by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

By all accounts, 2023 should have been a turning-point year for the Omaha music scene – two new, grand and glorious 3,000-plus capacity music venues opened. Now no one can say Omaha doesn’t have large-ish, high-quality state-of-the-art music venues to attract the best and brightest touring bands. 

And yet, here we are, still getting bypassed by the best and brightest who can’t seem to find Omaha on a map as they plot their tours. 

Steelhouse Omaha opened in May – a modern metal box of a venue located downtown with all the charm of an airplane hanger, designed (supposedly) for standing-audience performances of more than 3,000 (though the venue also books seated shows). Its chief competition – the 3,000-plus capacity Astro Theater in La Vista that opened earlier this month — boasts an adjoining 5,000-plus capacity amphitheater that opened in September. 

The booking fire-power behind Steelhouse comes courtesy of those greedy bastards at Live Nation, while longtime local heroes One Percent Productions and their partner, KC’s Mammoth Productions, book the Astro complex. Exciting times? Well…. maybe. 

Since both opened, neither has booked a performer that could be considered cutting-edge, modern or progressive, and probably rarely will, because of the perception that those kinds of bands don’t do well in this market. Instead, prepare for a parade of legacy acts whose heyday was 30 (or more) years ago (Rick Springfield, anybody?) along with a wagon-train of country performers (Yaw! Git!) and goon rock/metal/tattoo-discount bands. It’s all about booking sure-thing sell-outs (even though Steelhouse is operated by a non-profit organization dedicated to the arts).

It’s not the promoters’ fault. I came to the sad conclusion that indie music – that style of music that made Omaha a nationally recognized entity in the ‘00s years – has quietly gone out of fashion here and gone back underground. Country acts have gained popularity (as far as booking is concerned) — Omaha has always had its share of shit-kicker bars and C&W radio stations.

But in addition, metal & punk have really become a dominant Omaha thing, with punk and metal shows being held almost weekly. Frankly, it’s a long time in the making. The River, 89.7 FM, has made metal/punk music their staple for years. National promoters Mammoth Productions has booked large metal shows for decades, and the mighty Black Heart Booking has really stepped up in its punk/metal productions. Add to that two new all-ages spaces focused on metal/punk — The Swamp in Lincoln and The Blind Spot in Omaha. Both are “text-for-the-address” DIY venues and already have become game changers.

Omaha still gets a respectable number of touring indie shows, thanks to One Percent Productions (The Waiting Room, Reverb Lounge) and The Slowdown (still booked by Knitting Factory, as far as I know), but it’s not like the old days, and very likely will never be again. 

But here’s the deal – despite Omaha’s lag of interest in indie, the genre remains as popular than ever outside our state. On the coasts and in big market cities, Indie bands are bigger than ever and continue to produce great music, whether or not we have a chance to hear it here live (or on the radio). 

THAT BEING THE CASE… while I had no trouble putting together this year’s Lazy-i Best of 2023 compilation CD (details below), after listening to hundreds of new releases, I still struggled to come up with 10 favorite albums from 2023. Below are the albums I consistently reached for and returned to when listening to new music this past year. As you can see, there are only eight (in no particular order):

• Sextile – Push (Sacred Bones)
• Slowdive – Everything is Alive (Dead Oceans)
• boygenius – The Record (Interscope)
• Blondshell – self titled (Partisan)
• Lewsberg – Out and About (12XU)
• Mitch Gettman – Tilde (self-release)
• Hotline TNT – Cartwheel (Third Man)
• Pardoner – Peace Loving People (Bar/None)

Just as interesting are the albums that didn’t make the list. Sufjan Stevens is a perennial favorite, but his latest, Javelin, was another collection of weepers inspired by yet another personal tragedy. I can only take so much of his despair. Mitski, Ratboys, Wednesday, Slow Pulp and Indigo De Souza all released notable individual tracks, but couldn’t carry an entire album. Water from Your Eyes and Actor/Actriz, who topped my live show list (more on that later), weren’t nearly as interesting in the studio. 

No doubt about it, vinyl continues to be wildly popular among collectors, but I can’t help but wonder if we’re seeing the decline of the “album” as an art form. How important are albums to a youth generation that listens to the majority their music via streaming, playlists and Tik Tok? Attention-span erosion not only is destroying long-form journalism, it’s killing long-form music formats. It sounds depressing, but I’m not sure it’s necessarily a bad thing.

What is depressing is the continued decline of the media that covers our city’s arts culture. The Reader, Omaha’s only arts and entertainment alternative weekly (that became a monthly), ended its 30-year run with its September issue. I personally miss it and the deadlines it forced upon me, but I’m not certain anyone else misses it. 

So who’s left to cover Omaha’s creative endeavors? The Omaha World-Herald is all but gone. In fact, other than, say, Omaha Magazine, I can’t think of any other print publication with an arts voice. Which leaves us, unfortunately, with that echo-chamber we call social media, and folks, that ain’t gonna cut it. The irony, as I’ve pointed out, is that Omaha has more music venues, more art spaces, more restaurants and theaters than ever before. 

Speaking of live performances, despite a lack of touring indie shows coming through town, I attended well over 50 rock shows last year, which ain’t bad (but nothing like the old days). Below are my favorites:

• Goatfest 2023 – Those Far Out Arrows, Bad Bad Men at Scriptown Brewing, March 11 — loud, hard garage rock paired perfectly with Scriptown’s delectable homemade brew. And those actual live goats only added to the atmosphere.
  
• Water from Your Eyes at The Slowdown, April 8 — Opening for a flat performance by headliner Snail Mail, Rachel Brown spoke or sang lyrics in beat with the dissonance over harsh, brittle, noise symphonies provided by guitarist Nate Amos’ cut-jab guitar riffs and acidic synth tones.

• Fleet Foxes at Steelhouse, July 2 — Along with The Killers kick-off, this was the only show I witnessed at this new venue, which by itself was the star of the shows. 

• Blondshell, Hello Mary at 7th St. Entry, Minneapolis, July 11 — My only “travel show” of 2023 was memorable if only for experiencing the shithole that is 7th St. Entry. While we came to see Blondshell, Hello Mary was the show-stopper.

• Maha Music Festival at Stinson Park, July 30 — It was the last year for the annual festival at this location and maybe its best line-up in past eight years, highlighted by riveting sets from Big Thief, Icky Blossoms, The Beths, Turnstile and BIB. Next year Maha moves to the riverfront…

• Petfest 2023 outside Petshop Gallery, July 20 — The all-day festival continues to be the best all-local concert held each year. Highlights included sets by Thirst Things First, Cat Piss and Head of Femur.

• Mitch Gettman at The Slowdown, Sept. 16 — Gettman and his band performed the best songs from his double-album, Tilde, that showcased the singer/songwriter’s range and talent. 

• Lewsberg at Grapefruit Records, Oct. 8 — The Old Market record store unveiled a new stage and new set-up for its live in-store performances. The Rotterdam four-piece took full advantage, playing a transcendent set that sounded like Lou Reed fronting The Feelies.

• Model/Actriz at Reverb Lounge, Oct. 9 – All-encompassing, frontman Cole Haden’s in-your-face performance (literally) bordered on disturbing (He’s not coming for me next, is he?) made the spectacle what it was. This was my favorite show of the year.

• Sextile at The Waiting Room, Oct. 19 — At their best, even the most dead pile of human flesh couldn’t help but move to Sextile’s coal-black rhythms, but with a crowd of only around 150, the show would have been even better at a club the size of Reverb.

• Hotline TNT at Reverb, Nov. 22 — Very much a Sugar/Bob Mould/Teenage Fanclub vibe – pure ’90s post-punk that was even better live than on their much-lauded, overblown debut album. 

• Neva Dinova at Reverb, Dec. 14 — Playing as a power trio (with special guest Mike Saklar playing guitar on a handful of numbers), Jake Bellows went beyond the usual ballideering for a Live Rust-style rock show that indeed rocked.

Finally, there’s this year’s Lazy-i Best of 2023 compilation CD! I’ve been putting this comp together since 1994, originally on cassette.  It’s a collection of favorite tracks I’ve come across during my work as a critic-at-large for Lazy-i.com and the aforementioned, now-defunct, Reader. The CD is mailed to friends and associates as a sort of year-end holiday card that’s also an audio time capsule (and collector’s item!).  

In years’ past, I’ve given copies away in a contest. This year, I’m sending copies to anyone who asks while supplies last (and there ain’t many). Just send me your mailing address via email to tim.mcmahan@gmail.com. 

Here’s the track list: 

• Genesis Owusu, “Leaving the Light” from the album STRUGGLER (AWAL)
• Sextile, “Contortion” from the album Push (Sacred Bones)
• noname, “Namesake” from the album Sundial (self-released)
• Slowdive, “Kisses,” from the album Everything is Alive (Dead Oceans)
• M83, “Amnesia,” from the album Fantasy (Mute)
• Yo La Tengo, “Aselestine” from the album This Stupid World (Matador)
• Hotline TNT, “I Thought You’d Change” from the album Cartwheel (Third Man)
• boygenius, “Cool About It,” from the album The Record (Interscope)
• Blondshell, “Joiner” from the album Blondshell (Partisan)
• Lloyd Cole, “Warm by the Fire,” from the album On Pain (Edel Music)
• Neva Dinova, “Outside,” single (Saddle Creek)
• Slow Pulp, “Broadview” from the album Yard (ANTI-)
• Palehound, “Eye on the Bat” from the album Eye on the Bat (Polyvinyl)
• Pardoner, “Get Inside!” from the album Peace Loving People (Bar/None)
• Lewsberg, “Communion,” single (12XU)
• Water from Your Eyes, “Out There (The Dare Version)” from Crushed by Everyone (Matador)
• Bad Bad Men, “No Thanks” from the album Messed Up (SPEED! Nebraska)
• Model/Actriz, “Mosquito” from the album Dogsbody (True Panther)
• Lana Del Rey, “Let the Light In” from the album Did you know there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd (Interscope)
• Mitch Gettman, “Empire” from the album Tilde (self released)
• Bright Eyes, “Christmas in Prison” single featuring John Prine (Oh Boy)

The playlist also is available in Spotify. Simply click this link or search “Tim McMahan” in Spotify, then select Profiles, then Public Playlists. You’ll find it along with a few from past years.

Next week – PREDICTIONS!!!

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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

Lots of uproar over the announcement that YouTube is launching a subscription music service and — as a result — will be purging its servers of music videos produced by independent labels who haven’t signed a deal with them.

The Daily Mail has one of the better explanations of what’s going on. In their article published yesterday, the Daily Mail quoted a source, saying:

“… a small number of independent artists who had not agreed to new deal terms will have their videos blocked in some countries starting in a few days, even on the free version of YouTube.

“YouTube will block the music videos so users of the test version won’t be confused about which content they can access for free and with features (that) require payment, the people said.

“Allowing free streams of music by certain artists while not offering them on the paid service would erode the value of the paid plan, one person said.”

That said, I still can’t figure out what it means to anyone except for Adele, who will be booted because XL hasn’t signed on the dotted line. Will this mean that indie bands who self-release their own material will have their videos taken off YouTube? They are, after all, the epitome of indie labels. How will YouTube discern between formal indie music videos and, say, Love Drunk videos or videos made by bands that show themselves simply playing at a live venue?

And who at YouTube is going to sift through the billions of videos and weed out the “offenders”? And why would YouTube give a shit about little mom-and-pop labels whose audience is minuscule compared to the audience for one Sony artist? Fact is, they probably don’t give a shit.

The idea that users of the service will be “confused about which content they can access for free” vs. the paid content seems absurd. One major clue would be the shitty 30-second commercial free users will have to sit through before the actual video begins. Subscribers don’t get served advertising.

In the end, it may be much ado over nothing, except for the fact that apparently YouTube is now the No. 1 music streaming service in the world. But do people who listen to quality indie music really turn to YouTube to check out the latest Stephen Malkmus track? Seems unlikely.

At the end of the day, this could turn into yet another way to segregate music. Those who want to see the latest Psy monstrosity will turn to YouTube, while those wanting quality indie music will have to plug into Vimeo. That may not be such a bad thing after all…

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Foxy Shazam plays glammy power pop infused with Queen-style harmonies and the occasional amusing lyric. I tried to find their latest album, Gonzo, on Spotify, but it was self-released and apparently hasn’t been added to the Spotify library and probably never will be because it’s available for free stream and download, at www.foxyshazam.com.

Anyway, Foxy Shazam headlines at The Waiting Room tonight with Larry and his Flask. $15, weird 8:30 p.m. start time.

Also tonight, Matt Whipkey and Brad Hoshaw take the stage at MarQ Manner’s Library Pub Songwriter night. It’s free and starts at 8. 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.