Little Brazil playing in the Old Market today (Aug. 27) during Hear Omaha’s finale performance for 2015.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Sorry for no updates the past two days. Reader deadlines. Look for a looong feature on Desaparecidos and a review of the new Mynabirds album in the September issue of The Reader. I’ll let you know when the stories are online.

* * *

Little Brazil blew a hole in the ozone layer above the O! Chamber Courtyard in the Old Market today during the last of this season’s Hear Omaha lunchtime concerts. I’m told their performance was the loudest of the series, and can attest that Mike Friedman’s ringing guitar licks could be heard as I walked out of the Union Pacific HQ building at 14th and Dodge, about a half-mile away. Good crowd, great music, great series. Hopefully it’ll be back for 2016.

* * *

Some catch-up:

By now you’ve seen the new online partnership between Hear Nebraska and The Omaha Public Library called Download Nebraska, right? You haven’t? Well, here’s the link and the skinny: The website hosts full albums from Nebraska artists, curated by the Hear Nebraska staff. You can stream them from the website for free, or download the tracks if you have an OPL Library Card (and who doesn’t?).

Among the artists available on the website are Eli Mardock, Both, Digital Leather, Little Brazil, Matt Whipkey, Millions of Boys, Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship, Pleasure Adapter, Yuppies and on and on.

Hear Nebraska major domo Andrew Norman says more albums will become available on the site in the future, and that all bands with music at downloadnebraska.org got paid — a rarity in the streaming era.

Here’s an another “Did You Know?”: There’s been a website online for years and years called The Band Broke Up that also offers downloads of albums from Nebraska bands for free. We’re talking old-school Omaha and Lincoln acts like Rent Money Big, 13 Nightmares, Thunderstandable, Mister Baby, The Monroes, Opium Taylor, Fullblown, Marianas, The Bombardment Society, the list goes on and on. Check it out, too. These two sites should cross-link or (better yet) merge!

* * *

The 12th Annual Lincoln Calling Festival has been announced for Sept. 29-Oct. 3 to be held at nine venues in Lincoln. The bands confirmed so far:

A Ferocious Jungle Cat
All Young Girls Are Machine Guns
American Pinup
Andy Butler
AZP
Bandit Sound
Better Friend
Bloodhound
BOTH
The Bottle Tops
Bud Heavy & the High Lifes
Buffalo Rodeo
Bummer
Clementine
Communist Daughter
Cupcake
Desir Decir
DJ Relic
Dylan Bloom Band
Ebony Tusks
Elsinore
Emily Bass
FREAKABOUT
Gerardo Meza Band
Ghost Foot
Gordon
The Government
Halfwit
Head of Femur
Homegrown Film Festival Volume 8
Hyborian
The Inner Party
Jack Hotel
Josh Hoyer and Soul Colossal
Joshua Powell and the Great Train Robbery
Lazerwolfe
Little Brazil
Matt Cox Band
McCarthy Trenching
The Mezcal Brothers
The Midland Band
Mike Semrad
Motion Trap
Oquoa
The Palmer Squares
Ponyboy
Powers
Psalm One
Pure Brown
Red Elvises
The Renfields
Rock Paper Dynamite
See Through Dresses
Shark Week
Thirst Things First
Tijuana Gigolos
Twinsmith
VAMOS
Universe Contest
What the Fuss
Zoolarious

Lincoln Calling organizer Jeremy Buckley said there’s even more band announcements to come. The full schedule should be finalized in a couple weeks.

Lincoln Calling has the distinction of being the largest Nebraska music festival involving the most bands, all of which are paid for participating, which makes it somewhat amazing.

* * *

Tonight at O’Leaver’s Philly band Beach Slang headlines. The band opened 40+ shows for Cursive last year. Opening tonight’s show is the always amazing See Through Dresses and Eric in Outerspace. $5, 9:30 p.m.

* * *

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.

Best Coast at The Waiting Room, June 9, 2015.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

If this review seems light on the bands that played later in the evening it’s because I only went to The Waiting Room last night to see the opener, Bully — a band that’s getting a bit of a buzz  lately — and not co-headliners Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Best Coast.

I knew virtually nothing about UMO; never listened to a single track from the band prior to last night. And yet for a few people I’d talked to, they were the main attraction on the bill. When you go into a show knowing nothing you expect even less, which is what I got from UMO. Though they’re compared to Tame Impala and MGMT, they sounded like a noodling jam band to me with a tip o’ the hat to beachy Jack Johnson. Not my bag, but unless my eyes deceived me, the crowd peaked during their set so they must be doing something right.

After three or four songs I found myself paying more attention to the score of the Cavs/Warriors game on my iPhone than the stage, so I hightailed it down to St. Andrew’s to catch the last five minutes of the 4th quarter (which stretched out to 15 in real time), where I saw a few more show ex-patriots waiting out the UMO set. BTW, who knew that Lebron James and the Cavs were so loathed?

Made it back to The Waiting Room in time for the start of Best Coast. I don’t know if it’s an endorsement of the band or an indictment of SXSW, but Bethany Cosentino and Co. were on point last night, playing way better than when I saw them in Austin in March, where they looked bored as if fulfilling a commitment (which they were). Last night they were into it, ripping through one song after another, Cosentino’s long hair (along with sideman Bobb Bruno’s) floated ethereally alongside her head, blown skyward by electric fans Cosentino said they were trying out for the first time on tour. Whereas I liked Best Coast’s energy, the band did little more than play through their set list, which isn’t enough to keep me engaged, especially since I don’t own any of their albums.

Bully at The Waiting Room, June 9, 2015.

On the other hand, I knew nothing about Bully prior to last night and left a fan (or at least entertained). The band is centered on frontwoman Alicia Bognanno, whose high, sometimes-scratchy vocals border on novelty. In fact, Bognanno’s voice would be perfect for the role of a cute woodland creature in an animated TV show; something tells me she does a spot-on impression of Bart Simpson.

More often when she’s singing, however, Bognanno channels Kurt Cobain on music that is straight out of 1992. Is there a grunge resurgence going on (already)? Bully’s songs, especially during the first half of the set, sounded like they could have been written by Cobain (or Courtney), thanks to their bass/rhythm lines, the loud-quiet-loud dynamics and Bognanno’s howl/screech that was pure Teen Spirit.

Bognanno was at her best when she throttled down the howl and simply sang. Toward the end of the set she introduced a song saying she was “slowing it down” and getting all “romantically.” The tune was pulled back, controlled, but took flight toward the end, and was the best song of the night (by any band). Bully’s debut LP comes out June 23 (a crowded date for releases). Where will they go next?

* * *

Seems like a decade ago that I interviewed Metric, because it was. The band has done nothing but grow since then, winning a handful of Juno Awards, which is sort of the Canadian version of the Grammy’s. Thanks to this success, Metric is now placed as an opener for arena shows, like the Imagine Dragons show tonight at the CenturyLink Center. Needless to say I won’t be attending, but felt compelled to mention it as Metric played at Sokol Underground once upon a time.

A show I’m more apt to attend is Street Eaters tonight at Sweatshop Gallery. Chris Aponick of Perpetual Nerves, the company promoting the show, described them as “a two piece that plays noisy stripped down rock that steers clear of garage rock’s worn out tropes.” Also on the bill are Navy Gangs, CJ Mills and Our Lady of Perpetual Help. $7, 9 p.m.

By the way, they don’t call it “Sweatshop Gallery” for nothing. It will be hotter than hell in there tonight. You may want to show up in your skivvies.

Also, here’s an early head’s up about tomorrow’s Hear Omaha event, which takes place over the lunch hour (noon) at the public space at 13th & Howard streets in the Old Market. This week’s featured artist is Orenda Fink. Come down and check it out. It’s free and there (probably) will be food trucks. Of course it’s brought to you by the fine folks at Hear Nebraska…

* * *

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.

Son, Ambulance at The Reverb June 3, 2015 — the Big 50 benefit for Hear Nebraska.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Whoa, what a night. Thanks to everyone for coming out to the Big 50 concert at Reverb last night. It was a great way to welcome in the next half-century — great friends, great bands, great times. Now what am I going to do for 51?

The Lupines at The Reverb June 3, 2015 — the Big 50 benefit for Hear Nebraska.

Wagon Blasters at The Reverb June 3, 2015 — the Big 50 benefit for Hear Nebraska.

And there was some news at the show. All three bands either have recorded or are recording new music. When they will release it, none could say, but based on what we heard last night, we’ll all be adding lots of new music to our record collections very soon. Thanks again to the bands for playing the gig. It was a blast!

* * *

There’s another rather huge show tonight, this time at Slowdown Jr., where Saddle Creek’s latest and greatest signing, Hop Along, makes its Omaha stage debut. The band’s just-released album, Painted Shut (Saddle Creek, 2015) sits at No. 16 on the College Music Journal Radio 200 chart and No. 18 on the KEXP Variety Music Chart. Not to mention the record is getting air time on Sirius XMU, which is becoming sort of an ad hoc national indie radio station. This could be Saddle Creek’s biggest non-Omaha signing since Rilo Kiley. Here’s your chance to see them on a small stage. Opening are fellow Philly bands Lithuania and Field Mouse. $10, 9 p.m.

Also tonight Dallas alt-country band Old 97’s play at The Waiting Room with Oil Boom. $25, 9 p.m.

* * *

And this just in over the lunch hour, Matt Whipkey and his band kicked off this season’s Hear Omaha concert series in the Old Market (right underneath the atrocious sculpture of the Husker kid in a baseball cap). The series, brought to you by Hear Nebraska and various sponsors including First National Bank, features a different local band performing over the lunch hour every Thursday.

Whipkey rocked a crowd of around 100 consisting of dudes and women in business suits, local hipsters who live in the surrounding lofts and other tourists/curiosity seekers wondering what all the good-time noise was about. Next week Orenda Fink plays the Hear Omaha stage. Check out the full schedule here.

Matt Whipkey at Hear Omaha in the Old Market, June 4, 2015.

* * *

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.