Ty Segall at Sokol Underground, Feb. 10, 2013.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Digital Leather frontman Shawn Foree confirmed the band’s line-up change about a week ago. I’d heard about it from someone who knows the guys in the band who e-mailed me simply to say that Todd Fink of The Faint had been practicing with DL in what would likely be a return of synthesizers to an act that had dropped them from their live performances years ago. Foree in the past has explained that his synth-driven recordings are a different animal than DL’s stage performances, which for the last few years has been a guitar-driven power trio.

Digital Leather, with Todd Fink behind the keyboards, Feb. 10, 2013.

Anyway, Foree confirmed the rumor, but said he wanted to keep it on the down low at least until this show. Sure enough, last night on stage this new version of Digital Leather was unveiled with Fink behind a keyboard. And the result was, to say the least, satisfying, but not a night-and-day difference from what we’ve been hearing from these guys for the past few years. DL is still fueled by the rhythm section of bassist Johnny Vrendenburg and drummer Jeff Lambelet — the best bass & drum duo in Omaha — as well as Foree’s voice and guitar (and his spleen-bleeding songs), but Fink’s keyboards add that element that’s been missing for a lot of the band’s fans — a sinister, other-worldly quality that underlies the neo-futuristic nature of DL music. They also sound pretty cool. Fink’s backing vocals were an added bonus.

So what’s this addition mean for future Digital Leather set lists? Well, for the most part, last night’s set wasn’t much different from the Nov. 28 set, when DL opened for King Khan at Slowdown. Both included a rousing version of fan favorite “Studs in Love” (well, at least it’s one of my favorites). That said, I don’t remember DL playing “Styrofoam” last November, a song in which the synths take the anthem to a whole ‘nother level.

Will DL now dig back to other early material where synths play a central role? Will we finally get to hear songs like “Modern Castles” and “Gold Hearts” (both from Warm Brother)?  I doubt it. It also will be interesting to hear if Fink will add anything to future DL recordings — a process that Foree has always commanded by himself. And what’s the lifespan for this collaboration now that The Faint are back together? Does it matter? Just enjoy it while you can, and that includes March 8, when Digital Leather is slated to return to one of their favorite stomping grounds — fabulous O’Leaver’s.

OK, what about the rest of the show? Opener, Memphis band Ex-Cult (formerly Sex Cult) was bad ass, a five piece that played a refined, aggressive indie garage punk that had a few kids in front of the stage shoving each other.

But the night’s centerpoint was Ty Segall and his band — a well-honed noise machine, easily the loudest thing I’ve heard on a stage in a few years. Playing songs off a number of his albums, including Twins and Slaughterhouse, Segall blazed through one monster rocker after another, leaving a wake of bleeding ears in front of the stacks. I stood on a chair along the wall and watched the crowd writhe in ecstasy to the knuckle-bleeding music.

You got a sense that you were seeing this guy at the height of his power, still flying under the radar, ready to explode. Something tells me in the next few years Segall could blow up to become as big as Jack White. If it happens, we’ll look back at this show and say “I saw him back when he played Sokol Underground.”

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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.

King Khan and BBQ Show at The Slowdown, Nov. 28, 2012.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I never got my free booze at last night’s King Khan and BBQ Show concert at The Slowdown, but it’s not Sailor Jerry’s fault. The booze maker, who sponsored the event, had a converted Streamliner camper parked on the curb outside the club with blinking lights and signs and such. I didn’t bother to climb inside, and found out later that’s where they were distributing drink tokens. Kind of a weird deal, but there’s probably some sort of law that prevented them from setting up a table right inside Slowdown. Or something. I didn’t want to go back outside so I skipped it. I’d already bought my Rolling Rock anyway.

The “free” element was an ongoing riff played on by the KKBBQ duo, who kept prodding the rather large crowd about the freebies. “How’s your free booze?” said a smirking Mark Sultan sitting behind his two-piece drum kit, almost accusatory. Odd. Sultan, playing drums, guitar and singing (simultaneously), and King Khan on guitar and vocals were dressed in Mardi Gras-quality royal attire, complete with capes and feathered chapeaus. Glittery and cool. So was their music, a combination of garage, punk and sock-hop doo-wap, Chubby Checker meets Elvis meets Jack White meets the cast of Treme. They prodded the crowd to dance, and got a few to do a half-assed Frug.

Digital Leather at The Slowdown, Nov. 28, 2012.

Digital Leather opened the show with their usual grinding garage attack. I’ve seen these guys a hundred times and they never fail to bring it, but were especially on point last night. As I was sitting there wondering how many times I’d heard this set (or a slight variation), Shawn Foree and Co. threw out a golden nugget I thought I’d never hear them play again — “Studs In Love,” the homo anthem from Blow Machine re-engineered from an electronic hump fable to a roaring, spitting metallic confession. Foree launched it with a full-on riff attack aimed directly at the rhythm section of bassist Johnny Vrendenburg and drummer Jeff Lambelet (the best bass & drum duo in Omaha) settling into a tense, unrecognizable grind before barking out the line “I’m a man’s man / I don’t need no bitch.” F*** yes! They closed out their set with another classic — “Styrofoam,” from 2008 album Sorcerer.

I accepted years ago that Foree considers Digital Leather’s garage-rock stage presentation to be a completely different animal than the band’s electronic, proto-New Wave music heard on the recordings. I get it. But I’m beginning to wonder how long it will be until he breaks down and breaks out the Korg on stage once again. Maybe never. And that’s fine as long as he keeps putting out great records. Again, if you’ve only heard Digital Leather on stage over the past couple years, check out their recordings for a whole different take on their music.

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Below, for your reading pleasure, is this week’s column, which also is printed in the current issue of The Reader. I include it here instead of merely providing a link as I usually do because of the topic. Saturday night’s Millions show definitely is worth the trip to Lincoln for any Millions fan, as there’s a good chance you’ll never hear this band play again.

The Millions, circa 2012. Photo by Ted Schlaebitz.

Column: A Million Reasons Why

Marty Amsler, like some of us, lives two lives.

Most know him as the mild-mannered “creative” at Nebraska advertising agency Bailey Lauerman. He’s a Mad Man ad guy who heads a team of Mad Men ad people that do some of the best creative work in the country. I know because I’ve seen it first hand in my “other life” at Union Pacific.

(To this day, I still meet people who think I make a living writing this column for The Reader. These are the same people who watched Sex and the City and thought Carrie Bradshaw could afford her cool Manhattan apartment and countless pair of $300 Manolo Blahnik shoes on what she made writing her weekly column in some faceless newspaper…)

Aside from Bailey Lauerman, there’s Marty’s main gig — his wife, Julia, and their son, Truman.

And then there’s The Millions, the band Amsler started way back in the late ‘80s in Lincoln with guitarist Harry Dingman III that included vocalist Lori Allison and drummer Greg Hill. Over the course of about six years, The Millions lived the rock ‘n’ roll dream. They generated a large following playing local gigs, got signed by Smash Records (a subsidiary of major label Polygram), quit their day jobs and recorded and released their debut album, M Is for Millions in July 1991. They toured, and then released their second album, Raquel, in September 1995. They toured some more. And then broke up and went their separate ways, leaving behind some great music and fond memories.

And now, just like that old rock ‘n’ roll story always seems to go, they’re getting back together again, for one night only — Dec. 1, 8 p.m., at Lincoln’s Bourbon Theatre. Well, at least three of them are, anyway. Greg Hill no longer plays drums and doesn’t want to. Drummer Brandon McKenzie will be sitting behind the drum kit that night. So can you really call this a “Millions reunion”?

“Lori, Harry and I don’t look at this as a ‘reunion’ show,” Amsler said. “Just old friends getting together again to play some songs we wrote a while ago to help some other old friends release a project they’ve worked tirelessly on.”

The Millions, Poison Fish (Randy’s Alternative Music, 2012)

The project is Poison Fish, a collection of lost, unreleased Millions recordings that capture the unbridled spirit of the band before they got signed.

The collection (under the name The Millions NE, because a different band now controls “The Millions” name) is being released by Randy’s Alternative Music, a record label run by Randy LeMasters, a Pittsburgh-based music entrepreneur who said the Millions’ music “turned my world upside down.”

LeMasters has spent nearly a decade working with the band and Millions’ fan Malcom Miles piecing together tracks heard on the new release from remastered cassette tapes, as the original master tapes (apparently) no longer exist.

Despite the frustration of spending years trying to track down those original masters, LeMasters says the release’s timing couldn’t have been better. “The band might not have gotten together for the CD release show in years past due to commitments with family and careers,” he said. “The time is right.”

And the timing may be right for other reasons. There’s a resurgence of interest in the post-punk, pre-Nirvana, “first wave” bands that influenced The Millions, such as REM, Throwing Muses, Cocteau Twins, Kate Bush and The Sundays. Some of the best new music released this past year, from indie darlings like Twin Shadow, Wild Nothing and DIIV, are revising the post-punk new wave sound for a new generation of listeners who may also discover something new in The Millions.

And if you’re wondering, no, LeMasters isn’t doing it for the money. “I’ve never been in the music ‘business’ to make money,” he said. “I do it for the love of the music and for my passion to get music into the ears of other fans. Other than the love one gets from family and friends, I believe there is no greater pleasure than sharing music with willing, eager ears.”

For Amsler, playing with his pals in The Millions again fills a void he didn’t realize he had.

“I have a very fulfilling career in advertising,” he said. “I get to spend my days working with some of the most talented people in the industry. I have great clients and more creative opportunity than I know what to do with.”

And though he gets the same creative fix from working with his B-L team, “I didn’t realize how much I missed just playing a song together – being super ‘cops-show-up (which they did) loud,’ getting in the zone and drowning all else out,” he said. “It’s so powerful, perfect and precarious. I didn’t realize how much I missed that — or them.”

Motivation to strap on his bass again also came from his family. “They see how much I’m enjoying it,” he said. “I get to share a side of me that neither of them knew.”

So I had to ask Amsler, the way the music industry is these days, would he do it all over again?

“That’s something I’ve thought about during the years,” he said. “Looking back, I’d have killed for the internet, e-mail, downloads or a damn cell phone (imagine being on the road for six weeks without one). That certainly would have made our lives easier on many fronts. But there was something about the music scenes when you had to be an active participant (not optional/digital) that was pretty amazing. I also think we were the last generation to get the big ‘quit-your-day-job’ record contract. Obviously, it wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be, but for a while, recording, touring and playing WAS our day job. That was pretty cool.”

The Millions play this Saturday, Dec. 1, at The Bourbon Theatre, 1415 ‘O’ St., Lincoln. Tickets to the all-ages show are $10 adv.; $12 DOS. Show starts at 9:30 p.m., with no opening bands (so get there on time). For more information and tickets, go to bourbontheatre.com.

First published in The Reader. Copyright © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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Here’s one that was flying under the radar: Tonight at The Waiting Room is the listening party for this year’s Christmas for Pine Ridge compilation.  The CD includes tracks by So-So Sailors, The Whipkey Three, Gerald Lee Jr. (Filter Kings) and a bunch more. The music starts at 8 p.m. Consider it a warm up for Saturday night’s benefit show, also at The Waiting Room.

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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.

Judgement Day at O’Leaver’s, Oct. 18, 2012.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Maybe it was the shitty weather, but there weren’t very many people at O’Leaver’s last night for Judgement Day, which was a shame because the trio was amazing. Driving, pounding, throbbing rock as intense as metal but without the pain. The Pantzer brothers played souring mini-orchestrations blending violin and cello atop a bed of drums.

As you may be aware by the better quality photo I’ve posted recently, I acquired an iPhone 5, and figured I’d test its video capabilities last night. This is a far cry from a Love Drunk or Ingrained video, but you can at least get a general gist of what Judgement Day was about by watching/listening to this amateur video. Hey Judgement Day guys, if you want me to yank it from YouTube, just let me know.

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I suspect O’Leaver’s will be more crowded for tonight’s show: Destruction Unit with Digital Leather and Solid Goldberg. Who is Destruction Unit? This from the Chicago Reader:

Ryan “Elvis Wong” Rousseau’s impressive band resumé (the Wongs, the Reatards, Digital Leather, Earthmen & Strangers) has earned him the right to do whatever he wants, including release a 2012 cassette of fried lo-fi solo material called Hello! Mr. Cactus Man, which sounds like a handful of barbiturates laced with David Lynch. His work with Destruction Unit — a band whose former members include Jay Reatard and Alicja Trout—has morphed since its founding in 2000 from more-or-less straightforward garage into sweeping desert rock inflected with Krautrock and psychedelia. The six enveloping songs of jamming fuzz and synth swashes on the upcoming Void LP (Jolly Dream) are mostly loud and abrasive and dirty, but it’s their subtleties—distant bubbling murmurs of noise, faint guitar noodling—that make for the best hooks.

In other words: Don’t miss it. Digital Leather you already know about, but Hear Nebraska has a brand spankin’ new interview with DL mastermind Shawn Foree to give you even more technicolor. Shawn talks about Omaha, drugs, music and his records and how they’re all connected. Read it here. Solid Goldberg is Omaha legend Dave Goldberg’s solo electronic project that must be seen to be believed. This show could go down as the stuff dreams are made of. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Also tonight is a benefit for the Antiquarium Record Store, which recently announced that it was closing due to debt issues. The show, being held a The Sandbox, features Witness Tree, The Decatures, The Sub-Vectors and Pyrate. $5, 9 p.m., all proceeds go to The Antiquarium. More here.

Finally, over at The Barley Street Tavern, The Whipkey Three opens for CB band The Eightyseven. $5, 9 p.m.

I don’t see much happening Saturday or Sunday. If you’ve some ideas for shows, post ’em in the comments section.

Later.

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by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Did a little bit of bar-hopping last night in Benson. I started out early at The Barley Street for the debut of Killer Blow. The duo of Genie Molkentine on drums and vocals and Todd VonStup on electric guitar came on around 10 and played about 15-20 minutes of sweet guitar garage jams that recalled bands like Oblivians and Urinals. I’m not sure which songs were originals and which were covers because, well, I’m not the most well-schooled in classic garage/punk. Molkentine has a gritty riot grrrl snarl that’s dead-on for this style of music, as much yelp as growl. Plus she’s cute as a button and can play drums standing up while singing (though her drum set only consisted of a snare, tom and crash cymbal). Her drumming at times was kind of shaky, but give her a break — this was their first show. VonStup played guitar with his usual raunchy panache, and together they made a cute team. In fact, they’re married, which made it all that much cuter. Keep an eye on them…

After their set I high-tailed it over to The Sydney to catch Digital Leather. The Sydney crew cleared out the tables and chairs prior to opening to give the room more space, and in fact it felt like a punk show. I got there just in time to catch the last couple songs by (who I assume was) Video Ranger — fun punk that prominently featured trombone, which got me thinking about ska, which they weren’t playing (when I was there). Then on came Digital Leather playing a better-than-usual breakneck set of garage rock that got a few guys doing a circle mosh-step (Were the mosh-dance guys from Agent Orange? I don’t have a clue as I didn’t stick around for their set). It was one of the more high-energy DL gigs in recent memory. The only disappointment was that the set list didn’t vary much from the last time I saw them play (except for the inclusion of “Sponge,” which created a lull in the middle of the set). They’re sticking with the new stuff, which is fine, though I’d love to hear something off one of the earlier albums thrown in for fun. Come on, guys, it’s ’bout time you reintroduce “Please Be Quiet.”

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Danse Macabre Deluxe Edition, The Faint (Saddle Creek, 2012)

Yesterday The Faint and Saddle Creek announced that they’re reissuing the 2001 classic Danse Macabre as a remastered and limited edition offering. According to the press release: “The remastered release, which features six bonus tracks from the era as well as an extensive booklet, will be available on CD in a triple-disc format with a DVD, and on double vinyl that also includes the CDs and DVD. Additionally, the DVD will include archival video footage from the band, live projection videos from that era’s tour dates, the ‘Agenda Suicide’ music video, some live footage, and more. Copies of the physical album will be limited to 5,000 for the 2xCD/DVD package and 3,000 for the 2xLP/2xCD/DVD package.”

Street date is Oct. 30. The band also announced a tour to support the release starting November 8 in Denver that will find the group performing Danse Macabre in its entirety for the first time ever, along with the usual set of old favorites. The tour ends with a show at Sokol Auditorium Dec. 14 with upstarts Icky Blossoms opening. In fact, IB will be tagging along for 14 dates on this tour. I can’t think of a better way to introduce the band to the world.

Some thoughts on Danse Macabre on its 10th anniversary. And check out the remastered “Take Me to the Hospital” right here. You can pre-order the album right here at the Saddle Creek online store.

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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.

Digital Leather at O'Leaver's, July 14, 2012.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The next time you’re feeling the heat for something you’ve done or are sweating a decision you’re about to make, remember this one all-important thing:

No matter what you do or what you say, you’ll always be welcome at O’Leaver’s.

And I’ll leave that for you to decipher.

It was a classic red hot summer night this past Saturday at O’Leaver’s. I walked in about halfway through Worried Mothers’ strong set of sweaty, angsty, dissonant punk. I have no idea who or what this band is other than they are very good, very out there and very in your face. So in your face that the frontman went after someone in the audience during the set closer, both of them tumbling to the floor in a torrid embrace, before he stripped off his clothes Full-Monty style. Which gets me wondering — why are big guys like him and Darren Keen (who, btw, recently lost weight) able to strip on stage without anyone thinking twice about it, whereas if a buff guy stripped it would send a completely different, egotistical message? Let alone a woman. A woman would never go Full Monty at a punk show. Certainly not at a punk show at O’Leaver’s.

Anyway…

Minneapolis band Serenghetto was next — loud, fast punk unafraid of a good, meaty riff. Dueling male/female vocals took it to the next level. Angry. Abrasive.

Finally on came Digital Leather, playing a fast, tight set that included a few new songs. In fact, I’ve seen these guys well over a dozen times and I’ve never heard them play these songs this fast. And while playing that fast naturally amps up the energy level in the club, subtle nuances can get lost, especially on songs like “Your Hand, My Glove,” or even set closer “Deliver Deliver Deliver.” Ah, but I’m merely picking nits now. Digital Leather continues to be my favorite local act and one that could be huge if they ever get “discovered” (and they will, eventually, whether they want to be or not).

I found out at the show that Digital Leather has a new cassette tape coming out on Southpaw Records. Titled Yes Please Thank You, the ship date is this Wednesday. You can pre-order your copy here for a mere $5 plus postage. Check out “Mountains Are Dreaming,” from the new release, below:

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/51920875″ iframe=”true” /]

While clicking around looking for that cassette, I also discovered that DL has a new single, “Assault,” out on Floridas Dying, which you can order here. Get them both while you can.

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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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Comments from a blog post on Lazy-i last week raised the eyebrows of one Mike App, the gentleman responsible for booking the local stage at this year’s Maha Music Festival.

The blog post outlined Maha’s announcement of the remaining main stage acts, along with the local stage line-up: Icky Blossoms, The Mynabirds, UUVVWWZ, Universe Contest and Eli Mardock. A sixth band will be selected by popular vote from performers at an Omaha Entertainment and Arts (OEA) showcase to be held in the near future.

Among those commenting was a Lazy-i reader named “Jake” who had issue with the local band selection, saying that many bands who have played OEA showcases “for free” in the past have never made the Maha cut. “To see so many Saddle Creek acts is just a poor choice,” Jake said, adding, “Once again Maha has picked their friends to play along with Garbage (yuck) and left out all the bands who have played their fundraiser and supported them…” You can read his comments and others’ at the bottom of this post.

Before we get to Mike App’s response I should point out that Maha is never going to please everyone, and shouldn’t try. There always will be bands in the line-up that someone doesn’t like, whether on the local or national stage. Jake’s larger complaint is that some bands he likes (and he lists them) have yet to play Maha (and Jake has pretty good taste).

But such is the way of the world. I’ve asked Maha to book Digital Leather on the local stage for a few years. It’ll likely never happen, and it’s (probably) partially my fault because I’m the one who pointed out DL’s content (especially on earlier albums) isn’t exactly “family friendly,” with songs like “Slut” and “Studs in Love” and the irresistible “Please Be Quiet” (with its lovely chorus, “Shut the fuck up.”). But who ever said rock ’n’ roll should be safe? In the end, I have no idea why DL isn’t playing Maha, but I never thought it had anything to do with App or any of the Maha people “picking their friends,” and App inasmuch reiterates that in his response:

“The local stage (selection) started out as a battle of the bands format, but based on input from the music community — including two of the most vocal opponents, Tim McMahan and Kevin Coffey — we responded and shifted course to the format we employ today,” App wrote. “This year we allowed six different organizations the opportunity to make those selections.

— “OEAA ‘popularity contest’ format during the Benson showcases each summer selects the Maha opener.

— “Maha board selects the local stage closer/headliner, which is based on lots of input from the likes of (Tim McMahan), Chris Aponick, Kevin Coffey, Andy Norman, Kent Wolgamott and anyone else who wants to weigh in. We listen. In our four years that’s been It’s True, Satchel Grande, Somasphere and Icky Blossoms.

— “The managers at Waiting Room, Slowdown, Duffy’s and Bourbon each suggest 3-4 bands, from which Maha and Hear Nebraska representatives sit down to discuss and select. The input received when making the Maha board selection also goes into this decision. BUT, if the tavern manager does not suggest a band, we don’t have the ability to discuss it.

— “Maha is underwritten and driven by the community. We have tried our damnedest to engage broad swaths of that community when forming and shaping Maha. This present format provides Maha with more stakeholders than if we selected all the bands ourselves. We think this works.”

App pointed out that bands chosen by Maha local stage acts to play curated showcases get free tickets to Maha, but no assurance that they’ll be considered for the local stage in coming years. He agreed that he digs the bands that Jake lists. “All are crazy good bands that represent Omaha and Lincoln at such a high level,” he said. “We might be able to tweak our process to figure out how to get these bands and others like them engaged in Maha.”

He’s open to suggestions, but the fact is, as I said, he and the rest of the Maha board will never please everyone. No “process” will ever do that. As a whole, I think it’s a strong local stage line-up, albeit slightly heavy on Lincoln bands, but so what? Yes, three out of the five bands are Saddle Creek acts, but it would be hard to argue against any of them and the size of their fanbase compared to some of the bands Jake lists. Maha is trying to sell tickets, after all, and while none of the local acts by themselves will generate ticket sales, they may be enough to tip the scale for those on the fence trying to decide whether to drop $35 per ticket.

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Tomorrow, some off-topic comments about Yelp, restaurant criticism (and criticism in general) and Lot 2.

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Yuppies at Slowdown Jr., April 6, 2012.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

If I had to choose a winner of last night’s battle of the punk bands at Slowdown Jr. it would be Yuppies by a furlong. I haven’t seen them for more than a year and didn’t recognize their sound or style. Here I thought they were run-of-the-mill low-fi garage rockers. Instead, they’re more like noise/prog/punk than the usually sloppy garage doo-rah.  They came on at around 9:30 to a crowd of around 50 and played all their material as one long song with a lot of changes and shifts, from spoiled-rotten, screamin’ punk to throbbing distorted prog/noise, intense enough to drive a few outside for a smoke. The set’s last “movement” was something akin to listening to a wasted lumberjack chop down a tree or a tired killer kick someone to death one boot-to-the-head at a time. I don’t know if their recordings are a reflection of their live show, but if they are, it’s probably not something you’d want to listen to at the gym. Yuppies don’t so much play songs as perform ebb-and-flow music that, when it does have a semblance of songcraft, can be driving and catchy and inspired. The rest of it will leave you bent over, coughing up blood.

Digital Leather at Slowdown Jr. April 6, 2012

It was an off night for Digital Leather. Frontman Shawn Foree’s guitar sounded out of tune most of the set. He even noticed, saying something to bassist Johnny Vrendenburg between songs, trying to tune to his bass. It sounded so off at times I wondered if there was something wrong with his guitar. Unfortunately, the vocal mix was bad as well, leaving Foree lost in the fog of noise, and making the whole set off kilter. It wasn’t a total loss.  The rhythm section of Vrendenburg and drummer Jeff Lambelet pushed forward in their usual breakneck fashion. Lambelet is the best rock drummer in Omaha.

What made DL’s off night more disappointing (for me, anyway) was that before the set someone I know and respect told me one of the reasons he was there was because of how I’ve been lauding Digital Leather on this blog. I asked if he’d heard DL’s albums before, and he said he had, and didn’t much care for them. I’ve got a feeling he now thinks his suspicions about the band have been empirically proven, which is a shame.

He’s not the first person in the past couple days to tell me I’m wrong about a band. Since last night, I’ve had no less than three people tell me I’m way off about Capgun Coup. One told me I was stupid to call them a “garage band” (I didn’t really call them a garage band; what I said was their new record showcases “Intelligent garage rock songwriting,” which one could argue is an oxymoron on a number of levels). Turns out most people I’ve spoken to who don’t like Capgun Coup’s music don’t like Sam Martin for whatever reason. I don’t know Sam Martin, just like I don’t know Shawn Foree, and the fact that I do or don’t know either of them doesn’t play into my opinion of their music. But I’m finding more and more that people’s opinions about certain local bands are based entirely on their relationships with people in those bands. If they’re pals, the music is great; if they don’t know the people, they’re indifferent or apt to not like the music; if for whatever reason they don’t like the people in the band, they hate their music. I’ve met a lot of musicians that are complete pricks who make great music; conversely, I know a lot of super nice musicians whose music sucks.

But I digress.

Los Vigilantes at Slowdown Jr., April 6, 2012.

Last up was Los Vigilantes, an upbeat band from San Juan that’s more rock than punk, sort of Black Lips meets Social Distortion sung in Spanish. Very energetic, the lead guy even took off his shirt during the performance. I thought they were fun and the crowd seemed to like it, but apparently not enough for the band’s guitarist, who said “Why don’t you fucking dance?” between songs. I guess he never heard the rule about Omaha crowds and dancing. Now he knows.

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Lots o’ shows going on this Easter weekend.

Tonight at O’Leaver’s it will be a reconvening of the same crowd that was at Slowdown Jr. last night, as Baby Tears takes the stage with Watching the Train Wreck and recent Omaha transplants Worried Mothers. $5, 9:30 p.m. I’m buzzin’ already.

Also tonight, opening for Des Moines band Envy Corp, is Eli Mardock, whose new five-piece band in many ways already has exceeded Eagle Seagull (see review). Also on the bill is Machete Archive and Great American Desert. $8, 9 p.m.

Tomorrow night’s big show is the Conchance album release party at House of Loom. Not only will this vinyl record mark Conchance’s debut, but it also is the debut release by new Omaha label Make Believe Records, an offshoot of Make Believe Studio. Also on the bill are Dirty Diamonds, Max Fischer, DJ Kethro and DJ Really Real. $5, 9 p.m.

Also Saturday night, it’s yet another return of Kite Pilot, this time at The Barley Street Tavern with Well-Aimed Arrows and We Live in Sod Houses. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, back at O’Leaver’s, it’s Dim Light with Electric Jellyfish, Snake Island and Saintseneca. $5, 9:30 p.m.

One more thing: Tomorrow afternoon another “Songs @ Shop” event is being held at the Saddle Creek Shop in the Slowdown compound. Performers include Dan McCarthy, Anna Marie McClellan of the band Howard, and who knows who else will show up for this Slumber Party Records showcase. Performances start at 3 p.m. and it’s free.

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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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I had no music experiences this weekend other than putting together a Cursive story that will go online here in a couple days in support of this Saturday night’s show at Slowdown. It should be a hoot, and is really the only rock show on my radar this week.

So with that in mind, check out this new video by Digital Leather for their track “Enzymes,” filmed in one take in the basement of fabulous O’Leaver’s. It’s here at Vimeo; here at Love Drunk:  and here at Hear Nebraska. I would have embedded the damn thing but Vimeo won’t let me, the jerks.

By the way, DL has just been booked to play Slowdown April 5 with Los Vigilantes and Yuppies…

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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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

So here’s the plan:

Start out early tonight with beers at House of Loom, where the guys who run The Antiquarium Record Store will be spinning sides from 5 until 8. Very chill.

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Mirror Traffic (Matador, 2011)

After that, head over to The Slowdown for Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks. The band’s new album, Mirror Traffic, was one of my favorites last year. In addition, a couple weeks ago I got my first release from the Matador Records “Singles Going Home Alone” 45-inch record club. The debut is SM&tJ doing a sweet cover of L.A. Guns’ “Wheels of Fire.” The flipside is a L.A. Guns’ cover of “Gorgeous Georgie” from Mirror Traffic. If you’re not in the club, you can join for $45 for a year’s subscription (six singles). Which brings up this question (again): WHEN WILL SADDLE CREEK START ITS OWN SINGLES CLUB? Get on it, folks.

Anyway… Opening tonight’s show is Nurses. The Dead Oceans artist just got off the road with Mountain Goats. You can check out their latest video on vimeo, here:  $18, 9 p.m. See you there.

After Malkmus and Co. wrap things up, get your nightcap at O’Leaver’s, where Lightning Bug is playing with Bear Stories, Lindsay Donovan and Dojorock. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Also tonight, Underwater Dream Machine and Ragged Company are playing at The Barley Street Tavern with The Fucking Doneofits and Tenderness Wilderness. $5, 9 p.m.

Tomorrow night’s much less hectic.

Davey & the Dicks are headlining a show at The Brothers with Dirty Talker and The Lupines. I don’t know who/what this Davey/Dicks is. Are they associated with the original Dicks hardcore punk band? That Davy didn’t have an “e” in his name. Anyway, I can tell you that The Lupines features John Ziegler (Brimstone Howl), Mike Friedman, Mike Tulis and Javid Dabestani. Here’s a review of their debut show at O’Leaver’s last November. 9 p.m., $5.

Also Saturday night, The Filter Kings return to The Sydney in Benson with School of Arms, $7, 9 p.m.

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The new full length by Digital Leather, Modern Problems, is just beginning to get the raves it deserves, like this review from Germany’s Musik Magazin Medienkonverter. I can’t read German, so I thought I’d drop the review into Yahoo’s old Babel Fish translator. Here’s what I got on the other side:

The output of Digitally Leather alias Shawn Foree is enormous – published alone 2011 a EP, a single and tape, follow now already a new album: Decaying of Problem is produced the successor of the 2009 published LP Warmly Bread ago and contrary to its predecessor still more consistently, taken up with a tape recorder in Foree’s bedroom, coly-ordinated to only few takes. 

You get the drift. Babel Fish don’t translate so well. Regardless, the review is still better than anything on Pitchfork.

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Finally, you may have noticed that the Bad Speler remix of Whitney’s “How Will I Know?” posted on Lazy-i Tuesday became “unavailable.” Darren Keen, the bad boy behind Bad Speler, said he received notification from Soundcloud telling him that the track “infringes on someone else’s copyright,” and hence, they pulled it from their site. That said, you can still download Darren’s remix at the Illegal Art website, where they’ve been posting a new Bad Speler remix on a weekly basis. Check it out (just don’t tell Whitney’s people…).

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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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Strange start Friday night at O’Leaver’s. Amidst the noise and chaos I didn’t get the memo as to why a guy was sitting on stage during New Lungs’ set wearing swim trunks, sun block and sun glasses reading a copy of the OWH. Irony? Maybe, considering the impending snowstorm. A living advertisement for the Men of O’Leaver’s 2012 calendar? I good idea, except I don’t think the guy is actually in the calendar (which you should check out if you haven’t, especially you ladies and you gay and/or bi-curious fellows). Unless you were in front of the mob or off to the side by the head (as I was) you never saw the guy anyway. Yeah, it was that crowded. The biggest crowd I’ve seen at O’leaver’s in a long time.

New Lungs is a fantastic band that lives off the soul of a ’90s West Coast SST hassle-core punk vibe mixed with its own Midwestern ’90s punk heritage. As cliche as it sounds, they get better and better every time I see them. Frontman Danny Maxwell is gaining more confidence with every performance. Call it swagger. Call it hubris. Call it I-don’t-give-a-fuck moxie. I like it, along with the band’s bone-rattling energy. I’m told the band has been working with Matt Carroll at his Little Machine recording studio putting down tracks for a debut album. How long must we wait for this?

So crowded was the room that I eventually found my way by the soundboard in the back, where you can move around and get a fresh Rolling Rock as needed, but behind the grand mob that stood in front of the band. As a result I heard rather than saw Digital Leather perform what (to me) was one of their longest sets, conceivably to work out the kinks before they head off on the road tomorrow for a West Coast/Texas tour.

I’m not sure what’s left to say about Digital Leather that I haven’t already said a dozen times. As a recording entity, Shawn Foree creates some of the best modern rock music heard out of Omaha (or anywhere, for that matter). I spent Sunday listening to my copy of Infinite Sun (which I finally got Friday night). Seven guitar- and keyboard-fueled rock songs that turn their back on the futility of living in these days when an infinite sun seems only to cast long shadows before dusk. That music, along with the songs on just-released cassette, Sponge, and the couple new songs off Modern Problems (which I didn’t buy Friday as I ordered a copy from the label’s website a few weeks ago — a mistake, apparently), have a playful post-apocalyptic groove that are lively and deceptively upbeat.

On recordings, Digital Leather casts an electronic sheen with the addition of synths. Live, DL is a punk three-piece — all leather, no digital. This has startled a few people who are only familiar with the recordings, me among them. But I’ve since seen the error of my ways. Last November on his It’s a Digital World blog (http://itsadigitalworld.blogspot.com/), Foree explained once and for all the difference between recorded and live Digital Leather (the lowercases are his, or as they say in the trades, “sic”):

“when you put on a record or play an mp3 or tape it’s a one on one situation: you and the artist. that’s why i make my recorded sound more intimate. when i play live, there’s a different dynamic. the music becomes a dialogue between a living audience and myself. therefore, these two sides of music, while having comparable aspects, will always contrast, rather (than), complement each other.“

But the real difference to me is the addition of the rest of the band. DL is a different sort of monster when its powered by the rhythm section of bassist Johnny Vrendenburg and drummer Jeff Lambelet. It’s a clean, powerful, breakneck sound that let’s Foree spread out on guitar and vocals in a way that he couldn’t if he were trapped behind a keyboard like he used to be. I never could hear those keyboards live, anyway, no matter who played them. There’s a reason why Foree has stuck with Vrendenburg and Lambelet over the years, a very good reason.

Anyway, I’ve been indoctrinated in the difference between the recorded and live Digital Leather. And as the band continues to tour, more and more people will be as well, but until then, there’s going to be a certain amount of shock, surprise (and disappointment) by those who have listened and loved the records and expect to hear those synths on stage. In fact I was texted by someone who was watching them play in Chicago late last year, asking me where the fuck were the keyboards. I told him that this is what you get with live Digital Leather. Suck it up, and listen.

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Point of CLARIFICATION regarding tomorrow’s launch of Saddle Creek Shop’s new series called “Record Club at Shop.” I said last Friday that Cursive would be there. Cursive will not be there. Let me repeat: Cursive will not be in the house.

I thought I was supposed to moderate a Q&A with a member(s) of Cursive. In fact, the Club’s concept is for music fans to get together and talk about a specific album, in this case, Cursive’s I Am Gemini. To be honest with you, I’m not exactly sure what my role is. Maybe to just sit and listen. Regardless, we’ll all find out tomorrow. The event starts at 7 p.m. with the playing of I Am Gemini in its entirety inside The Saddle Creek Shop. Discussion will follow afterward, and copies of the album will also be available for purchase — two weeks before its street date! If anything, just go there to pick up a copy of the vinyl, which I’m told is spectacular.

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Over the weekend, O’Leaver’s announced a special last-minute show that’s going on TONIGHT. It’s the long-awaited return of Ladyfinger to the house that booze built, along with Great American Desert. $5, 9:30 p.m. Call in sick tomorrow and go.

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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.