Modest Mouse headlines Outlandia Saturday night.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The weather gods are shining on this year’s Outlandia Festival, which is this Friday and Saturday at Falconwood Park in Bellevue. Sure, it’ll be in the 90s on Friday, but Saturday is looking somewhat perfect and a ton better weather-wise than Maha Festival’s steam-table/thunderstorm/heatstroke weather.

Considering tickets cost the same for both days, your best value is Saturday, where you’ll get seven bands vs. Friday’s 5-band line-up. One assumes the Friday price is for headliner Lord Huron, and I must admit right up front I’ve never heard a song by this band, but am told people are coming from far and wide to hear them sing their mega-hit, “The Night We Met.” Their latest album is music from the motion picture The Starling Girl, a film I’ve also never heard of, released on Mercury Records. Lord Huron has a massive 14.6 million monthly Spotify listeners. 

The rest of Friday night’s line-up compliments Lord Huron’s mid-tempo acoustic balladry. Things kick off with Minne Lussa, an indie five-piece and local favorite fronted by the inimitable Matt Rutledge. The band plays shimmering rock songs reminiscent of acts like Luna and The Album Leaf. Really gorgeous stuff and a good reason to get there when the festival kicks off at 4 p.m. 

Next up is Des Moines indie band The Envy Corps, who have been around forever and always plays the 80/35 Festival. They’ve played Omaha clubs a number of times. 

Then comes (for me) Friday’s headliner – The Good Life. This legendary band emerged as a singer/songwriter side project by Cursive’s Tim Kasher in the early 2000s, releasing a string of classic albums on Saddle Creek Records. For years, Kasher would alternate between those two bands, releasing an album by Cursive which they would tour for year or so, and then releasing an album by The Good Life, which that band would tour, and so on. Eventually he also mixed in years where he focused on his solo album and subsequent tour. 

The Good Life hadn’t played in in years, but is currently on the road supporting a new double-LP rerelease of 2004’s Album of the Year, although this Outlandia performance will be more of a greatest hits set. I would love to see it. 

Finally, alt-folk singer/songwriter Gregory Alan Isakov plays a set before Lord Huron takes the stage. He played a sold out Admiral Theater earlier this year, and again, I have to admit to not having heard any of his music prior to that show, but the tracks I have heard since were great. 

Here’s the Friday schedule:

• Minne Lussa – 4 p.m. 
• The Envy Corps – 5 p.m. 
• The Good Life – 6:15 p.m. 
• Gregory Alan Isakov – 7:45 p.m. 
• Lord Huron – 9:30 p.m. 

Saturday’s line-up is more diverse and, in my opinion, rock solid.

It kicks off at 1 p.m. with Criteria. The Omaha-based indie rock band (often classified as emo, though they’re not really emo in my book), was among the cadre of acts that released music on Saddle Creek Records in the early 2000s. Fronted by the high-flying guitarist/vocalist Stephen Pedersen, Criteria hosts a holiday concert every year at The Waiting Room, which is always jam-packed with familiar faces. Let’s hope some of them show up for this early set. 

They’re followed by Chicago indie band Horsegirl, whose 2022 album, Versions of Modern Performance (Matador Records), was on my list of favorites that year. This band would have been a natural for the Maha Festival, but Outlandia gets them and is better for it. 

Then along comes Cat Power. I’ve seen her a number of times, and you’re either in for a performance that’ll do down as an Outlandia highlight, or you’re in for a train wreck. There is no in between. Cat Power a.k.a. Chan Marshall, was part of the high-water days of Matador Records when the label could do no wrong with acts like Pavement, GBV and Yo La Tengo releasing one classic album after another, with Cat Power right there in the mix.

Chan’s followed by a reunion of another classic Omaha band, The Faint, who by themselves is worth the prices of admission. This band of No Wave / Blank Wave / electronic-driven dance-punk rockers owned the early 2000s indie landscape next to labelmates Bright Eyes, and were one of the driving bands that briefly made Omaha indie-famous during Saddle Creek Records’ glory years. Do not miss.

Then comes the festival’s headliners…

Manchester Orchestra have been around forever and falls into the same dreary category as The National to some extent, though they’re not nearly as popular. They have a new EP out on Loma Vista Records.

Lots of people are excited about emo band Jimmy Eat World. Either you were a big Jimmy Eat World fan or, like me, you missed the boat with these guys. That said, there will be a ton of people on hand just for this set. Their latest release, the single “Place Your Debts,” was written by Desaparecidos’ Denver Dalley and The Faint’s Clark Baechle. Will Clark make a cameo appearance during the set?

Finally, it’s headliner Modest Mouse. They played Maha a few years back and have a huge fan base that counted me among them… back when they released their debut album, The Lonesome Crowded West. Unfortunately, they kind of moved on from that sound, and are more known for their single “Float On.” 

Here’s the Saturday schedule:

• Criteria – 1 p.m.
• Horsegirl – 2 p.m.
• Cat Power – 3:30 p.m
• The Faint – 5 p.m.
• Manchester Orchstra – 6:30 p.m.
• Jimmy Eat World – 8 p.m.
• Modest Mouse – 9:30 p.m.

I’m on the fence about going on Saturday afternoon, which should be pretty awesome, though I have some trepidation about the whole campsite situation, having never been to Falconwood and having no idea how to get there. I’ve talked to a couple folks who have attended, and they say it’s easy-peasy. 

Single-day festival tickets are $105 ($89+$16 in fees); two-day passes are $190 ($169+$21 in fees); single-day VIP tickets are $273 ($249+$24 in fees). This year all tickets include parking. More info at Outlandiafestival.com.

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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

Some meandering thoughts about Outlandia…

I just wrapped up a column for the April issue of The Reader wherein I tried to “translate” the festival’s bands into RIYL bands that someone in their 50s who has become disconnected to music might recognize. It was not easy.

As I was writing it, the Outlandia line-up was announced, and I considered including Outlandia bands in the write-up until I discovered that the headliner and a couple other prominent acts were completely unfamiliar to me. I was told by a pal at the office that Lord Huron has played in Omaha many times. Gregory Alan Isakov played The Waiting Room way back in 2011 (with Kyle Harvey opening no less), again in 2017 opening for Blind Pilot and as recently as a few weeks ago at a sold out Admiral show. Manchester Orchestra also has played Sokol Auditorium in 2009 and 2014 according to the Lazy-i Wayback Machine. So how come I’m so clueless about these three bands?

It probably has something to do with how I discover music, which is exceptionally hit and miss. Beyond listening to new bands after they’ve been scheduled to play in Omaha, I discover new indie music via Sirius XMU (which, by the way, doesn’t play anything by those three artists), as well as reading Pitchfork, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan and review aggregator Album of the Year, and also word of mouth via social media, where people embed YouTube videos, etc. 

Lord Huron and Isakov, moreso than Manchester, are indie folk artists. Over the past five (maybe 10 years) indie folk and indie singer/songwriter music has been dominated by women. The Maha Festival line-up is headlined by Adrianne Lenker’s Big Thief and includes women-led acts Alvvays and The Beths – three of my favorite artists in the past few years. The last male indie folk artist who caught my attention was Christian Lee Hutson, whose sound is in direct lineage with Simon and Garfunkel. If Hutson were to play a local festival, no doubt it would likely be Maha. 

I’m also of an era where record labels were everything when it came to finding new music – Matador, Sub Pop, Merge, 4AD, Jagjaguwar, Saddle Creek, Jade Tree, Carpark, Domino, Dead Ocean, Speed! Nebraska, all the way back to Mute, Factory, Rough Trade, etc – I always gave a listen to artists released on these labels, and still do. Lord Huron’s last couple albums were released on Republic, a label I’ve never followed. Isakov’s albums are released on his own Suitcase Town Music. Outlandia act Cat Power, on the other hand, was one of the early big names released on Matador Records, and as a result, I’m very familiar with Chan’s output. 

Of course Outlandia’s line-up this year goes well beyond the three acts I mentioned above, but really, other than Modest Mouse and the cadre of Saddle Creek Records legacy acts, those three are the ones who are getting the most notice and will sell the most tickets. I have to believe Horsegirl will be a complete mystery folks buying tickets to see Lord Huron, Manchester and Isakov. Horsegirl and Cat Power are my favorites from this year’s Outlandia line-up, along with the Creek bands of course (and I’d place Modest Mouse up there if they only played their early material — highly unlikely).

Yeah, I know I’m missing a lot of great music the way I do it, but don’t we all?

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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

This morning, the folks at Outlandia announced the line-up for their August 11-12 festival at Falconwood Park in Bellevue.  Look, I knew The Faint would be playing somewhere in Omaha this year since they’re opening a couple Texas dates for Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and here we are. The Good Life, Tim Kasher’s more mellow side project, also is on the Outlandia bill, as is Criteria. The only thing missing is a Conor/Bright Eyes/Desa performance to make it a Saddle Creek Records reunion festival (and hey, who knows who might show up…). 

The full Outlandia Festival 2023 line-up:

• Lord Huron – Their song “The Night We Met,” has 1.2 billion spins no Spotify and has been used for everything from Budweiser ads to season 1 of The Flash. Needless to say, I’m not familiar with them. 
• Modest Mouse – They headlined Maha a few years ago and continue to be staple at festivals. They’re known for the single “Float on,” but it’s The Lonesome Crowded West that puts them on my list of faves.
• Jimmy Eat World – Emo personified, though I like their latest release, “Place Your Debts,” which was written by Desaparecidos’ Denver Dalley and The Faint’s Clark Baechle. It’ll be like having an Emo night with real emo.  
• Gregory Alan Isakov – Nominated for a Grammy for best Folk album, he’s another act I’m not familiar with.
• Manchester Orchestra –  Seems like these guys have been around forever, kind of a natural for Outlandia considered they booked The National last year. From Atlanta with a new EP out on Loma Vista.
• The Faint – Two-time Maha headliners, they always put on a great show and without a doubt will again. Their set will be what people remember from this year’s Outlandia, much in the same way Turnstile will be the festival moment for 2023 Maha. 
• Cat Power – Legendary Matador Records singer/songwriter whose live shows are like walking on a balance beam – they’re either euphoric or a total meltdown — either way it’s entertaining. Can’t imagine her playing at a festival, especially if it’s just Chan and a guitar/piano. 
• Horsegirl – One of my favorites from last year, would actually have been a home run booking for Maha. My guess is no one there to see Lord Huron or Manchester Orchestra will have heard of this band.
• The Good Life – One assumes Tim Kasher didn’t want to do Cursive since they already have a May 16 gig at The Waiting Room to play Domestica in its entirety. This one was a pleasant surprise.
• The Envy Corps – Des Moines band that plays 80/35 every year and has come through Omaha a few times.
• Criteria – Another Saddle Creek Records entry, anyone who has seen their holiday shows at The Waiting Room know they’re really well suited to play festivals. 
• Minne Lussa – A favorite local indie band whose pastoral style will be dreamy in a park setting.

We knew it would be hard to beat last year’s line-up that featured The National and Wilco. I wouldn’t put any of these bands in those bands’ category, though Modest Mouse is a big deal. I simply don’t know anything about Lord Huron – it’s not a band that I’ve come across over the years, and not someone played on Sirius XMU, so some research is order on my part.

No word on tickets except they go on sale this Friday and will include tent and RV camping tickets. I gotta believe camping tickets will be the first to sell out – what better way to see a festival than to park your RV and walk to the concert site?

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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.