The Faint, Egowerk (2019, Saddle Creek)

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The Faint’s new album Egowerk (2019, Saddle Creek) came out last Friday and the reviews are already coming in.

AllMusic.com, the longest-running online music reviews website (and about the best place to find data about a disc, along with Discogs), gave the record 3 1/2 stars. Their conclusion:

“Todd Fink has never been a particularly emotive singer, but his detached croon and dystopian lyrics lend a verisimilitude to the retro feel of the 11-track set. Simultaneously laconic and engaged, his presence — like the LP itself — feels spectral; the last being standing amidst an empty room filled only with decibels and discarded glow-sticks and wrist-bands.”

OK then.

Pitchfork was more pointed and, at the same time, more complimentary, giving the album a middling 6.5 rating. Their conclusion:

“Toward the end of Egowerk the songs grow thinner and more obvious in their ’80s references. Gary Numan synths flutter over the four-on-the-floor electro-funk of ‘Young & Realistic,’ the album’s most faithful callback of the Danse Macabre days, while ‘Automaton’ robot dances the record to the finish line with no particular ambition to awe. A little bit of the Faint goes a long way, but as long as there’s technological angst — and it’s impossible to imagine a time when there won’t be — there’s always going to some life left in this sound.”

Pitchfork has never been big fans of the Faint. Egowerk is the highest-rated Faint record at Pitchfork since Dance Macabre scored a massive 7.8 way back in 2001.

More to come.

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Virtuoso guitarist Dick Dale passed away over the weekend at the age of 81. Dale made Nebraska a regular tour stop in the latter years of his career. I got the chance to interview him way back in ’98 and he was as boisterous with his words as he was with his guitar.

Here, he recounts being approached by Quentin Tarantino about the use of his masterpiece, “Misirlou,” in the classic Pulp Fiction:

“Quentin makes movies from the energy of songs. He said, ‘I’m one of your biggest fans.’ He said, ‘Misirlou is a masterpiece. I would love to have your permission to make a movie that will be a masterpiece that will complement the masterpiece of Misirlou.’ I knew when he did Reservoir Dogs and the shit he had to go through that he was no bullshitter. I’m a very good judge of character.”

And here is as good an epitaph as you’ll likely find. From the article:

“I don’t play pyrotechnic scales. I play about frustration, patience, anger. Music is an extension of my soul. If you go to a Dick Dale concert you’ll see skinheads, tattoos, androgynous people, tribes of all the lands, college professors… That’s where typical musicians fail — they try to show off and play more technical to impress other musicians. But I’m playing for the people who are working for $3.50 an hour, the carpenters, the ditch diggers, the grass-roots people.”

RIP, Mr. Dale.

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Tonight, D.C. slacker rockers BRNDA play at The Brothers Lounge. The four-piece has a pretty cool Pavement-esque indie pop sound. Dig. Opening is our very own Thick Paint, who will be rolling out some new tunes as they kick off a tour with Delicate Steve, who ain’t playing tonight. Who is playing tonight is Nathan Ma Band. All this for a mere $5. 9 p.m.

Check out the new Thick Paint track! Hey Graham, who’s putting out the new record?

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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.

Dick Dale circa 1998. The King of Surf Rock plays tonight at The Waiting Room.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Like Bono a few years back, the Berkshires apparently gave Paul McCartney a tour of Dundee yesterday evening, or at least took him to Avoli for dinner and eCreamery for dessert. The OWH has the details, here.

Funny how when these celebs show up with Susie and Warren in Dundee, the social channels explode as if the great unwashed had been visited by an alien life form instead of a rock star, a strange other-worldly creature who’s come down to observe life in rural Nebraska by strolling through the petri dish at the corner of Underwood Ave. and 50th St.

Imagine if “Sir Paul” had instead been taken by black limo to fabulous O’Leaver’s to witness some red hot sand-volleyball action. He could have slipped off his loafers, rolled up his pants and spiked a few for the locals. Afterward, he could have plugged in and played some old Beatles tunes on the world famous O’Leaver’s stage before stretching out in the smoking patio with a PRB alongside Warren, Susie and the usual O’Leaver’s suspects. Talk about your alien life forms…

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Other than overhearing The Fishheads at the Omaha Brewers Barbecue Saturday evening behind Beertopia, I caught zero music this weekend. Bah!

Tonight at The Waiting Room it’s surf-guitar legend Dick Dale. As with all the other times he’s visited our fair city, I now link you to my Dick Dale interview from 1998. Dick was a mere 61 back then. He’s 77 now and still going strong. Opening is local surf heroes Huge Fucking Waves. $25, 8 p.m.

And if you’re in Lincoln, Paul McCartney is playing at The Pinnacle Arena tonight. Tix range from $29 to $253.

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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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Lincoln band Tie These Hands announced today that their 2011 Japan-only release, Come On (Kilk Records) will be self-released stateside Aug. 6. Check out the album’s title track, recorded live at the KZUM studios June 30, below.

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In the column, remembering local golf legend Tom Sieckmann and touring the city’s finest 9-hole muni’s. It’s in this week’s issue of The Reader, or read it online right here.

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The folks in Icky Blossoms have been on the Twitter talking up their new high-tech lighting rig they’ll be rolling out for the first time tonight at their O’Leaver’s debut. Three new IB songs could also be debuted tonight in what is sure to be a sweat-soaked, drunken nightmare of a show that you won’t want to miss.

Tonight’s show, btw, is an Eyeball Promotion (discussed here earlier), and also is the record release party for rock band Places We Slept. OWH‘s Kevin Coffey has some data on that band here. The only thing I know about them comes via their Bandcamp page, and the attached Vimeo video for “Sewage Bay Atlantic” (below). Rounding out the bill is Chicago band Outer Minds (HoZac Records, FDH). The stinky, sticky fun begins at 9:30 p.m. and will cost you $5 (as per usual).

“Sewage Bay Atlantic” – Places We Slept from Emma Penrose on Vimeo.

Also tonight, surf rock legend and Dick Dale returns, this time to The Waiting Room. Opening is Huge Fucking Waves. $20, 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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.