Reddenhollow plays in O’Leaver’s basement Saturday night…

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

No touring indie shows this weekend. Same old story.  So what else is happening in Omaha this weekend? 

Saturday night there’s a subterranean show at fabulous O’Leaver’s. For whatever reason, O’Leaver’s is hosting the performers in their basement, I guess in the area that used to be (and maybe still is) a rentable karaoke space. I haven’t been down there in years. 

The featured artist for Live in O’Leaver’s Basement is the quiet acoustic folk of Asheville, North Carolina singer/songwriter Reddenhollow, a.k.a. Taylor Moses. Vocally, he reminds me of a bit of Will Oldham, though his music isn’t as bleak. Also on the bill is our very own Megan Siebe, hot of touring with Cursive. Sean Pratt opens at 8 p.m. $10.  This should be a laid-back show, which I guess is why they put it in the basement, away from the usual O’Leaver’s chaos…

And as mentioned yesterday, this weekend sees two farewell shows for Darren Keen, who is moving to Chicago. Tonight, his latest project, PROBLEMS, plays at Duffy’s in Lincoln with Pagan Athletes and Benjamin Gear X. 6 p.m., $10. Then Sunday night (July 16), PROBLEMS plays at The Sydney in Benson with Turquoise, Cultplay and Oceanz. $10, 5 p.m. Come say goodbye to a Nebraska icon!

That’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. 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 © 2023 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

In the news department, Lincoln and sometimes Omaha electronic-fueled singer, songwriter and beat maker Darren Keen says he’s moving to Chicago. You likely know Darren from his current project, PROBLEMS, as well as his former project, The Show Is the Rainbow.

In Darren’s own words: “It’s just time. Gotta go back to a bigger city.” Keen spent years in NYC before moving back to Nebraska. His music continues to grow and he’s been touring his one-man project constantly the last few years. Chicago is a smart move and something tells me will provide a happy ending to an already pretty happy story. 

To send him off in style, PROBLEMS has two nights of going away gigs this weekend. Friday night, PROBLEMS is at Duffy’s Lounge in Lincoln with Pagan Athletes and Benjamin Gear X. $10, 6 to 9 p.m. Sunday night (July 16), PROBLEMS plays The Sydney in Benson with Turquoise, Cultplay and Oceanz. 5 to 9 p.m., $10 donation. 

Come say goodbye to a dude who has been a staple of Nebraska music for the past 20 years! Don’t forget us, Darren…

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What’s happening tonight? 

Down at The Slowdown in the Main Room, Oregon band Flor headlines. The four-piece (now a trio) is a self-proclaimed indie band and Fueled by Ramen is, indeed, an indie label (The Front Bottoms, Panic at the Disco) or should I say “was” as they were bought by Elektra Records in 2018. Flor is more of a pop band masquerading as an indie. That said, the acts opening for Flor tonight — Bad Self Portraits and BB Sledge — are as indie as they come. $25, 8 p.m. 

Also tonight, Safe Space plays at The Sydney in Benson. This is the indie-style project by the pop singer/songwriter who performs locally by the name “Ione.” In this iteration, she sings singer/songwriter fare alongside a talented guitarist – quite a contrast to the Sheryl Crow-style pop stuff she’s becoming known for (thanks to Bon Jovi). Also on the bill are The Oddities and Chase the Horseman, two acts I’m not familiar with. Three performances on a Thursday night starting at 8 p.m.? Only at The Sydney. $10. 

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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.

First time I met Darren Keen was almost 20 years ago when he and his band at the time, Musico, dropped off a CD of their latest recordings to a house my then-girlfriend now-wife and I were renting on Izard St. Darren would go on to form The Show Is the Rainbow — a one-man psych-rock hip-hop project that was as much about Keen’s live performances as his trippy merging of rock, rap and good humor.

Since then, Darren has reimagined his sound a number of times, been involved in other bands (Beep Beep comes to mind), moved to New York City and moved back to Lincoln. And now he’s back with a new synth-powered project – Problems.

“A lessen I learned from Joel (Petersen) in the Faint. He said, ‘Your guitar stuff and bass sounds good, but you do not understand how to make a synth sound expressive.’ That quote changed my whole perspective on what a synthesizer can do.” Keen said. “Why do some synths sound so much more visceral? I’ve been trying to figure that out for 12 years.”

I think he’s cracked the code.

Those comments came after I asked why some local synth-based recordings (to me) sound like remixing of pre-packaged, canned synth sounds, while others take it to the next level. Keen’s work on his debut Problems LP, Ought Not Be Overthought, which drops tomorrow on club music label Knightwerk Records, takes it to the next level, and the proof was my wife asking from the next room, “What is this? I love it.”

Keen calls the sound on Problems recordings “subversive house” but “I know it will get lumped in with other genres,” he said. “Some people are comparing it to electro artists like Mr. Oizo, Justice and Daft Punk. It’s not techno; it’s dance music. I start with a four-on-the-floor kick drum on every track. Putting limitations on it allows me to explore creatively in a way that’s deeper than I could before.”

His process on Problems material involves spending a couple weeks setting up what he calls “good templates” — the fundamental kick drum, cymbals and synths. “It’s sort of like the gear a band would acquire and bring into the studio,” he said.

Once the templates were in place, Keen said he recorded and mastered the album tracks in three days. “When it came time to write, I started on a Monday and by Friday was putting out a record.”

He’s celebrating the release of the new album with a free live stream performance tomorrow night, Dec. 4, hosted by Lincoln’s BLACK MAGIK and DJ KevyCav. The stream will be on twitch, here: http://twitch.tv/blackmagikpresents . More info on the stream here.

Keen’s already working on more Problems, with another single and full-length slated for release on a different label next spring. “That one will have a limited physical release,” he said. “As will the one after that.”

“As some form of gigging comes back (post-COVID), it will make more sense to make stuff again,” he said. “People are still at home looking for things to do and want to buy records and cassettes to support artists. I’ve spent more money on music post-COVID than before I moved back to Nebraska.”

Pre-order the new album at the Problems Bandcamp page.

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily (if there’s news) 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 © 2020 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Three new releases to tell you about…

Yesterday Ethan Jones, whose past bands have included Putrescine, Ladyfinger and Dumb Beach, released a new EP via Bandcamp called McMcCartney.

“All of these songs started as home recordings/demos and very slowly morphed into real songs and were finally finished several months into the pandemic,” says the liner notes. “All instruments were performed and recorded by Ethan Jones using mostly cheap gear, a very slow, out-dated iMac, and one single microphone… a trusty Shure SM57.”

The recording was mixed by Drew Rudenbusch and mastered by Darren Keen. This one is something of a surprise and in the grand tradition of Jones’ former bands — i.e., heavy, groovy shit. Would love to hear this performed live (Damn you, COVID!) You can buy the download at a name-your-price price from Jones’ Bandcamp page.

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Seeing Darren Keen’s name reminded me of an oversight which I want fix now. Back in September James Schroeder (UUVVWWZ, David Nance Band) released a solo album called Mesa Buoy, which I somehow totally overlooked. As you can imagine, the 8-song recording is a showcase for Schroeder’s amazing guitar work.

“This recorded material is one end of a stubborn vision that infected my writing process for the better part of a decade,” Schroeder says in the liner notes. “Pieces floating in one sketched form or another, hauled from basement to basement like a cinder block matryoshka doll. Toiled slowly and steadily between tours and recording with other groups.”

The project features some of Nebraska’s finest talent: Kevin Donahue on drums, Colin Duckworth on pedal steel, Patrick Newbery on Rhodes, Michael Overfield on bass and Megan Siebe on cello, with special guest appearances by Jay Kreimer and David Nance.

Ben Brodin engineered and mixed the recording at ARC; Darren Keen did the mastering. It’s quite a feast of styles and substance, underscored by Schroeder’s remarkable guitar work. Download the album for $7 at Schroeder’s Bandcamp page.

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Speaking of Darren Keen, the mastermind behind The Show Is the Rainbow has a new electronic project called Problems that will see the release of its debut, Ought Not Be Overthought, Dec. 4 on LA label Knightwerk Records. The first single, “Single,” was released a couple weeks ago. Get into it:

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily (if there’s news) 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 © 2020 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Fisherman’s Blues, Chad Leahy, 12″ x 12″ oil on board. Based on The Waterboys’ song. See all 12 song interpretations tonight at The Little Gallery. #BFF

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Pre-election weekend. We’re all tense. Let’s relax with some music and art before we head to the polls.

Tonight at The Waiting Room it’s Mountain Man, a project I hadn’t heard of until I saw the listing on the One Percent website. It’s a trio of women who sing a cappella or with acoustic guitar, lots of harmonies and a hint of Appalachia. Among the trio is Sylvan Esso’s Amelia Meath. Their latest album, Magic Ship, was released on Nonesuch in September and garnered a 7.6 in Pitchfork. Durham, NC act The Dead Tongues opens at 9 p.m. $22.

In case you’ve forgotten, it’s Benson First Friday (#BFF).

As always, I implore you to drop by our gallery, The Little Gallery, located in the east bay of the Masonic Lodge Building at 5901 Maple St. This month’s featured artists are Chad Leahy and Jennifer Solberg.

Solberg has created amazing homemade books you have to see to believe. Leahy has created 12 oil paintings inspired by 12 songs that have impacted his life. It’s kind of like one of those Facebook list posts, where you have to name 12 songs you can’t live without, but done up in oil paints. Here’s his visual playlist:

Down in a Hole – Ryan Adams & The Cardinals
Square Room – Cowboy Junkies
Comfortably Numb – Pink Floyd
Cynthia Mask – Robyn Hitchcock
Fisherman’s Blues – The Waterboys
Lips Like Sugar – Echo and the Bunnymen
Etcetera Whatever – Over the Rhine
River on Fire – Adam Again
End of the Maze – CLOSENESS
Lullaby – The Cure
Cuts You Up – Peter Murphy
Nothing Compares 2 U – Chris Cornell

See how Chad interpreted each song on canvas, from 6 to 9 p.m. tonight. It’s free and we’ll have Pacifico and treats on hand. See you there.

As per usual, The Sydney is in BFF mode with a show featuring Black Jonny Quest, Hussies, Sweats and Dorsia. $5, 10 p.m.

Also tonight, Darren Keen (The Show Is the Rainbow) returns to fabulous O’Leaver’s opening for DAD. Articulate also is on the bill. $7, 10 p.m.

The weekend’s big show is Those Far Out Arrows’ album release show at The Brothers Saturday night, which you read about here. Opening is Tyrone Storm and Rusty Lord. $5, 9 p.m.

Good ol’ O’Leaver’s has CatBeret Saturday (Caturday?) night. The Morbs and Heather Horst open. $5, 10 p.m.

Then comes Sunday’s big Get Out the Vote gig with Conor Oberst at The B Bar, the club located under Barrett’s Castle at 4330 Leavenworth. Kara Eastman for Congress is putting on this show, which also features MiWi La Lupa and Edem Soul Music. The rally runs from 6 to 9 p.m. and suggested donation is $20.

And that’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. 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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Iceage at Slowdown Jr., Oct. 24, 2014. The band plays at The Waiting Room June 18.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Yesterday Darren Keen, who you might remember from The Show Is the Rainbow, shared links to a couple new albums he just dropped. They’re instrumental albums called Let Me Score Your Video Game and Let Me Score Your Video Game #2.

As the names imply, these albums contain 8-bit- and 16-bit-style music that would be appropriate as soundtracks to your run-of-the-mill ’80s- or ’90s-era video game. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you will right after clicking the links below.

I asked Keen if he was a big gamer.

“I’m not a ‘gamer’ because I don’t play lots of games, but the games I do play, I play obsessively,” he said. “I grew up playing Final Fantasy games for NES – SNES – Playstation. I used to hit ‘save points’ at certain parts of the game where I liked the music a lot. The music was so so so important to me. It wasn’t til I started doing my ‘Darren Keen’ music that I realized what a huge influence Nobuo Uematsu (the dude who scored the Final Fantasy games) was on me.”

Keen would love to add “video game music composer” to his already large music resume. Maybe these albums will be the tokens that get him into that very special music industry arcade.

BTW, Keen will be celebrating the release of his new The Show Is the Rainbow LP in Lincoln this Friday and on March 3 in Benson at The Sydney.

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One Percent was busy announcing Junes shows this morning. Among them:

— Okkervil River June 9 at The Waiting Room.

— First Aid Kit June 13 at Sokol Auditorium

— Iceage June 18 at The Waiting Room

The additions are a welcome relief after a pretty quiet winter show-wise. What else does 1% have up its sleeve? And will there be any Stir Cove announcements that rival last year’s Beck concert?

Summer can’t come fast enough…

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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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor at The Slowdown Feb. 10, 2016.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Even if you’ve never seen Godspeed You! Black Emperor before but are familiar with the band’s music you pretty much knew what you were in for last night at The Slowdown.

Five minutes before the band walked onto the darkened stage a low-end rumble quietly roared like distant thunder. One at a time the eight members found their places among a stage cluttered with equipment and pedals and cables, looking for a place to set down their drinks, and quietly picked up their instruments, each adding to the building din. This went on for another five minutes or so as scratchy abstract marks began being projected on the screen behind the stage.

Eventually, the noise took form. Two percussionists began rattling things as the violin and cello added something akin to a melody that ultimately was overtaken by the three guitars and bass, and 15 minutes later you realized the concert had indeed begun.

Most compositions (songs?) were deep, repetitive ambient tonal melodies that evolved into haunting and/or majestic sweeps of sound. Sludgy, slow, deep ponderous movements were played in dim, deep-red sepia lighting, perfect for setting a mood or developing film. Overhead, the projections became less abstract — images of burning fields, film sprocket holes, a deer standing in a field, a sunset shot from inside a moving car — all in black-and-white (of course).

There wasn’t much to see on stage except lots of people leaning over things, huddled over guitars or effects pedals. Sometimes the compositions transformed into big rock numbers that reminded me of Meddle-era Pink Floyd or Mogwai, but most of the set was a pulsing dirge set to a 6/8 beat. Throughout the set, none of the performers talked to the audience. There were no microphones on stage if they’d wanted to.

It was beautiful and awful and exhausting. The set began at a quarter after 9. When I left at 11 and it was still going strong, the sold-out crowd standing in front of the stage was transfixed, mesmerized.

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A day or so after this interview from Nik Fackler hits the internet, Nik’s band Icky Blossoms released a new video for “Living in Fiction,” directed by Aaron Gum. Omahans, see how many people you recognize on the dance floor. Hey Ickys, I’m still waiting for a video for my favorite track on the album, “Away from You”…

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Everyone’s favorite Nebraska ex-patriot Darren Keen just released a new track called “10,000 Dollar Pyramid Scheme” that is twisted remix of the $10,000 Pyramid game show theme.  It’s included in Channel Flippin’ 2, a comp of TV theme song remixes. Enjoy, and as we like to say, “Big money, no whammy.”

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They’re calling it Bands for Bernie. It’s a rally for Bernie Sanders at Reverb tonight. Bands playing include CJ Mills and Lincoln punk band Once a Pawn. The free show begins at 7 p.m.

Also tonight, Fizzle Like a Flood’s Doug Kabourek does a rare set at The Barley Street Tavern. It’s part of a free six-band show that starts at 7 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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Big Harp have a new cassette out.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

During a recent interview with Ryan Fox and Stef Drootin-Senseney for this story on The Good Life, guitarist Fox talked about his tape-only label Majestic Litter.

“The nice thing about the label, the point of it is to make music immediate and direct,” Fox said. “There isn’t long lead times that you have with vinyl, or ad budgets or lawyers. You have the songs, you record them, you make tapes right away.”

Fox said he uses high-quality chrome cassettes, but why even bother with what is considered an outdated medium instead of just releasing digital files? “It’s something that exists in space,” Fox said. “It has artwork, and I feel like we all grew up collecting records and tapes and CDs. I’m not a format snob. They all have their merits. They’re functional but not just a ‘remember these’ sort of thing. I think they’re cool and sound good.”

Big Harp, Waveless (Majestic Litter, 2015)

Drootin-Senseney and her husband, Chris, who play in the band Big Harp, couldn’t agree more. So much, in fact, that their brand new album, Waveless, is being released on Fox’s Majestic Litter imprint.

“Chris and I write so fast,” Stef said, “by the time a release comes out we’ve already written another record. With labels, you have to wait such a long time. With this tape we just wanted to get the music out there.”

The 12-song cassette became available for pre-order from Fox’s label website yesterday. All those buying pre-orders immediately receive a download of the album. Pure Volume premiered the first track, “Golden Age,” yesterday as well (which you can listen to below). Listen and order your copy of Waveless for $7, plus postage. The release comes just in time for Big Harp’s next tour, supporting The Good Life throughout the next couple months.

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Former Nebraska resident now New Yorker Darren Keen has been burning up the media lately.

Fact Music News yesterday published an interview with the “Omaha-bred, New York-based producer” in support of Keen’s latest project, the LP He’s Not Real, out Aug. 28 on Orange Milk Records. Check out a track below.

In addition, Keen was interviewed for a Rolling Stone article about “footwork,” a style of music that Stone writer Andy Battaglia described as “marked by dizzying loops, staccato synth stabs, antic polyrhythms and blasts of repetition, repetition, repetition — seemed designed to go everywhere and nowhere at once.” See what Keen has to say about the genre in the story, online here.

Keen is conquering the Big Apple. “Brooklyn rules,” he said. “I’m always busy and I work full-time as a DJ in the East Village.”

He’ll be hitting the road touring with Giant Claw starting Sept. 8 in Cleveland, making his way back to Nebraska for gigs at the Bourbon Theater in Lincoln Sept. 10 and fabulous O’Leaver’s Sept. 13 (for a show that also features Channel Pressure — an electronic collaboration between Todd Fink of The Faint with Graham Patrick Ulicny of Reptar).

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A quick heads up that today the folks from the Maha Music Festival issued a “low ticket warning” for this year’s festival. If you want to go to the day-long fest this Saturday at Stinson Park, you better get your tickets soon.

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Pageturners’ summer concert series continues tonight with Simon Joyner and Danny Pound (ex-Vitreous Humor). The free show starts at 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 © 2015 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

There was no update yesterday as I was buried writing a cover story for Thursday’s issue of The Reader about Cellophane Ceiling and Ritual Device, who are playing Dec. 26 at The Waiting Room. It’s a Main Vein Production (which is also discussed in the article). Huge show, huge reunion.

If you didn’t already know, Nightbird has been added to this line-up, and I’m told Lee Meyerpeter and his crew will be playing some Cactus Nerve Thang covers (Lee, as you know, was in Cactus) just to make this post-Christmas trip inside the Wayback Machine that much more authentic.

It’s great that we have all these reunion shows happening next week (Neva Dinova is next Tuesday at The Slowdown, for example) because there’s virtually nothing else happening around here (at least until Friday). I mean, holy shit, has there ever been a bigger drought in local news?

The hottest buzz is that Icky Blossoms has finished recording their new record, which is headed for a release on Saddle Creek next year. And Matt Whipkey informs me his new record is in the can, ready for a 2015 release.

And then yesterday Hear Nebraska reported (right here) that Denver Dalley of Desaparecidos, Statistics, Intramural and Two of Cups fame (as well as Har Mar Superstar’s sideman) has formed a new band with Pink Spiders frontman Matt Friction called Broken Bats. What that will sound like is anyone’s guess.

And finally, Darren Keen has chimed in from his new home in Brooklyn, New York, to say that he’s posted a couple new DJ mixes:

This is a worldy / tropical bass / club oriented type mix: https://soundcloud.com/darrenkeen/darren-keen-the-opposite-of-a-cold-snowy-city . This is a retro / synth / vocoder funk mix as my loose “DJ Tango Cash” pseudonym: https://soundcloud.com/darrenkeen/dj-tango-cash-waking-up-marcy

The DJ Tango Cash mix got me through my morning. I’m still trying to catch up with Darren to see what his plan is for conquering The Big Apple…

In case you were wondering, there are no shows going on tonight. Head over to The Barley Street Tavern for the Viva La Vinyl Christmas Party and buy DJ Brad Hoshaw a tall boy…

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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 © 2014 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Twin Peaks at Midtown Art Supply, Nov. 25, 2014.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Midtown Art Supply doesn’t look like much from the street. In fact, it’s hard as hell to find. I drove past the storefront three times in the dark looking for it, trying to find some sort of indication that a show was going on. I should have just looked for the smokers, who huddled on the sidewalk outside the concrete building on Farnam Street, just a stone’s throw from what we used to refer to as the “loony bin.”

The interior is urban rustic bordering on squatters’ flat, or so it seemed. Playing hidden behind the crowd of about 100 was Twin Peaks crashing through a set of stripped down pop that was too well-written to be mistaken for garage. Since the band was playing at floor level, you could only see the tops of their shaggy heads in the near dark of the barren, cold art space.

A Lazy-i reader spotted me and pointed to a hole-walkway covered by a stapled-to-the-wall vinyl shower curtain that flapped in the cold darkness. “Go through there to get to the back stage and the bathroom,” he yelled.

We crossed into a blackness, a room with echoing high ceilings strewn with guitar cases and pieces of drum kit presumably from one of the opening bands, and walked to another hole in the wall where a half dozen people crowded to watch the band from behind. I leaned through and grabbed some photos of the mop-tops serenading a sea of bobbing heads while people pushed pass me to get to the bathroom.

Twin Peaks’ music is rowdy up-beat rock that borders on garage surf, but as I said before, there is a precision to it that puts it on another level. If you haven’t checked out Wild Onion, you should. Clearly the record has a lot of young fans, in fact judging by the number of eager, shining faces I got a feeling Twin Peaks’ might be drawing a younger crowd than the mob that was currently watching Desaparecidos over at TWR.

Standing toward the back drinking a beer out of a red cup, I suggested to the promoter that in the future he add a riser or something so the band could be seen above the crowd, and he told me there was an elevated stage hidden behind the large projector screen hanging behind the band, but for whatever reason it wasn’t being used for this show. He said with the stage in play, the room could comfortably hold a few hundred people, and has for past shows.

When the lights came up, I saw just how amazing — and monolithic — the space is. While the performance space isn’t much to look at, the interior of this building is cavernous and covered with eye-popping graffiti — huge spray-painted murals, which might explain the headache-inducing acrylic smell that hung over the back rooms. The building continues down into a basement where a skateboard ramp leaned against a wall. Down it went to another huge space broken up by support poles where I was told massive thousand-person raves had been held in years past. Another opening led to a blackened room filled with hundreds of doors leaning in stacks against each other. I was told there were more passages somewhere through the darkness that led who knows where. Anyway, an inspiring space which is now home to a talented local artist…

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Night two of holiday week takes place tonight. Saddle Creek Records band Twinsmith headlines a show at Slowdown Jr. Opening is Lincoln band Oketo and Stephen Nichols. With turkey day tomorrow, this could be a big show. $7, 9 p.m.

Also tonight is the going-away party for local legend Darren Keen at House of Loom. Keen is high-tailing it to Brooklyn in the coming days, and we’re all going to miss him dearly (just wait and see). Tonight’s performance will feature Darren covering Daft Punk live. According to the invite: “He’s rebuilt & restructured some the songs from the ground up. Along with Mark Hinrichs on a trap drum set, Keen has sampled the source material and built up a wall of electronics that really nail the things that are special & amazing about the music of Daft Punk.” Show starts at 9, and the price: “$5 until we fill up / $8 after.” More info here.

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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 © 2014 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.