Little Brazil, circa now.

by Tim McMahan. Lazy-i.com

You might have wondered the same thing I did when you saw the sexy new band photo for Little Brazil (above) posted yesterday: Where’s the rest of the band?

Guitarist Greg Edds (the guy on the left) confirmed that drummer Oliver Morgan and wife Megan have left the band to focus on their other band, Landing on the Moon.

Edds characterized the line-up change this way: “Obviously, we all are still close friends and you’ll most likely find us in Benson shooting Rumplemintz and tossing Busch Light cans at each other. It’s all good.”

So who’s playing drums now? None other than Desaparecidos drummer Matt Baum. Edds said Baum is filling in for the band’s next show — Dec. 27 at The Waiting Room with The Sons of The Waiting Room, John Klemmensen and the Party, and The Brigadiers (more about them in a sec).

Oliver’s technical, intricate drumming style with lots o’ cymbals has always been a core element of the band’s sound. “Bombastic” might be the best way to describe Baum’s style (Edds referred to Baum’s “Hulk Smash” skills — quite appropriate). The only thing more signature than Baum’s booming style is his habit of getting up from behind the kit between songs and yelling at the crowd.

One of the few other local drummers that hits the toms as hard as Baum is former Cursive drummer Clint Schnase, who put away the sticks back in 2007, returning for a one-shot performance at the August 2011 Maha Festival. Well, Schnase’s back, this time as drummer of The Brigadiers, a band that includes Shane Lamson, guitar, vocals; Mark Weber (ex-Box), lead guitar, vocals; and Vic Padios (ex-Calico, ex-Gymnastics), bass, vocals. This Dec. 27 show is looking pretty hot…

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In this week’s column, random notes written a week ago (due to pushed-up holiday deadlines) about Lance Armstrong, Bob Kerrey and the new Ralston Arena. You can read it in the current issue of The Reader (which I’m told is already on news stands) or online right here.

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We all have the day off tomorrow, so there’s no excuse for not going to a show (unless the show sells out), and there are some doozies to choose from.

Tonight at The Slowdown it’s the return of Tilly and the Wall. The band has been on the road for a few weeks supporting their most recent Team Love release, Heavy Mood. For me, Tilly’s always been a sweet little tap-dancing-fueled combo tailor made for the little girl in all of us — cute and fun, with rarely noticed sinister lyrics lying just beneath the covers.

That changed with Heavy Mood, which, after you get past the B-52’s-flavored opening tracks, is as good of an indie rock album as I’ve heard this year. For me, the best part is that the band has finally learned to harmonize. In the old days, everyone sang the same note at the same time, which while sounding “youthful” also sounded very amateurish. Harmony rich tracks like “Hey Rainbow” and “I Believe in You” give Azure Ray a fun for their money. “Echo My Love” is flat-out one of the best tracks I’ve heard this year. Opening tonight’s show is Saddle Creek Records act UUVVWWZ and Sun Settings. $13, 9 p.m. In her weekly email, Val kinda/sorta warned that this one could sell out, so if you’re into it, get your tickets online now.

Also tonight, down where Omaha indie rock was born — Sokol Underground — it’s the return of Titus Andronicus. Their new album, Local Business (XL Records) takes a few steps back from their last two epic-strewn releases to more stripped-down territory. Heck, there are even a few songs in the 3- to 5-minute-long category. But ol’ Pat Stickles just can’t help himself and thus, right in the middle is the 8-plus-minute “My Eating Disorder” while the nearly 10-minute “Tried to Quit Smoking” closes out the record.

Those long songs just seem to meander, especially when played live. I’ve seen these guys a number of  times and their best sets have been at SXSW, where they were forced to keep it simple and keep it quick. As a headliner, expect another epic (and long) performance. Opening this four-band bill are local boys Gordon, Iowa City’s Slut River, and Matador Records band Ceremony, who by themselves would be a decent draw. $15, 9 p.m. Slowburn Productions kinda/sorta warned that this one might sell out, too. You might want to get your tickets right now right here.

Also tonight, the 3rd Annual Benson Canned Food Drive is happening at the Barley Street Tavern. Performers include Brad Hoshaw, Kyle Harvey (I guess he’s in town for the holidays), Matt Cox, John Klemmenson, Nick Carl, Bret Vovk, Rebecca Lowry and Matt Whipkey. Admission is two cans of food. Show starts at 9.

And The Waiting Room is hosting a slew of “tribute” (more like cover) bands including REModeled doing their version of Reckoning, Surfer Rosa and Rock and Roll Suicide doing Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense. $7, 9 p.m.

Better get it in tonight, folks, because there ain’t shit going on tomorrow or Friday night.

Happy Turkey Day…

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily at Lazy-i.com — an online music magazine that includes feature interviews, reviews and news. The focus is on the national indie music scene with a special emphasis on the best original bands in the Omaha area. Copyright © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Pinkerton at The Waiting Room, June 11, 2011.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The problem with seeing Pinkerton this past Saturday night at The Waiting Room: I’ve had that “Buddy Holly” song stuck in my head all weekend. Pinkerton wasn’t so much a “Weezer tribute band” as a band that played Weezer songs. Fronted by Stephen Pedersen (Criteria) and including Clint Schnase (Cursive) on drums, the four-piece played stripped down, sweaty versions of songs off the first two Weezer albums — arguably the only two Weezer albums worth owning.

But along the way they took some liberties with some of the arrangements. As Pedersen said from stage, Weezer songs only have four chords so they had to do something to make things a little more interesting. That usually involved heavier arrangements of favorites like “Undone – The Sweater Song” and set closer “Tired of Sex.” So no, these weren’t note-for-note renditions of the classics (heck, there wasn’t even any keyboards, and yes, I missed them), but they did their job of getting the healthy-sized audience (100+) singing along, and with gusto.

One other footnote: Schnase is, indeed, back. No doubt he’ll be ready for his return to Cursive at MAHA in August.

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Tonight, at The Waiting Room it’s Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. and EMA. I don’t know much about DEJJ, but I can tell you that EMA is a force to be reckoned with. EMA stands for Erika M. Anderson, a native of South Dakota, whose music is described as Drone Folk. On her debut, Past Life Martyred Saints (Souterrain Transmissions) she puts it all out there lyrically in a way I haven’t heard since maybe Liz Phair’s Matador debut, all the while drenching each song with layers of guitar/keyboards/static/feedback/numbed pain. The centerpiece is “California,” an anti-ode to the Golden State, with lines like “You’re bleeding from the fingertips / You rubbed me raw, you rubbed me wrong” and “What does failure taste like? / To me it tastes like dirt / I’m begging you please to look away.” Harsh. Hard. Fantastic. And worth the $10 all by herself. Show starts at 9.

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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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

The classic Cursive lineup, from left, Matt Maginn, Clint Schnase, Ted Stevens and Tim Kasher.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

This is what I wrote back in March 2007 when I found out that drummer Clint Schnase had left seminal Omaha rock band Cursive:

Schnase is probably the most under-rated and under-appreciated musician in the Omaha music scene. His drumming is at the core of Cursive’s explosively rhythmic music, the bedrock along with Matt Maginn’s bass on which all of Cursive’s bombastic sonic freak-outs are built. He won’t be easily replaced, and those of you who never had a chance to see and feel his white-knuckled stickwork live on stage are the lesser for it.

I thought that was the end of Schnase in Cursive. I was wrong.

This week the folks who run the MAHA Music Festival announced that Schnase would be returning to Cursive for one night only, for the band’s festival performance Aug. 13.

Schnase said the opportunity to rejoin his comrades was a matter of timing.

“When MAHA announced that Cursive was playing I sent a text to Matt to say congrats on getting the invite,” Schnase said. “He mentioned to me that Cully (Symington, one of the drummers who replaced Schnase along with Cornbread Compton) was not going to be able to play and asked if I wanted to fill in for the night. I don’t think he believed me when I said yes. He had offered me a show here and there over the past however many years and the timing just wasn’t right. This time it has just fallen into place.”

But anyone who has ever seen the shock-and-awe power of Schnase knows that he couldn’t just pick up where he left off four years ago; it would be like Michael Jordan walking off the golf course and strolling onto the court to rejoin the Bulls without so much as a practice under his belt (and the Bulls could have used Jordan last night). Muscles must be rebuilt, power must be restored.  Schnase knows this.

“I have been playing in a cover band (the Weezer tribute band Pinkerton with another former Cursive member, Steve Pedersen) for three months now,” Schnase said. “It has been so much fun! I told the guys after our first practice that it felt like I had just played yesterday when in reality it had been three plus years. We have a show at The Waiting Room coming up on June 11.”

No doubt Schnase will be ready, but is this really just a one-and-done show with Cursive?

“Yes,” Schnase said. “(I’m) not ready to jump back into the whole touring world. Don’t know that I ever will be. I enjoyed nearly every minute I got to tour and share music with people, but I think that chapter is closed. I stepped away from it to start a family and settle down. I have a two-and-a-half year old girl (Eleanor) and she is my world now. I stay home and take care of her. I’m in a great place.”

Still, it must have been as weird for Schnase (as it was for me) seeing someone else playing drums with his former band. Schnase said it did feel “strange, but it thrills me to no end that the boys are still out there making music and touring. We had an amazing run but I think you can expect even better things from them in the years to come.”

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Speaking of MAHA, festival organizers announced yesterday that local electronica band Somasphere has been added to the local stage.

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Now, onto the three-day weekend…

Tonight at The Hole (located behind Subway, via the alley entrance, in Benson) it’s Bullet Proof Hearts, Baby Tears, Dads, and Scratch Howl. If you haven’t checked out this new all-ages venue, tonight’s the night. 7:30, $5.

Meanwhile, over at O’Leaver’s, it’s Techlepathy, Qing Jao and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Out west at Shamrock’s, 5338 N 103rd St., Ragged Company headlines a show with Traveling Mercies and The Fergesens. 9 p.m., no idea on the cover.

Tomorrow night (Saturday) Hot Shops is hosting a fund raiser from 3 to 10 p.m. that will feature music from Matt Cox, Southpaw Bluegrass Band, Whiskey Pistols, a DJ set from The Faint’s Jacob Thiele with Depressed Buttons. Find out more at the event’s Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=204013532959380

Also Saturday night Fortnight plays with Blue Bird and Betsy Wells at Stir Lounge at Harrah’s Casino. $5, 9 p.m.

At O’Leaver’s, Snake Island plays with The Spook Lights and Sleepers. $5, 9:30 p.m.

And let’s not forget Primus playing in Benson outside The Waiting Room Saturday night with The Dead Kenny G’s. $32.50 adv/$35 DOS. Starts at 7:30.

Finally Sunday, perhaps the most under-the-radar show of the weekend, Orenda Fink plays at The Barley Street Tavern with Whispertown (solo) and McCarthy Trenching. How the Barley will pull this off with its limited capacity is anyone’s guess. This is a “do not miss” show. $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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

So what’s going on at Team Love Records, the label started by Conor Oberst and Nate Krenkel whose roster has included Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins, Craig Wedren, Dave Dondero and Berg Sans Nipple? When it was announced that Nik Freitas’ new album, Sunday Night Underwater, was going to be released on a different label (Freitas has been with Team Love since 2008’s Sun Down) eyebrows were raised in suspicion. Than word began going ’round that the new Tilly and the Wall CD also may be released on a different label. Tilly’s Wild Like Children is TL01 — the first release on Team Love back on June 29, 2004.

So had the ever-decaying music industry finally dragged yet another label down? Not at all, said Team Love label exec Matt Maginn.

“Due to the economy and a decline in sales in the industry Team Love has decided to significantly reduce its number of releases and new signings,” Maginn said. “The plan since late last summer has been to slow down and conserve cash in an effort to be able to do our usual proper promotion for whatever we release. So basically keep the promotion the same but just much fewer releases.  Our current roster gets priority and of course since they were our first release Tilly is at the top of that list.  With Freitas it was a matter of timing.  He was moving forward at a time when we were just pulling back the reins on expenses so it was best for him to stay on his schedule.”

Maginn said the label has released three records and a documentary in the last 10 months, including new albums by Berg Sans Nipple, Dave Dondero, and Refried Ice Cream.

“There was sort of this initial ‘The sky is falling’ reaction to our financial crunch last year,” Maginn said, “but the plan we have put in place seems to be working and we plan to continue releasing music and maybe even more documentaries, too.”

Maginn added that Team Love would love to release the new Tilly record once it is completed, “but as always, we only do one-record contracts so it is up to them to decide what is the best fit for their record,” he said.

Since I had Maginn’s attention, I asked what he thought about moving to a vinyl-only w/download format — i.e., no CDs. A few touring bands have told me that their fans only request vinyl on the road, and I must admit that I’m also a sucker for vinyl when it’s available.

“I like the digital and vinyl avenue, but it is a little tricky,” Maginn said. “We sell a ton of vinyl at shows but (as part of) total sales it only accounts for about 20 percent when you take in digital and physical CDs at stores, etc. Vinyl is the best but the problem for labels and bands is that there is very little profit in them.  You basically have to sell 80 percent of the product before you can break even. Vinyl costs five to eight times as much as CDs, depending on quality and packaging.”

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Maginn, btw, also plays bass in Cursive, as you’re all aware. And it just so happens that the biggest news so far of this year’s festival season is that Cursive drummer Clint Schnase will return to the band to perform for one night only — during the MAHA Music Festival Aug. 13. Schnase will talk about his return to Cursive here at Lazy-i Friday.

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Tonight at The Waiting Room it’s a free show featuring Lonely Estates, Brad Hoshaw, Moscow Mule and Clock Ticks Late. A five-piece, Lonely Estates currently is recording an album with revered local producer A.J. Mogis. Worth checking out, especially at that price. 9 p.m.

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Tomorrow, an up-close-and-personal look at Love Drunk Studio.

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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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.