Brooklyn’s MX Lonely play tonight at Blindspot.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Blindspot, the all-ages venue located at 619 So. 20th St., apparently hosted BIB’s tour kick-off show last night, based on some online footage from the socials. Secret show? I didn’t see it listed on the Blindspot Instagram page. But that’s the way it can be with these DIY spaces. The fact that Blindspot is even putting their address on flyers now is a massive step forward.

Tonight, Blindspot welcomes in February with Brooklyn indie band MX Lonely, whose sound has been described as a combination of shoe-gaze and grunge. Shoe-grunge?  Grunge-gazers?  Hey, let’s nix it the labels, shall we?

They’re on the road supporting the upcoming release of their Spit EP on Boston label Candlepin Records, which, according to Brooklyn Vegan (who no doubt got the info from a one-sheet), is a follow-up to their 2022 LP Cadonia. The latest single, “Too Many Pwr Chords,” comes with a video that is a cautionary tale about jogging with your bandmates.

Opening the show tonight is Omaha underground buzz bands Western Haikus and Cupholder. This is a nice get by Blindspot, which more often hosts metal and hardcore shows. $10, 7:30 p.m. Will this ripe old indie hipster infiltrate this youth-targeted DIY space tonight? Maybe…. 

This is last touring indie show for a couple weeks, so get it in or regret not going… Here’s the latest touring-indie-band Omaha calendar:

•  Feb. 1 – MX Lonely at Blindspot
• — Feb. 16 – David Nance and Mowed Sound LP release at Reverb
• — Feb. 17 – Matthew Sweet at Waiting Room
• — Feb. 19 – Yo La Tengo at Waiting Room 
• — Feb. 24 – Porno for Pyros at The Astro
• — Feb. 29 – Katy Kirby at Reverb
• — March 6 – Jenny Lewis at The Admiral
• — March 18 – Color Green at Reverb
• — March 22 – Sun June, Wild Pink at Reverb
• — April 14 – Twin Tribes at Reverb
• — April 20 – Rosali at O’Leaver’s
• — April 24 – Sheer Mag at Reverb 

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

David Nance & Mowed Sound at The Waiting Room Dec. 26, 2023.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Yesterday it was announced via their PR agency that David Nance’s next album, titled David Nance & Mowed Sound, will be released Feb. 9 on Jack White’s Third Man Records.  

Nance’s relationship with White goes back at least to September 2018 when a member of White’s team reached out and asked if Nance would open for White at an outdoor gig at ONEOK Field in Tulsa, according to this interview. A year later, Third Man released a 7-inch by David Nance Group, “Meanwhile” b/w “Credit Line”. I guess ol’ Jack liked what he heard.

From yesterday’s press release: 

“Led by Nance on vocals and guitar alongside Kevin Donahue on drums, James Schroeder on guitar, Derrick Higgins and Sam Lipsett on bass, alongside guest appearances from Megan Siebe, Skye Junginger, and Pearl LoveJoy Boyd, Nance brings together a crew of veteran Omaha musicians for a record that showcases Nance’s  voracious appetite for anything that rocks, anything that soothes, and all the glorious static and disturbed transmissions in between. ‘The whole album is a big magic trick,’ Nance says, ‘most of these songs were written as country songs and then were perverted into different forms…but it sure as shit isn’t a country record.’”

No, it’s definitely not C&W. Folks who saw David Nance & Mowed Sound open for Icky Blossoms Dec. 26 at The Waiting Room likely got a sneak preview of some of the new material, which, as I mentioned in the show review, sounded like a midwestern version of Robbie Robertson and The Band. Listen to the first single, “Mock the Hours,” embedded below. You can pre-order the album from the Bandcamp page, which, strangely enough, has Nance’s own Western Records logo on the header (but includes a link back to the Third Man Records site). 

The album’s track listing includes yet another version of “Credit Line” — this will mark the third recorded version of the song that I’m aware of, and hopefully resembles the gritty, rock version they played at Petfest back in ’22.

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There are no indie shows to speak of this weekend. It’s as simple as that. 

However, in perusing my Instagram feed this week, I discovered that New York-based heavy shoegaze band MX Lonely will be playing at the mysterious, illusive, new all-ages punk venue The Blindspot Feb. 1. 

It took some serious internet digging to find out anything about the band, but I finally found this article on Post-punk.com that said MX Lonely was formed in November 2021 by Rae Haas and Jake Harms (ex-HARMS), initially as a home recording project. In November 2020 Haas began collaborating with fellow Brooklyn multi-instrumentalists, Gabe Garman and Chris Curtin. The article’s author, Alice Teeple, said thier music sounds like “a mix of Deftones, Hotline TNT, Preoccupations, Nothing, Cloakroom, and a few Frank Black screams for good measure,” which is pretty straight on. Hear for yourself. 

Anyway, stick a pin in Feb. 1 for this show. Opening is Omaha underground buzz bands Western Haikus and Cupholder. The Blindspot used to be one of those places that didn’t list their address, however their latest posts on Instagram show the addy as 619 So. 20th St. $10, 7:30 p.m. Considering my age, I’m going to have to go in disguise…

Have a great weekend…

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

A follow-up to yesterday’s post — The Blindspot is a new all-ages venue just getting off the ground located somewhere around 20th and St. Mary’s. Co-owned by Morgan Goldsberry and Cameron Leininger, the space has already hosted a “test run” show and has a hardcore show headlined by Zero Function slated for June 20. 

Information about shows will be posted on their instagram stories ( @deadzeppelin and @whistletest ). Goldsberry says she’s been going to shows for nearly 12 years and looks at Blindspot as a way to give back to the DIY community.  Like all local DIY shows, you’ll have to reach out to her or Leininger for the venue’s exact address. Watch for their flyers. I’ll also be hyping their indie shows when I’m aware of them, like the Pardoner show happening at Blindspot July 3.

It’s nice to see a new crop of promoters working with touring indie acts, promoters who are booking bands that they actually want to see.

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Speaking of shows, All Young Girls Are Machine Guns is headlining a show tonight at Pageturners Lounge with opener Indian Caves. It’s listed with a 7 p.m. start time and is free, though $10 donation is suggested.

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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 © 2023 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.