by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Happy 2024. If you wisely stayed away from social media and your usual online haunts during your holiday break, bravo! 

You missed nothing. Really. What you might have missed are the end-of-year articles at Lazy-i.com. And that’s fine. You can catch up now. Here are the links:

• – 2023: The Year in Music
• – Music Visions for 2024
• – The Lazy-i Best of 2023 Comp CD

There are still copies of the 2023 Best of Comp CD available. If you want one (they’re free), drop me a line at tim.mcmahan@gmail.com with your mailing address and I’ll drop one in the mail for you. It includes music from Genesis Owusu, Slowdive, Blondshell, Neva Dinova, Boygenius, Lewsberg, Lana Del Rey, Bad Bad Men, Palehound and more. You can also listen to the playlist at Spotify from 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.

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Tonight, the first indie rock show of the year is at The Slowdown. Laura Jane Grace is, as we all know, the front person of indie/emo act Against Me! but also has been playing out as a solo performer since before releasing her 2018 debut, Bought to Rot, on Red Scare Records. These days Grace releases music on Polyvinyl Records, the latest EP being 2021’s At War With the Silverfish.  

Joining Grace tonight is Mya Byrne, former member of the roots rock band The Ramblers. She’s maintained that twang on her latest album, Rhinestone Tomboy (2023, Kill Rock Stars Nashville). Omaha’s own Glow opens at 8 p.m. $32.

This is the first indie rock show of the year, and also the last touring indie rock show until Squirrel Flower plays at Reverb Jan. 21 (and what looks like the last touring indie show at The Slowdown until May!). Get it in while you can, it’s going to be a long, cold winter…

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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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Hand Habits at Slowdown Jr., April 1, 2019.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Sara Beth Tomberlin — or just Tomberlin as she’s known professionally and Toblerone as I sometimes mistakenly call her — sat center-stage at Slowdown Jr. last night with an acoustic guitar balanced on her crossed legs and sang heart-breakingly sad personal-journey songs in a voice I can only describe as “angelic.” You’d expect someone who writes such painful lyrics to be church-mouse quiet between songs and mumble morose thank you’s but instead, Tomberlin was a natural crack-up, talking about the time she was on the Jimmy Kimmel show during a bomb threat and how long it takes to get to the nearest Target from her hometown (hour and a half).

Tomberlin at Slowdown Jr., April 1, 2019.

She sang songs off her Saddle Creek debut as well as a couple new ones that fell into the same solemn territory as the others.  She thanked the crowd for being so quiet — the audience of around 60 stood as if in a trance throughout, except for two younger audience members who did a modified grind dance to every sad song.

By contrast, Hand Habits was a veritable rock show. Playing as a trio with bass and drums, Meg Duffy led with an electric guitar that broke away a few too few times for soaring solos that would make Richard Thompson proud. Duffy’s guitar work was stellar and I wished they’d work more of those solos into the set.

Instead, the band played mostly by the numbers songs from their latest Saddle Creek release, Placeholder, which is an early runner for my 2019 top-albums list. On the record, Duffy’s voice sounds like it’s always in harmony with someone or some thing. Live, the drummer added gorgeous harmonies, but for the big single, “Can’t Calm Down,” Tomberlin came up to the stage for one of the night’s highlights.

I can’t quite put my finger on who Duffy reminds me of, and I suppose they’d appreciate that (I’ve yet to meet a musician who likes being compared to anyone). That said (haha) I was at times reminded of Aimee Mann, at least in terms of the way Duffy and company made the most out of simple compositions for maximum emotional impact.

Not surprisingly, both acts said they were happy to be playing home base for Saddle Creek Records, whose reps were sprinkled throughout the audience, proudly watching their latest signees knock them dead.

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Huge show tonight at fabulous O’Leaver’s. Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! is playing with her band, The Devouring Mothers. Advanced tickets to this show are long gone, but there may be a few available at the door for $22.50. The door is at 6:30, so if you’re interested, you’ll want to get in line well before than. The show starts at 7:30 with opening sets by Mercy Union and Control Top.

Also tonight, guitar virtuoso Rob Noyes performs at Reverb Lounge. Joining him are Jon Collin and our very own David Nance. $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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Against Me! plays at Slowdown Saturday, Feb. 25.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I told you I was in a hurry yesterday, and when I rush I make mistakes, like saying the Against Me! show at Slowdown was last night instead of tonight.

The band’s latest album, Shape Shift with Me (2016, Total Treble), received a big 7.4 rating in Pitchfork. The band’s front woman, Laura Jane Grace, who came out as transgender back in 2012, spoke her mind about Trump withdrawing Obama-era protections for transgender students in public schools that let them use bathrooms and facilities corresponding with their gender identity.

“Saying it’s a states’ rights thing essentially means OK-ing what’s happening in like North Carolina with bills similar to HB2. You’re giving the state the right to discriminate them,” Grace said in Rolling Stone (read the article here). What will she say about the controversy tonight from the Slowdown stage?

Check out some Against Me! videos below. Tickets are $20, show starts at 9 p.m. with Mobina Galore and Typesetter.

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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 © 2017 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.