The Fall does London Calling.” A couple songs later I counter-texted: “The Fall does Disintegration” (as the band tore into “Bug”) and moments after that: “The Fall does Trompe le Monde” (as the band ripped into “Here’s The Thing”).
Despite those comparisons, Fontaines have carved out their own timeless sound that places them on the mantle as this generation’s most important Irish rock band.
I thought how lucky we were to see them playing live, in their prime, performing vital new music that will be just as vital 30 years from now when they’re doing their inevitable reunion tour. When that happens, the 20-somethings who made up most of Saturday night’s audience will be the age I am now, and I will be in my 80s, and we’ll both say, “I remember seeing them play Slowdown when Romance came out in ’24. That was one of the best concerts I ever saw.”
B.B. Sledge at Porchfest, Oct. 6, 2024.
Finally, in contrast to the hullabaloo of those two rock shows, Sunday was Porchfest, the 8th annual event where local performers play for small gatherings literally from porches throughout the Gifford Park neighborhood. Porchfest has become a real festival, adding two formal stages to the porch stages, a marketplace and multiple food trucks and vendors.
From the Yates Illuminates stage I caught a set by B.B. Sledge – a band I’ve been trying to see for a couple years. My tenaciousness was rewarded Sunday afternoon as I and around 50 neighbors enjoyed their unique brand of indie folk rock. We also wandered over to the nearby “open mic” porch and caught a few songs by someone who never identified himself but kind of reminded me of an acoustic Graham Parker. What will Porchfest become for Year 9?
Open Mic Stage at Porchfest 2024.
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The rock keeps on rolling tonight at The Waiting Room when Kalamazoo emo trio Saturdays at Your Place headlines. Harrison Gordon and TRSH open at 7 p.m. $22.
It’s a crazy-busy weekend, so let’s get right to it.
Chicago’s Brigitte Calls Me Baby is a throw-back act that sounds like all the ‘80s candy-pop bands you remember from MTV / Breakfast Club soundtrack. They even carry on the vampy post-glam pretty-boy look from that era, or at least frontman Wes Leavins does, affecting a faux accent on songs like “We Were Never Alive” from their ATO Records debut The Future Is Our Way Out (well, he sure doesn’t sound like he’s from Chicago). The band is on the verge, so I’m kind of surprised this show hasn’t sold out tiny Reverb Lounge, yet. Lincoln five-piece Parking Lot Party opens the show at 8 p.m. $18.
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Meanwhile, around the corner at The Waiting Room, London-based modern-post-punk band Hi Vis headlines. Like Brigitte, they also have a sort of ’80s/‘90s MTV sound (to my ears, anyway). They cite Gang of Four, Stone Roses and The Cure as influences, which kind of comes through on their latest album, Blending (2022, Dias Record). They have a new album coming out later this year. Local acts Trucha and Glow own the undercard, which starts at 8 p.m. $25.
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Also happening tonight (Friday), Slowdown has Virginia Beach dream pop band Turnover. Their 2015 album Peripheral Vision, is one of the more popular releases in mid-size indie label Run for Cover Records’ catalog. Phoenix shoegazers Glixen open, along with Texas band Glare. This one’s in the main room and starts at 8 p.m. $30.
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But wait, there’s more going on tonight! It’s the first Friday of the month which means it’s Benson First Friday (#BFF)! That means art galleries and businesses up and down Maple Street will be displaying art from local artists. That includes Ming Toy Gallery (6066 Maple St.), where we’re celebrating the opening of “Drawing the Interior” – – an exhibition of work from Toni Parker, Ariel Carrillo and Emma Geiger. The opening runs from 6 to 9 p.m. Come by, say hi, have a drink and/or snack and enjoy some great art.
One other show tonight worth your time – Lincoln band Estrogen Projection is playing tonight (Friday) at The Sydney in Benson with opener Not My Wedding. $10, 9 p.m.
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OK, moving on to Saturday!
What to say about Fontaines D.C? IYKYK, and apparently a lot of people do as the show sold out a week ago. The Irish band is on a U.S./Canadian tour that brings them to Slowdown’s big room Saturday night, supporting their new album, Romance (2024, XL Recordings), a follow-up to their 2022 breakout album, Skinty Fia. A glance at their setlist from their Sept. 30 Phoenix show indicates a 16-song set heavy on material from the last couple records, followed by a two- or three-song encore closed out by their current hit, “Starburster.”
Opening band, NYC-based Been Stellar, is supporting their debut album, Scream from New York, NY, out via Dirty Hit Records. They just came off a tour supporting The 1975 and a UK headlining tour. This one’s in the main room, starts at 8 and like I said, is SOLD OUT.
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Fontaines isn’t the only big show going on Saturday. Over at The Admiral, LA’s The Airborne Toxic Event headlines. Their new album, Glory, came out last month on Little Tokyo Records. Their biggest “hit” was “Sometime Around Midnight,” from their 2009 debut on Island. Fellow LA band Near Beer opens at 8 p.m.
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But wait, there’s more! Also Saturday night, Marty Amsler, who we all remember from ’90s Nebraska-based breakout act The Millions, has a new band called Mono in Stereo. They’re opening for Omaha band Sons of No One at Reverb Lounge. 8 p.m., $10.
And down the street at The Sydney, New Orleans-based dance-punk band Special Interest headlines. Their most recent album, Endure, came out in 2022 on Rough Trade. Lincoln leather-synth-dance-industrial dude Plack Blague opens this show at 9 p.m. $15.
Also, Indian Caves are playing a set with Notion Club and High School Dilemma at Fontenelle Supply Co., 1414 So. 13th St. $10, 7 p.m., kids and dogs are welcome!
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And if your weekend wasn’t busy enough…
Sunday is the 8th Annual Porchfest – 12 stages including Omaha Mobile Stage at Yates Illuminates, the Gifford Park Neighborhood Market stage, seven house porches, plus poetry, art, and open mic porches! We’re talking 70+ local performers including McCarthy Trenching, Midwest Dilemma, Mitch Gettman, Jeremy Mercy, B.B. Sledge and Tom Bartolomei. It starts at noon and runs all afternoon. The full schedule is here: https://porchfestoma.tumblr.com/schedule . The weather should be awesome, so check it out.
And thats all I got (Whew!). If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Is it me or do we live in a city that’s feast or famine when it comes to live indie music? Anyway, have a great weekend. .
Who remembers Fizzle Like a Flood, the bedroom project by Omaha singer/songwriter Doug Kabourek?
Turn back the hands of time to November 2000 – just 24 years ago – when Kabourek released what was arguably his masterpiece, Golden Sand and the Grandstand – a tribute to the good ol’ Aksarben thoroughbred horseracing track that used to exist in the area where Aksarben Village currently stands (Think about that the next time you watch a movie at Aksarben Cinema or dine at the Inner Rail food court!).
Kabourek circa 2000.
It was a time when Nebraska and Omaha were just emerging at the center of the indie music universe, thanks to Saddle Creek Records. Kabourek even played a role in the origins of one of the label’s most famous acts.
From a 2000 Lazy-i interview with Kabourek: Kabourek has anonymously played a role in the Omaha and Iowa City music scene for six or seven years, first jamming with the band that would become Norman Bailer (an early incarnation of The Faint). He left Todd Baechle and company after they recorded a cover of Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll.” “I didn’t think they’d get anywhere,” he said.
Oh, how wrong you were, Doug.
It was also a time when musicians were just beginning to make bedroom recordings, and Kabourek as Fizzle Like a Flood was a sterling example. The lush, sweeping sounds heard on Golden Sands were all recorded and mixed in Kabourek’s home using a small multi-track recording and a PC – quite a feat at the time.
But even more impressive was the music, which was first released (as a CDR) on boutique cassette label Unread Records, and later on Earnest Jennings. Kabourek had a knack for creating great indie pop reminiscent of acts like Sebadoh and Flaming Lips.
Over the years, Kabourek as Fizzle (and other incarnations) released more music, most only on Earnest Jennings. And now Fizzle Like a Flood is back with a new record – Black Walls and William Hall, a sort of sequel to Golden Sands about the now defunct Mystery Manor, an Omaha-based haunted house that opened in 1984. Kabourek says the “10-song album will create an immersive and positively screamadelic songscape!”
He talks about the new album and its origins on the homepage of his Kickstarter campaign. Kabourek is trying to raise $3,500 to cover the cost of pressing vinyl for the already-recorded album. He’s offering a variety of kooky and cool Kickstarter rewards for patrons, including custom coozies, art prints by Megan Thomas, artifacts from his homemade haunted house, not to mention a copy of the new record on red splatter vinyl.
The Kickstarter campaign runs through the end of the month, and as of this writing, Kabourek was already more than a 1/3 the way to his goal. Head on over and throw some money at this project. Check out a preview track of Black Walls and William Hall below.
A crowd of around 100 mostly young women (teens to early 20s) huddled around the edge of Slowdown’s stage last night and sang along to most of Odie Leigh’s songs. It’s easy to understand why – her lyrics are easy to remember, to memorize while listening driving in your car or sitting in your bedroom or wherever else you’re alone. The words are smart and clever and personal, sometimes sexy, more often filled with melancholy and longing – just the right combination for an audience that’s either going through whatever Leigh was singing about, or remembers what it was like.
Leigh’s music, especially the quiet acoustic songs from her early days (just a few years ago), are semi-healed wounds of memories of past loves, recollections of things that happened (or didn’t happen), and the pain of moving on to whatever comes next.
She opened the evening with upbeat folk rockers from her new album (“My Name on a T-Shirt,” “No Doubt”) that did a good job of showcasing her band. Then Leigh set down her electric guitar and picked up her acoustic for a rendition of waltz-timed “A Month or Two” — one of her early singles about trying to forget something or someone, which ends with the reframe “Give it some time, time, time, time, time, time.”
It perfectly segued into a trio of heart-stoppers – two old ones about heartbreak and betrayal (“Nine Lives,” “Double Shift”), balanced by a new one about longing – “Either Way.” Some songs on her new album, Carrier Pigeon, feel like heartfelt antidotes to the past, testimonies (to the ones that got away) that things are better now, or will be, probably.
Leigh’s songwriting recalls some of my favorite confessional songwriters from the ‘90s — Jonatha Brooke of The Story, Ray and Saliers, Shawn Colvin, Victoria Williams — who themselves were like the progeny of Joni Mitchell. Leigh carries on that tradition.
Realizing she had an eager choir in front of her, Leigh not only encouraged singing along, but also provided directions. Before launching into a song that she’s yet to record, she gave the audience a primer on its chorus. She did this again for the night’s encore, “Take Back,” which resulted in the entire room loudly singing the reframe – an apt ending to great evening.
Valley James at Slowdown, Oct. 1, 2024.
I only caught the last three songs by opener Valley James, and wish I would have caught her whole set. Playing solo with an acoustic guitar, James had one of the purest voices I’ve heard on Slowdown’s stage, sounding like (as one fellow audience member told me) a young Neko Case. You’ll be seeing and hearing more from her…
Rule No. 1 for writing a one-sheet: Don’t just talk about the artist; tell his/her/their story and make sure it has a hook.
In New Orleans’ singer/songwriter Odie Leigh’s case, the hook involves a bet with college roommates over who would be the first to create a viral TikTok video. Leigh won with a clip for her song “Crop Circles,” which, as of this writing, has around 400,000 likes in TikTok. More impressive (especially from those of us who don’t use TikTok) is that the single, released in February 2022, has more than 7 million plays in Spotify.
Did TikTok virality lead to Leigh’s contract with indie label Mom+Pop Records? I’m sure it had something to do with it. The label just released her debut LP, Carrier Pigeon, this past July, launching Leigh on a tour that comes to Slowdown’s frontroom tonight. It’s an album of mostly self-deprecating love songs by an unsure participant who no doubt will come out on top, just as she did in that TikTok battle. Idaho singer/songwriter Valley James, whose music is inspired by the likes of Patsy Cline and Chris Isaak, opens the show at 8 pm. $25.
Also tonight, London neo-soul trio Jungle plays at The Astro Theater in La Vista. Their hit, “Back on 74,” off their latest album, Volcano (2023, AWAL), has been on constant rotation on Sirius XMU throughout the spring of summer of ’24. New Yorker hip-hop artist Bas opens the show at 8 p.m. $50-$75.
It’s the start of a busy October, show-wise. Here’s the latest calendar of touring indie bands headed our way:
Oct. 1 – Odie Leigh @ The Slowdown
Oct. 1 – Jungle @ The Astro
Oct. 4 – Brigitte Calls Me Baby @ Reverb
Oct. 4 – Turnover @ The Slowdown
Oct. 5 – Fontaines D.C. @ The Slowdown
Oct. 5 – Special Interest @ Sydney
Oct. 7 – Saturdays at Your Place @ Reverb
Oct. 8 – Boris @ The Waiting Room
Oct. 10 – MJ Lenderman & The Wind @ The Waiting Room
Oct. 10 – Melt @ The Slowdown
Oct. 12 – The Red Pears @ Reverb
Oct. 16 – Mdou Moctar @ The Waiting Room
Oct. 17 – Superchunk @ The Waiting Room
Oct. 18-19 – Cursive @ The Waiting Room
Oct. 20 – Color Green @ Grapefruit Records
Oct. 20 – Jeff Tweedy @ The Admiral
Oct. 22 – Psychedelic Furs/Jesus and Mary Chain @ The Astro
Looks like it’s going to be another Sydney weekend…
Tonight at The Sydney in Benson, Japanese-American costumed punkers Peelander-Z take the stage. I have a friend who lives out of state who describes them as “if The Ramones and the Power Rangers had a baby. Costumes, choreography – hard to imagine them in a tiny space like Sydney.”
Meanwhile, wiki says “Peelander-Z has a complex stage act, which involves hand-written signs, costumes, and audience participation. The signs often contain the lyrics to their songs. At some of their shows they also bring people from outside of the band on stage to play their instruments as they do a stage act.”
Oh boy! It sounds like The Sydney is the perfect place for this show. 9 p.m., $15.
Meanwhile, The Waiting Room has the more serious folk of Shovels & Rope. The husband and wife team of Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst are on the road playing songs off their new album, Something Is Working Up Above My Head (Dualtone), which “finds Hearst and Trent leaning heavier into the rock and punk roots that have always been foundational to the signature sound.” Al Olender opens the show at 8 p.m. $30.
Tomorrow night (Saturday) it’s back to The Sydney for Wichita “post-bubblegrunge” band Breeding Brainbow. Their latest EP, Or Do You Hate Me, came out last November on Shiprek Records. Providing support is our very own Bad Self Portraits and Uh Oh. $10, 9 p.m.
And that’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend.
I get a lot of requests from publicists. Anyone who runs a music blog gets them — dozens/hundreds of PR requests per day to hype an artist’s latest album, tour, what have you. Almost all get the delete-key treatment. There has to be a hook to make the request relevant.
In Stavro’s case, the hook is that he’s from here. According to the one-sheet “Stavro is a singer-songwriter hailing from Omaha’s storied indie scene.” Now, I don’t pretend to know every indie artist in our fair city, but I have been covering the Omaha/Nebraska indie music scene for over 30 years, and I never heard of Stavro.
I had, however, heard of Ben Brodin at ARC Studios and Hand Branch Studio, who produced Stavro’s new LP, You Turning World, to be self-released Oct. 25. So I asked the publicist (the super-talented Caroline Borolla of the Clarion Call agency) for Stavro’s contact information.
Turns out Stavro was born and raised right here in River City. He’s just been gone for the past few years, earning his undergraduate degree in Boston. Now he’s back in town attending law school at Creighton.
“I’d been writing music throughout my undergrad without committing to a serious recording strategy,” Stavro said (he prefers not to use his full name). “When I moved back (to Omaha), I wanted to do my best to get into some sort of recording studio with some type of professional who could shepherd me through the process. My friends who were musicians led me to Ben at the B Room at ARC.”
The new album is actually Stavro’s third LP. The first was released in 2019 on the cusp of the pandemic. The second was a “collaborative experiment” with some Greek American musicians.
“I spent a lot of my last year in school songwriting,” he said. After discovering that Brodin was about to relocate to Los Angeles, Stavro wanted to get into the studio with him before he left.
“(The album) is the culmination of work with Ben, the most intensive collaboration that we’ve had together,” Stavro said. “It took five or six months to write and took us from the first scratch tracks to final mixes something north of a year to record.”
The track premiering today, “What Might It Feel Like?,” reminds me of a couple of my favorite singer/songwriters from the ‘90s — Michael Penn and Matthew Sweet. Surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly), Stavro wasn’t familiar with either of them, but that’s OK considering I wasn’t familiar with Stavro.
Because apparently he has played in a number of Omaha venues over the years. “I did a residency at the Barley Street Tavern and played a couple times in Slowdown’s front room,” he said. He’s also played smaller rooms, like Blackstone Social.
“My goal is to gig the new album locally to start, beginning with an album release show at the end of October,” Stavro said. He wants to share a bill with his pal Jack McLaughlin (Spector Poetics), hopefully at Pageturners, but the details haven’t been worked out yet. He’s also considering putting together a band. If so, he better hurry up, because that Oct. 25 drop date is just around the corner.
Here’s the premier of “What Might It Feel Like?” from Stavro, off his upcoming album, You Turning World:
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The music of St. Louis band Foxing, who is playing tonight at Slowdown, has been described as indie, post-rock and even emo. Songs like the ethereal 8-minute “Greyhound” off the band’s latest self-titled album shift from a variety of dense tonal settings and can be quite a journey, but on songs like the opening track (“Secret History”) and “Hell 99,” frontman Conor Murphy has a way of cutting through the pretty stuff with his screeching yell-vocals. So, maybe screamo? That’s too limiting considering when it comes to vocals, Murphy is all over the map. Find out tonight at Slowdown. Joining Foxing are Indian Lanes and Treanne. 8 p.m., $25.
I admit I wasn’t that aware of Cincinnati band WHY? before last night’s show at Slowdown was announced a few months ago. WHY?’s publicist had reached out asking for coverage and I offered a Ten Questions survey, which frontman Yoni Wolf masterfully filled out. For the write-up, I listened to WHY? for the first time.
Their bio, including their Wiki page, suggested WHY? was a hip-hop project, but there was very little rapping on recent release, The Well I Fell Into, the band’s eighth studio album, produced by Brian Joseph (who has worked in the past with Sufjan Stevens and Bon Iver). The record vacillates between dour heartbreak songs and more upbeat keyboard-driven bouncers, and rewards repeated listens.
Playing as a four-piece, WHY? gave new life to the album last night, providing a more lively interpretation. Wolf’s nasal vocals had a similar hang-dog style as Silver Jew’s Dave Berman or Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt (and when combined with guitarist Mol Sullivan’s harmonies, even recalled Timbuk 3’s acoustic moments). The band, filled out by Josiah Wolf on drums and Doug McDiarmid on keyboards and bass, fell into a solid, relaxed groove.
After about an hour, WHY? left the stage but returned for a three-song encore performed standing in front of a single microphone, where Yoni finally got a chance to strut his rhyming skills, performing “Early Whitney” off 2003’s Oaklandazulasylum, “Fatalist Palmistry” from 2008’s Alopecia and “Paper Hearts,” off 2012’s Mumps, Etc., while a hand-clapping crowd of around 75 looked on with glee.
NNAMDÏ at Slowdown, Sept. 24, 2024.
Opener, Chicago’s NNAMDÏ performed solo backed by his laptop, singing with an auto-tune pedal Travis Scott-style. A handful of his fans stood in front of the stage and sang along to every word. The set ascended to the next level when he busted out an electric guitar and riffed over the tracks.
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It’s a trip back to ’78 tonight at The Admiral Theater as Descendents headline with support from Buzzcocks. Descendents’ current line-up is Bill Stevenson, drums, Karl Alvarez, bass; Stephen Egerton, guitar, and Milo Aukerman, vocals. While Steve Diggle is the only remaining original member of Buzzcocks playing tonight. Bay-area punk band Grumpster kicks things off at 7:30 p.m. $37-$75.
A few notes to pass along from the in-box (and other places)…
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In addition to releasing a new album with his band Cursive, Tim Kasher has a new feature-length horror film about to make the festival rounds called Who’s Watching.
“Who’s Watching is a story I first conceived way back in 2010, as I had yet to see a movie approach the stalker trope from this particular angle,” Kasher said in an article in horror film blog Bloody Disgusting. “After passing the script around to little interest, I set it aside before returning to it around 2018, realizing that STILL no one had told this story in such a fashion. A few bumpy years followed (as well as a pandemic) but we eventually got it shot in late summer of 2023, in and around Omaha, Nebraska where I was born and raised.”
The film was written and directed by Kasher, who also composed the film’s music. While it doesn’t have a release date, Who’s Watching will be shown at Beyond Fest and the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival. Can a world premiere at Film Streams be far behind?
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Has Saddle Creek Records’ high-flying act Indigo De Souza left our hometown label? In a surprise move last week (to me, anyway) De Souza released her new EP, Wholesome Evil Fantasy, via Loma Vista Recordings. If you go to the Loma Vista website you’ll find plenty of Indigo De Souza content. However, click to Indigo’s personal website and she still lists Saddle Creek as her label contact. Hmm?
The 3-song electro-pop auto-tuner-driven EP is a departure from the usual indie-rock heard on De Souza’s past Saddle Creek releases. Is this a one-off experiment or a permanent change of pace (and change of label) for one of Saddle Creek’s most popular artists?
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Post-Omaha singer/songwriter Anna McClellan announced last week via Terrorbird PR that her new album, Electric Bouquet, will be released Oct. 25 via Father/Daughter Records.
Co-produced with long-time collaborator Ryan McKeever and ARC Studios engineer Adam Roberts, the album was recorded both in Baltimore and Omaha. “While writing the album, Anna attended trade school, apprenticing to become an electrician to escape the service industry grind and secure a foundational career alongside music. Eager to break free from Omaha, she decided to take her newfound electrical skills to pursue a career in the film industry in Los Angeles, CA where she’s now based,” reads the one-sheet.
The 11-track LP includes a send-off of sorts to her hometown — “the grungy “Omaha” sees McClellan delving into her complex relationship with her hometown, navigating between identity, sense of place, and self-groundedness: ‘Wilting til I rot / Is it me or is it Omaha?’”
Check out the video for the first single, “Endlessly,” released Sept. 10…
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Tonight at Slowdown Cinci band WHY? headlines on the frontroom stage. Check out the Ten Questions survey taken by frontman Yoni Wolf before you head down to the show. Joining them is Chicago multiple instrumentalist/songwriter NNAMDÏ (Secretly Canadian Records). $25, 8 p.m.
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