Ramon Speed at Junkstock #20 at Sweatshop Gallery, Nov. 8, 2014.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

It was a night of contrasts Saturday. The evening started out in Benson at Junkstock #20, the gala event hosted by Unread Records’ Chris Fischer featuring a number of artists from the exec’s famous tape label. I got there just in time to catch an amazing set by South Carolina songwriter Brantley Fletcher who goes by the name Plundershop. His story-telling style of acoustic balladry had a personal quality reminiscent of Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle, and equally as stark. The guy had a great voice that sounded sterling on the Sweatshop’s tiny PA.

This was my first show at Sweatshop, which is basically the garage in the back of the Sweatshop Gallery, located just south of The Barley Street Tavern in Benson. Entrance is in the back through a smokers-picnic area where people hung out on lawn chairs and drank from BYOB tall boys. Had I known it was a BYOB thing I would have picked up a can of Rolling Rock before I arrived.

The performance space is small; it looks like it could hold 50 or so comfortably in front of the “band space.” It’s a stand-around experience, though a couple people were seated here and there including near the doorway that led downstairs to the art gallery. It had the feel of a house show (or garage show).

Plundershop was followed by a guy who goes by the name Mean Spirited Robots, another acoustic songwriter who played his personal stories seated to a crowd of around 20.

Josh Hoyer and the Shadowboxers at The Slowdown, Nov. 8, 2014.

After his set it was time for something completely different. I skedaddled down to The Slowdown for Josh Hoyer and the Shadowboxers’ CD release show. Hoyer filled the big stage with a pro team that included sax, trombone, guitar, bass, drums, keyboard and three backup singers, all necessary to fill out the funk/blues sound heard on his new album. Hoyer said he’d spent the time before his set resting his voice which “felt funny,” but you couldn’t hear a bit of hoarseness when he launched into his CD’s title track, “Living by the Minute.”

This is traditional blues/funk that borders on Steely Dan yacht rock played precisely by a team of instrumental craftsmen, but it’s Hoyer at the center — pounding out the keys and singing — that makes it all work. It was nice not being the oldest guy in the crowd of around 200, a crowd that looked a lot different than the usual indie audience I’ve seen at past Slowdown shows.

Plundershop at The Sweatshop Gallery, Nov. 8, 2014.

Thirty or so minutes into the set and I headed back uptown to the Sweatshop, arriving just in time to see the last band of the evening, Ramon Speed. By then, the garage was jam packed and I began to understand why they call it the Sweatshop as I was sweating my ass off in my pea coat.

Ramon Speed has been around in one form or another since the ’90s, having released music on Sing! Eunuchs label, among others. The band’s personnel is George Peek on guitar and vocals, Brad Smith (of Almost Music) on bass, Mike Marasco on guitar, and Miah Sommer on drums.

This was my first time ’round with these guys and it was amazing — a hard, guttural punk rock sound, a throwback to the early Antiquarium days of the ’90s of bands like Solid Jackson and Culture Fire. The closest modern comparison would be one of Steve Micek’s bands (The Stay Awake) though RS’s sound is not nearly as technical. Great stuff. Too bad it was a one-off, as Peek doesn’t live around here, and the rest of the band is involved in other projects.

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A few newsy notes…

This morning One Percent Productions announced that Desaparecidos will be playing at The Waiting Room Nov. 25 with Digital Leather and BOTH. Not sure why this one popped up now, other than the band might be getting in some stage time while everyone’s in town for Thanksgiving (and they’re prepping to support an upcoming release on Epitaph?). $20 tix are on sale now.

Also, Matt Whipkey’s Kickstarter campaign is winding down and Matt’s still got a ways to go. He’s just under $3,000 with a goal of $5,250 and just three days left. So if you’re gonna help him out, better do it now.

There is a raft of shows going on tonight…

Over at the Down Under Lounge, 3802 Leavenworth, Ft. Collins band Sour Boy, Bitter Girl headlines with Micha Schnabel (Two Cow Garage), Anthems and Cooper Lakota Moon. 7 p.m., $5.

Indie hip-hop star Murs headlines at The Waiting Room tonight with Ces Cru. $20, 9 p.m.

The sneaky-good show of the night is High Ends at Reverb. Fronted by Jeff Innes of Yukon Blonde, the Vancouver band’s music has been compared to Destroyer and Jim James. Opening is One Eye White. $10, 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 © 2014 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Josh Hoyer and the Shadowboxers will be celebrating their CD release Saturday night at The Slowdown.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Junkfest #20, brought to you by Unread Records (read all about the label and its founder, Chris Fischer, right here), is tonight and tomorrow at the Sweatshop Gallery in Benson. Yesterday, Simon Joyner published a new schedule for the event:

Friday

Nathan Ma & the Rosettes (9-9:30)
Razors (9:45-10:15)
I am the Lake of Fire (10:20-10:45)
Joe Kile (10:50-11:30)
Chauchat (11:35-12:20)
Church of Gravitron (12:30-end)

Saturday

Restaurnaut (9-9:30)
Plundershop (9:40-10:10)
Mean Spirited Robots (10:15-10:45)
L Eugene Methe (11:00-11:30)
Simon Joyner & the Ghosts (11:40-12:20)
Ramon Speed (12:30-end)

It’s $8 per night or $13 for both nights. And there’s a large art show going on in the gallery as well, just in time for Benson First Friday.

Also tonight (and part of BFF) Millions of Boys plays at the Parlour 1887 salon with LA’s Allison Weiss (No Sleep Records). Music starts at 8, and this one’s free.

Not part of BFF, Travelling Mercies headlines tonight at fabulous O’Leaver’s. Also on the bill is Kait Berreckman Band and Michael Wunder. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Also tonight, Mitch Gettmann opens for Texas singer/songwriter Israel Nash. $10, 9 p.m. at Reverb.

Saturday night is the big Josh Hoyer and the Shadowboxers CD release show at The Slowdown. My comments about Hoyer’s new record, from this column in The Reader:

Josh Hoyer and the Shadowboxers, Living by the Minute (Silver Street) — As I told Hoyer in a gush email, I don’t know anything about this genre of blues/funk other than what I learned from Sharon Jones + the Dap Kings, but he and his band do it as well or better than most of the bands in this category. Why he hasn’t been “discovered” yet is a mystery, though I’m told word is getting out about this Lincoln combo.

Opening is Funk Trek, Paa Know’s By All Means Band. $8, 9 p.m.

Finally Sunday night, Shreveport badasses Ghost Foot headline at O’Leaver’s. Opening is Omaha’s newest stoner/sludge rock combo Nightbird and Ted Stevens Unknown Project. $5, 9:30 p.m.

That’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a good 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 © 2014 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Josh Hoyer and the Shadowboxers celebrate their CD release at The Hive tonight.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I don’t write much about blues music. I leave that to the expert — B.J. Huchtemann. B.J.’s been writing about local music as long as I have, maybe longer. She, too, was part of the Omaha bullpen of Lawrence music magazine The Note way back in the early ’90s, and has had a column in The Reader that pre-dates my own. Her forte, her focus always has been the blues and I challenge anyone to find another local music journalist who has written more about the topic than B.J. So with that, I acquiesce all intelligent introspection on the new Josh Hoyer and the Shadowboxers album to her. You can find her writings every week in The Reader and online at The Reader website (Her latest is right here).

That said, I do know something about the kind of horn-powered blues that Hoyer is known for. I know my way around a saxophone. I played tenor and alto in high school jazz bands, and I’ve listened to my share of his style of R&B over the years. I’m no expert, but I know what I like and don’t like, and I most certainly like Hoyer’s new project. I liked his old project, The Son of 76 and The Watchmen, too. But to me, this new outfit is more realized, more thought-out and swings more righteously.

On his website, Hoyer says he borrows from Stax, Motown, New Orleans and San Francisco. There’s something in his vocals that remind me of Dr. John as much as Robert Cray. But from an indie perspective, I’d slide Hoyer into the same category as funk/soul maven Sharon Jones + the Dap-Kings, though Jones’/Dap-Kings’ sound is more ’60 traditional/revivalist than Hoyer’s more modern take on the genre. I say this because Jones is an accepted commodity among indie-music followers (and for good reason); Hoyer deserves the same acceptance since his music is just as dirty, just as authentic in its own way.

It’s one of those records you can put on while you do your thing. It pushes you along, it gives you whatever you need to get by, if only for the afternoon, or the night, with as much attitude as you’ll need. Always gutsy, usually free-wheeling, and above all, never corny (and when it comes to modern blues, that’s key). Don’t over-think it, just enjoy it. You want more detail? Ask B.J. or even better, check out the album yourself.

So I say all this because Hoyer and the Shadowboxers are celebrating the release of their debut album tonight at The Hive, a new rock club and art gallery at 1207 Harney St. The club is known as a sort of 311 tribute bar (hence the name). I’ve yet to step foot inside, but have heard good things about their space and sound. $5, 10 p.m.

Also tonight, London acoustic balladeer Bear’s Den plays at The Waiting Room with Landon Hedges (Little Brazil). $12, 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, See Through Dresses headlines a show down at Slowdown Jr. with Dan Mariska And The Boys Choir, and The Boy & His Wolves. $7, 9 p.m.

Over at The Sydney there’s a going away party for Tom and Lindsay Barrett which will feature a performance by Tom’s new project, Xendless, which consists of Barrett (DJ- keys loops), Chad Gregerson (drummer of Dead wave) keys loops and Erin Eckerman (vocals). Huge Fucking Waves also is on the bill. Starts at 9.

Meanwhile, at fabulous O’Leaver’s it’s Des Moines band The River Monks with Kaloko and Brad Hoshaw. $5, 9:30 p.m.

And finally tonight at Sweatshop gallery it’s the JT Bonafide T-Shirt Art show with performances by The Filter Kings and The Lupines. It’s free and starts at 8.

Tomorrow night (Saturday) it’s the long-awaited Neutral Milk Hotel show at Sokol Auditorium. This one has been sold out forever. Opening is ’90s indie legends Elf Power. A note for the lucky ones who got tickets: According to the One Percent website, no photography or video recording of any kind is allowed, and that includes cell phones! Start time is 8 p.m.

Also Saturday night, Matt Whipkey and his band play at The Hive. $5, 9 p.m.

Did I forget anything? Put it in the comments section. Have a grand 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 © 2014 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.