Check out the Good Life reissues…

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Saddle Creek is dipping into its rather enormous back catalog again, this time to dish out reissues of early Good Life and Maria Taylor albums. From the press release:

We are excited to announce that The Good Life’s first three LPs and two accompanying albums of demos will be issued on vinyl April 7. Novena on a Nocturn is available for the first time ever on vinyl, Black Out is back in print for the first time in over a decade, and Album of the Year has been expanded to 2xLP in gatefold packaging. Also available is the never-before released Novena on a Nocturn demos and the never before released on vinyl Album of the Year demos, both Saddle Creek Online Store exclusives.

Then there’s the Maria Taylor stuff:

On April 18 (a.k.a. Record Store Day) Maria Taylor’s first two solo records will be available for the first time ever on vinyl — 11:11 on opaque light blue vinyl, and Lynn Teeter Flower on transparent gold vinyl.

In addition, Cursive’s The Ugly Organ (Deluxe Edition) [Remastered] vinyl is back in stock. To order any or all of the above, go to the Saddle Creek online store.

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Did Big Harp jump the Saddle Creek Records ship? This today in Spin: “After two very good albums with Omaha-based Saddle Creek, (Big Harp has) moved to Fat Possum to release their newest single ‘It’s A Shame.” Check out the track below.

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Speaking of Saddle Creek ex-patriots, Two Gallants shared a new video for the track “Incidental” from the band’s fifth studio album We Are Undone, out now on ATO Records. Two Gallants is playing at Reverb April 22.

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Episode 3 of the Lazy-i Podcast went online this morning. The weekly recap includes a brief interview with Matthew Sweet, new music by Icky Blossoms, Simon Joyner and Bloodcow, info on the No Coast Music Festival and live reviews and recordings from last weekend’s Shy Boys and J Fernandez performances at Almost Music. Plus: The best shows happening this coming weekend. Check it out here.

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Tonight at The Waiting Room Doomtree returns to Omaha for the first time since their Maha Music Festival performance last summer. The band is touring behind their latest full-length, All Hands, out now on Doomtree Records. Opening is Busdriver & Transit. $15, 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 © 2015 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Maria Taylor at The Waiting Room, Jan. 3, 2014

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Maria Taylor sounded amazing Friday night at The Waiting Room despite being under the weather. She announced from stage she was fighting some sort of illness and that she was losing her voice, though no one in the 150+ sized audience would have noticed if she hadn’t told them.

Taylor mixed old and new, backed by a band that included her brother Macey on bass and Mike Shackleford on drums (who opened the night with a brief solo set on guitar). The band was rounded out by a terrific guitarist whose name I didn’t catch. The ever-versatile Maria switched between drums, guitar and keyboards throughout the evening.  Songs off her new album, Something About Knowing, were feathered with Maria chestnuts such as “Lady Luck,” “Tunnel Vision,” and set closer “Clean Getaway.”

She came back for three more songs, including the wonky “Bad Idea,” a tune about growing old alone, which she said seems funny to her now (that she’s married with a son). That was followed by a solo version of “Good Start,” and a short take on “Folk Song Melody” off the new album.

I thought maybe we’d be inundated with stories about new motherhood (and who could blame her if she did talk about such a life-changing event?) but Taylor only mentioned her infant son once during the show. She said touring with him wasn’t much different than touring with any other guy. “I caught him peeing in a trash can, and when I wasn’t looking he tried to follow another woman into her hotel room.” Big laughs. Great show.

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The thing on the left is a dog sculpture created by local artist Julie Jenowe. The thing on the right is my dog, Evie.

We’re down to the last day to enter the drawing for the Lazy-i Best of 2013 Compilation CD give-away. Judging by the number of entries up to now, you’re chances of winning a copy have never been better.

The collection includes songs by Jack Bugg, Daft Punk, Arcade Fire, Tim Kasher, Destruction Unit, Foxygen, Desaparecidos, Duke Dumont even Paul frickin’ McCartney.  The full track listing is here.

To get your name in the hat, merely send an email with your mailing address to tim.mcmahan@gmail.com. You also can comment on a Lazy-i related posts in Facebook, or retweet a Lazy-i tweet. Hurry, contest deadline is midnight tonight!

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I just looked at the temperature — it’s warmed up to -2, so I guess that means (as Cursive would say) the worst is over. Stay warm!

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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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Well, after Sunday it’s back to five-day work weeks for most of us as we try to navigate through this long, cold, dark January. Let’s try to make the best of it, because we’re all stuck here together…

Top show of the weekend is tonight at The Waiting Room where former Nebraskan Maria Taylor returns. Her latest Saddle Creek Records release, Something About Knowing, is an ode to motherhood, or as she said, it was influenced by “the life-changing joy and newfound responsibility of being a first-time parent.” Taylor said she recorded it during her son’s naps and that it’s brimming with “bliss and contentment.” Opening is New Jersey’s PJ Bond, whose Elliott Smith-influenced acoustic style blends well with Taylor’s own laid-back ways. $10, 9 p.m.

If case you forgot (and I know I did), it’s Benson First Friday.

Also tonight, Lincoln indie-dance-rock act Life Is Cool headlines at Slowdown Jr. with The Brigadiers and All Young Girls Are Machine Guns. $7, 9 p.m.

Tomorrow night, Omaha’s favorite C&W band, The Electroliners, hosts a CD EP release party at The Waiting Room. Opening is none other than Mariachi Zapata (that’s right, a full-blown mariachi band) and The Love Technicians. $7, 9 p.m.

Meanwhile fabulous O’Leaver’s boasts a 3-band bill Saturday night with headliner Timecat, Lodgings and Manic Pixie Dream Girls. $5, 9:30 p.m.

And that about does it for the weekend. If I missed something, put it in the comments area. Have a good weekend and try to stay warm…

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Lazy-i Best of 2013

We’re still taking entries in the drawing for a copy of the Lazy-i Best of 2013 compilation CD! The collection includes songs by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Gardenheads, Destruction Unit, Lloyd Cole, Pet Shop Boys, Daft Punk, Jack Bugg and a ton more.  The full track listing is here. Entering has never been easier: To enter either: 1. Send an email with your mailing address to tim.mcmahan@gmail.com, or 2) Write a comment on one of my Lazy-i related posts in Facebook, or 3) Retweet a Lazy-i tweet. You also can enter by sending me a direct message in Facebook or Twitter. Hurry, contest deadline is midnight Jan. 6!

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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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Lost amidst all the hub-bub about Arcade Fire’s release of Reflektor today is the fact that Maria Taylor’s new one, Something About Knowing, also dropped via Saddle Creek Records. I didn’t receive a promo of this one for whatever reason, so like you I’m checking it out for the first time via the MSN Listening Booth. Very poppy. The reviews so far would have us believe it’s a collection of lullabies and/or reflections on motherhood. Still waiting for the big online pubs to come out with their reviews, but here’s All Music‘s and some smaller pubs’ reactions:

All Music gave it 3.5 stars. From the review: “...retains many of the hazy dream pop undertones that informed her earlier work, while introducing a more streamlined, radio-ready patina…”

Best Fit gave it 5 out of 10. From the review: “…While it would be cruel to compare this release to sitting through 40 minutes of a stranger showing you baby pictures, that might be the most potent warning for those unaware of what awaits them here…“

Meanwhile, Reflektor is up on Spotify, where I’ll listen to it this afternoon. Pitchfork when apeshit over it yesterday (a 9. 2, here), which is all it takes these days. Well, that and the mega media blitz the band is currently undergoing, from The Colbert Report to SNL to NPR.

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Scott Severin is doing a set tonight at The Barley Street opening for Michael Wunder and the Uninspired along with John Larsen. Severin grew up in New York City during a time when Lou Reed was very much on the scene. Expect some sort of tribute to Lou by Severin during his set, which makes it more than worth the $5 cover. 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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Twinsmith

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Omaha indie band Twinsmith is seeing its first 7-inch released on none other than Saddle Creek Records Nov. 19. The tracks are “Honestly” b/w “1’30” and “Big Deal.”

“Honestly” premiered today on Minneapolis’ Radio K (right here). “Recorded and produced by Matt Carroll and J.J. Idt at Omaha’s Little Machine Studio, ‘Honestly’ – with its fuzzed-out guitars reminiscent of Blue Album-era Weezer – shows off the evolution of a band still in its infancy.” Congrats Twinsmith, and welcome to the big time.

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Maria Taylor’s next track off upcoming Saddle Creek LP Something About Knowing, titled “Tunnel Vision” premiered today on that great, gray bible of all things financial, The Wall Street Journal (here). The new album hits the streets Oct. 29.

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In other release news, Omaha proto-punkers (not sure what that means, but it sounds important) Pro-Magnum premiered two new songs on HearNebraska.org. available from their Bandcamp page (below).

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An addendum to yesterday’s Tim Kasher reviews round-up: Paste Magazine yesterday gave Adult Film a rousing 8.7 rating, concluding: “If this is a new avenue of self-loathing for Kasher, it’s a welcome change of form from the perhaps more angular output of his screaming past. His gifts for wrangling emotive detours from unlikely sonic realms is his best talent, but he couldn’t do that without his crafty capacity for language, too. Stripped of the angry adornments of his yesteryears, we now may take him at his word.”  Read the full review 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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Just in time for fall, Hell for Breakfast, the blog run by Orenda and Todd Fink, posted a recording of Orenda’s rendition of Bruce Springsteen’s “Nebraska” (embedded below). Orenda’s breathy coo on this grim lullaby could entice any pick-up driving sumbitch to go on a killing rampage…in a good way.

You’ll get a chance to hear Orenda sing it live tonight at fabulous O’Leaver’s.

Todd writes, from the HfB blog:

“On Wednesday Orenda will be playing (Springsteen’s) song “Nebraska” along with a bunch of new and old songs.  She’s letting me sit in on the drums. Our neighbor Greg Elsasser (from Capgun Coup, and No, i’m the Pilot) will be bowing the spooky-saw and playing bass. Christine Fink (O’s sister who recently moved here) and Pearl Boyd (Outlaw con Bandana) will be singing backups. And Orenda’s usual partner in crime, Ben Brodin, will be playing his tape delayed moody guitars.”

Also on the bill, the incomparable Simon Joyner (check out his one-on-one Hear Nebraska interview conducted at midtown meat house The French Bulldog) and Chicago’s Circuit des Yeux and duo Spires that in the Sunset Rise (that’s STITSR, which is very similar to TSITR). This one is $7 and starts at 9 p.m. sharp. Get there early.

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Speaking of members of Azure Ray, yesterday Maria Taylor debuted her first song off upcoming Saddle Creek release Something About Knowing called “Up All Night,” and it’s a baby song (of course). The new record comes out Oct. 29.

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Also happening tonight at The Brothers Lounge it’s the return of Lincoln’s Ron Wax (a.k.a. Ron Albertson) along with KC punkers Lazy and our own Video Ranger. $5, 9 p.m. Check out some Ron Wax below…

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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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Rolling Stone yesterday premiered “Truly Freaking Out,” a track from Tim Kasher’s upcoming Saddle Creek release Adult Film (due Oct. 8). You should check it out.

I like this new Kasher album more than his Monogamy/Bigamy solo records. It seems more thought out and complete, more than a refacing of Good Life or Cursive tunes. Kasher’s thrown in a lot of interesting sonic twists. Like RS said, “Truly Freaking Out” is buoyed by “bloopy bass barrels… and fuzzy, escalating synths…” It’s strangely retro. And the keyboards on “The Willing Cuckold” and “Life and Limbo” also shift the usual Kasher melodies to new places. In fact, the keyboards throughout the record are the difference-maker between this and other Kasher-fronted projects.

Lyrically, pretty dark. Kasher — a self-proclaimed atheist — appears to be coming to grips with his mortality, as well as his loved ones’ impending end. Listen too close and you’re in for a bummer of a ride. Regardless, Adult Film is the most satisfying record Kasher has produced since Help Wanted Nights.

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Todd and Orenda Fink have launched a “lifestyle blog” called Hell for Breakfast. Yes, it contains music (the duo perform as Low Angle Eyes), but it also has other cool stuff like art and video and various writings. The latest posted recording is of the duo covering Velvet Underground’s “All Tomorrow’s Parties” during last week’s Saddle Creek Shop / Omaha Public Library event. Go to the website to hear and see more…

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/107357310″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

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Speaking of members of Azure Ray…

Maria Taylor, Something About Knowing (Saddle Creek, 2013)

Maria Taylor announced last week that Saddle Creek will be releasing her next solo album Oct. 29, titled Something About Knowing. The record was influenced by “the life-changing joy and newfound responsibility of being a first-time parent.” Maria said she recorded it during her son’s naps and its brimming with “bliss and contentment.” Should be quite a contrast to Kasher’s record, eh? Ol‘ Mike Mogis was apparently behind the knobs on this one, and Andy LeMaster (Hey, whatever happened to Now It’s Overhead?) mixed two songs.

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Since I’ll be out the rest of the week, here are the highlights from the music calendar for the balance of the week and weekend.

Tonight (Aug. 28) Lincoln punk band Tie These Hands headlines a show at Slowdown Jr. with Eli Mardock and Saltwater Sanctuary. $5, 9 p.m.

Also tonight (Aug. 28) Columbus Ohio band Emily and the Complexes play at The Sydney with Saturn Moth. It’s probably $5 and probably starts around 10.

Thursday (Aug. 29) Under Water Dream Machine plays at The Barley Street with Love Technicians and Portland act There Is No Mountain. $5, 9 p.m. While I’m thinking about it, there’s only 12 days left in the Bret Vovk/Nick Carl Kickstarter campaign, and they’re still a few hundred dollars from their target. Help these brothers out…

No Blood Orphan, Top Shelf/Lost Tricks (Ant, 2013)

Friday night (Aug. 30) it’s the return of No Blood Orphan to O’Leaver’s. Consider it a reunion show, with all five classic No Blood Orphan members (Bartolomei, Cox, Esterbrooks, Phillips, Saklar) returning for one special performance. In fact, Mike Saklar emailed to say that in addition to No Blood Orphan, there will be “mini-sets” by: Stephen Bartolomei (Mayday, McCarthy Trenching); Chris Machmuller (So So Sailors, Ladyfinger); McCarthy Trenching (So So Sailors, Mal Madrigal); Lincoln Dickison (Chromafrost); Cricket Kirk/Custom Catacombs (Dirty Fluorescents) and more. Available at the show will be a new clear vinyl 7″ and a dual-EP CD titled Top Shelf and Lost Tricks. This one will be special $5, 9:30 p.m.

Sunday night (Sept. 1) there’s a pretty sweet show going on at O’Leaver’s — Merge Records band The Love Language headlines a show with Pony Wars and No, I’m the Pilot. It’s listed as a 8 p.m. show. Tickets are $7 and are actually being presold right here. A ticketed, early show at O’Leaver’s? Will wonders never cease… You’ve got Monday off, so there’s no excuses for missing this one.

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Have a happy Labor Day. Say goodbye to summer…

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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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Following up on a column from earlier this year, Omaha Girls Rock! announced yesterday that its second annual Rock Camp for Girls will take place the week of July 30. “OGR will provide 50 girls ages 8-18 with a chance to unleash their inner rock stars and to learn songwriting, guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, and vocals,” sayeth the OGR press release.

The week-long day camp, hosted by the College of St. Mary, includes five days of instrument instruction, band practice, guest performances, and “enrichment workshops.”

“The girls are supported by trained, on-site female volunteers, including local and national teachers, social workers, professionals, and musicians. Campers learn instruments, form bands, and write their own original songs. The week culminates in a performance at the Slowdown, Omaha’s premier rock club, at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 4. After camp, girls will receive a CD including a recording of their original songs mixed and mastered by a professional sound engineer.”

In other OGR news, the organization recently was designated as a 501(c)(3) charitable organizations by the IRS. That means your donations to OGR can be deducted from your taxes. So what are you waiting for? To donate, go to omahagirlsrock.com.

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While I’m catching up on my in-box , here’s a heart-warming little story from Alabama’s ai.com where Maria Taylor talks about what it’s like being a mom after having her first baby in May. So how is she going to tour that upcoming Azure Ray album with a baby in tow? “Luckily, my mom has offered to be tour nanny,” Taylor said in the article. “We’ll have a separate car for me, my mom and the baby, and we’ll see how he is touring. We’ll just take it as it comes, and figure it out.”

We already knew about the new Azure Ray album coming out on Saddle Creek Sept. 4, but Taylor also talked about a new duo she’s formed with producer Andy LeMaster of Now It’s Overhead. “I think the record is going to be pretty eclectic in its sound, with a pop sensibility and guy-girl harmonies,” Taylor said in the article. “We have about nine songs, and the hardest part is finishing the lyrics. We’re used to writing by ourselves.”

No word on who’s releasing the debut of this unnamed Taylor/LeMaster project, though I wouldn’t be surprised if Saddle Creek had been mentioned in the discussion…

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In “where are they now” news, SPIN reports that Jenny Lewis is working on a B-side collection of Rilo Kiley tracks as well as a follow-up to her Acid Tongue solo album. She’s also been composing the score and serving as music supervisor for a new movie called Very Good Girls.

“I’ve gotten my heart broken, and fallen in love, and moved out my shitty rent-controlled apartment, and lost my father, and tried to rebuild my relationship with my mother,” she said in the article. “All of these things have definitely popped up in my songs and I want to write something that’s real that people can feel.”

Check out the fan-made video for new song “Head Under Water,” performed with he old partners in crime, The Watson Twins.

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Finally, the Nebraska Pop Festival, which took place in Benson a couple weeks ago, presented a check July 17 for $1,630 to Arts For All Executive Director Judy Mallory, according to a press release. Last year NE Pop Fest raised $711 for the AFA. Kudos to festival promoter Chris Beiermann for following through.

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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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Maria Taylor at The Slowdown, Oct. 30, 2011.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Notes from last night’s Maria Taylor/Big Harp show at The Slowdown…

Big Harp at The Slowdown, 10/30/11.

Big Harp continues to be a special project. Chris Senseney has a unique, memorable voice. When it reaches way down low it sounds like a bull frog trying to seduce a butterfly, all deep and buttery. That voice stands slouched at the center of Big Harp. It’s the band’s defining statement, more so than the songs, which are good in a neo-traditional Townes Van Zandt sort of way — nice, pleasant tunes, bluesy and fun. And more so than the instrumentation, which is better than good. Senseney always was one of the area’s best guitarists as well as a fine keyboard player (which he proved again last night). But it’s that voice that stands out; especially on stage. You can hear it in fits and starts on the record, but on stage, it’s startling, the kind of voice people discover and never forget.

On the other hand, I always get the sense that Maria Taylor is holding back oh so slightly on stage and in recordings, like a woman on the verge of a “Communication Breakdown.” Yeah, that’s a weird reference to Zep. Because despite being known for her sleepy, Sunday-morning folk ballads, Taylor can rock. Really. She did last night during “Xanax” (from 11:11) propelled by her new brother-in-law, Taylor Hollingsworth, whose band Dead Fingers opened last night’s show. For those five minutes or so during “Xanax,” Taylor unclenched the reigns on her voice, on her band, and let go. I wish she’d do that more often. The rest of the set was the usual collection of pleasant Maria tunes, laid back but restrained, as if she’s hiding something just below the surface. If she was, the smallish crowd (especially for a “big stage” show) didn’t mind at all.

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Two big shows tonight, the biggest of which is Cold War Kids at The Slowdown with Young Man. CWK is touring on Mine Is Yours, released in January by V2/Interscope, the record sounds like an obvious stab at the mainstream. $18, 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, it’s a night of Americana at The Waiting Room with Joshua James, HoneyHoney and Levi Lowrey. I’m told by a certain person who works at Homer’s that “HoneyHoney is about to explode.” We’ll see. The band is playing a free in-store at Homer’s today at 6 p.m. Tonight’s gig at TWR is $10, 8 p.m.

Neither show has been promoted as a costume thing, so hand out the candy then head to the club.

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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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

An addendum to yesterday’s Maria Taylor interview… A Lazy-i reader commented that s/he wasn’t aware that Taylor’s new album, Overlook, was so divisive. As I told Taylor during the interview, I’ve never seen such polarity from review to review for an album. Or for that matter, for a specific song.

The song in question is “Bad Idea?” a charming little acoustic guitar rag in the middle of the album that features Taylor cooing the line, “What if I turned 49 / With no husband in mind / Well I guess that ‘s just a glitch in my design.” It’s a summertime back-porch lullaby with an authentic old-time feel, very much in the same vein as “Speak Easy,” from 11:11. But judging from the reviews, you’d think Taylor was singing something as controversial as a protest song.

For example, Triangle Music blogspot loved the track, saying in its review: “In fact ‘Bad Idea’ is so much better than the rest of Overlook it makes me wonder why Taylor didn’t include more purely Americana songs on the album.” Americana?

Meanwhile, our old friends at PopMatters.com would love to see the song buried for all eternity. From their review: “The best track on the record is followed by the worst track on the album. ‘Bad Idea?’ is an annoying grassroots ripoff, with a bored Taylor singing in such a way as if to teach you a lesson. You can just picture her wagging finger. The chorus is awful and will stay in your head for weeks and weeks until you’d rather pierce your eye just to switch focus.”

I read the reviews to Taylor during our interview, and we both laughed. “That’s why I don’t usually read reviews,” she said. “I don’t trust them, they’re so contradictory. I’m always wondering if this person (writing it) is a musician. Why would I trust them over what friends think? It doesn’t influence the way I do things at all. It doesn’t make a difference.”

Decide for yourself. Download the track for free here at Paste.com. My take: The song clearly stands out on the record, and whether that’s a good or bad thing depends on your ability to appreciate this style of music. I asked Taylor if she ever considered doing an entire album of traditional-style ballads that would mix remakes of old standards with new material done in a similar style.

She said the thought has crossed her mind. “That song was done entirely live,” she said. “I had dad on the mandolin, my brother on banjo, two friends on guitars, a standup bass. We all stood in a circle and sung it live. It was so much fun and it only took an hour. I’ve thought of doing a whole record of songs in that vein, live, with those kinds of instruments and touring in seated theaters with everyone playing in a circle.”

Sounds like a good time to me, but we won’t be seeing that Sunday night at Slowdown when Taylor and her band (and family) perform with another act that has a sort-of old-time feel, Big Harp. Get your tickets now…

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Phantogram is a self-proclaimed “psych pop” duo from Saratoga Springs, New York, whose full-length debut, Eyelid Movies, was released on Barsuk in 2010.  Pitchfork gave the disc a 7.5 (here), calling it “a sumptuous, seductive record, easy to let fall into the background, sure, but easier still to fall into.” Check out the opening track, “Mouthful of Diamonds,” below:

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/8834245″]

See how the song sounds played live, when Phantogram plays tonight at The Waiting Room with Reptar. $14, 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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.