Random Notes: New Rig 1 record 5/13; Protomartyr does The Stooges; Whipkey/Hoshaw, Desert Noises tonight…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , , — @ 12:52 pm April 23, 2014
Rig 1, a.k.a. Ian McElroy, has a new album coming out in May.

Rig 1, a.k.a. Ian McElroy, has a new album coming out in May.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

A few bits from the in-box.

Rig 1, a.k.a. Ian McElroy of Desaparecidos fame, has a new record coming out May 13 on Team Love. Titled North of Maple, the album includes contributions by Clark Baechle, Jacob Thiele and Dapose from The Faint, Nate Walcott (Bright Eyes) and Orenda Fink; and is produced by Andy LeMaster (Now It’s Overhead). The album release show is May 14 at Bowery Electric in NYC, so get your plane tickets now. The first single, “Duality,” is below:

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Protomartyr is a band I (luckily) fell across a couple times this year at SXSW, and it turns out, was one of my favorites. Much to my surprise (and pleasure) I notice they’ve been booked to play Slowdown Jr. May 15 (It’s an Eyeball Production). If you have even a passing interest in post-punk, you need to attend this show.

Anyway, yesterday Protomartyr was featured in AV Club‘s “Pioneering” series where they were interviewed about The Stooges and performed a cover of “Down on the Street” at the Michigan Union Ballroom (why that location is significant requires watching the video). Check it out below:

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I considered Matt Whipkey’s and Brad Hoshaw’s split 7-inch release party to be Record Store Day, specifically their performance for hundreds of line-waiters outside of Homer’s before the shop opened last Saturday.

Instead, they’ll both be performing tonight at Whipkey’s weekly Wednesday night performance at the Harney Street Tavern (Whipkey Wednesday), and are calling it their record release show for “I Miss You” b/w “Sorry,” which will be available for purchase at the show. 9 p.m., free.

Also tonight downtown, Provo band Desert Noises (SQE Music – yep, that’s The Faint’s label) plays with John Klemmensen and the Party at The Hive, 1207 Harney St. $7, 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.

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Live Review: Brad Hoshaw & the Seven Deadlies; Kyle Harvey (and his poetry tonight)…

Category: Blog,Reviews — Tags: , , — @ 2:05 pm February 24, 2014
Brad Hoshaw and the Seven Deadlines at The Waiting Room, Feb. 21, 2014.

Brad Hoshaw and the Seven Deadlines at The Waiting Room, Feb. 21, 2014.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Friday night’s Brad Hoshaw & the Seven Deadlies concert at The Waiting Room was more of a victory lap than a CD release show. Hoshaw’s new record, Funeral Guns, was produced partially through a Kickstarter campaign, so 100+ people already have been in possession of the CD for a few weeks.

The evening began with a solo set by Kyle Harvey, the former musician and Benson resident now poet from Fuita, Colorado (who just so happens to have a poetry reading tonight at Pet Shop Gallery in Benson, see below). The last time I saw Harvey perform was on the same stage a few years ago surrounded by no fewer than a dozen people, none of whom were standing on the floor in front of the stage. Last Friday night that same floor was almost filled. It was the largest crowd I’ve ever seen at a Harvey performance, and that fact didn’t escape Kyle, who said, “I guess you waited until I moved away to finally show up,” or something like that.

Kyle Harvey at The Waiting Room, Feb. 21, 2014.

Kyle Harvey at The Waiting Room, Feb. 21, 2014.

Harvey preceded to play a short set of the introspective acoustic folk he was known for back when he lived in Benson — dark, sad, confessional ballads with a double-helping of lonesomeness for good measure. The irony, of course, is that Harvey is one of the more upbeat guys I’ve known from the scene; his between-song patter was warm and funny and anything but depressing. Harvey says he’s giving up music, but that would be a shame, especially since one of the best songs on the new Hoshaw album was written by him.

Though they’re called the Seven Deadlies, there were only three “deadlies” joining Hoshaw — Vern Ferguson on bass, Scott Gaeta on drums, and guitarist Matt Whipkey, your 2013 “Artist of the Year.” When it comes to this band, Whipkey and Hoshaw have a sort of symbiotic relationship. Yes, Hoshaw’s songwriting and voice are at the center of everything, but it’s Whipkey’s guitar fireworks that add the Technicolor, the panache, the drama.

While I like the new record, there are few things that, uh, left me scratching my head. The production is at times a bit heavy handed. There’s too much organ on too many tracks; and the layered harmonies on a few numbers are reminiscent of dusty Dan Fogelberg albums. There are moments on this record that sound like a product of an El Lay recording studio circa 1975 (to some people, that’s a plus).

All the over-the-top “smoothness” of the record was gone when the music was performed as a four-piece. Hoshaw and Co. stripped the songs down to bare essentials, raw and unvarnished the songs’ natural elements shined so much brighter. It came down to Hoshaw, his acoustic guitar, his songs, his voice, and Whipkey tossing grenades into the audience in the form of his blazing electric guitar work. Whipkey’s solos — while solid on the record — exploded throughout the live set — gorgeous tone combined with glowing drama that (at times) veered close to being out of control, especially on songs like the title track, the grim, gutteral “New Tattoo” and Harvey cover “It Falls Apart.” Riveting stuff.

The night closed with a sing-along encore that included a surreal re-imagining of John Denver’s “Thank God I’m a Country Boy,” and a quiet, un-mic-ed edge-of-the-stage version of “Blue Bicycle” that left the 200 or so on hand in a trance.

So I get back to what I asked in last week’s column — what’s this guy have to do to break out of Nebraska and be heard on a national stage? That was a common question being bandied about before and after his set. The consensus: It all comes down to getting out on the road — not as a solo acoustic guy, but with this band or at the very least, with Whipkey, the only consistent member of The Seven Deadlies and the most critical.

Something tells me if you asked Hoshaw, he’d say hitting the road is the plan. But it was the plan the last time, and other than one small tour he never got out of town with the band. He has to this time. He has no excuses, and if he ever wants to be heard outside of Benson, he has no choice.

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As mentioned above, Kyle Harvey reads from his new book of poetry, Hyacinth, tonight at the Petshop Gallery, 2727 No. 62nd St. in Benson. Joining him will be Greg Kosmicki (the 2000 and 2006 recipient of the Nebraska Arts Council’s Merit Award), Paul Hanson Clark (co-founder and operator of the poetry studio SP CE in Lincoln), and Omaha musician and novelist Michael Trenhaile. It starts at 7:30 and as far as I know it’s free. 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.

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Random Notes (Lupines, Waiting Room, Brad Hoshaw); Whipkey goes trackside tonight…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , — @ 1:45 pm January 29, 2014

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

A few people asked where they can pick up copies of the new Lupines EP Over the Moon, especially when the title isn’t available on the the Speed! Nebraska website (yet). The answer: The EP is available at Almost Music in Benson and Homer’s downtown, and of course, at Lupines shows, though I’m not aware of any currently scheduled. Pick up your copy today.

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The new Waiting Room website on an iPhone.

The new Waiting Room website on an iPhone.

The Waiting Room launched a new website yesterday (at waitingroomlounge.com). To me the most notable quality is that it looks as awesome on your smartphone or tablet as it does on your desktop. Now you can easily check the club’s schedule on the run with your iPhone or Android without having to squint.

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Brad Hoshaw and the Seven Deadlies have a new video on YouTube for an old song. This new take on “Carpenter” off the band’s debut CD was produced by Union Pacific (where I just happen to work for a living). Look for more “Listen UP” sessions in the future produced throughout the Union Pacific system with bands from the regions where they’re filmed.

* * *

Speaking of Hoshaw, he’s the featured artist tonight for Whipkey Wednesday at Tracks Lounge, 1506 So. 60th St., home of the former Trackside Lounge. Matt Whipkey will host and perform at this new weekly series. Music starts at 8 and admission is free.

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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.

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Opening Pandora’s Box (and finding Matt Whipkey inside)(in the column); Phantom Scout, Sowers tonight…

Category: Blog,Column,Interviews — Tags: , , — @ 1:20 pm January 23, 2014

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

In this week’s column, a look at Pandora from the vantagepoint of local singer/songwriter Matt Whipkey, who outlines the steps he underwent to get his music included in the streaming service, and included in the Music Genome Project. You can read it in the current issue of The Reader or online right here at thereader.com, or, since the column is centered around music, you can read it below…

Over the Edge No. 91: Opening Pandora’s Box

pandoraIs Pandora the new “radio”?

And by that I’m asking, could digital music streaming services such as Pandora replace terrestrial radio stations, especially after car stereos become “internet ready,” allowing drivers to punch in a website from their dashboards?

While I can’t answer that in this column, I can say that Pandora at least gives unsigned musicians a glimmer of hope that a stranger will find their music, a glimmer of hope that they’ll never get from old-fashioned radio.

That hope is what drove local unsigned singer/songwriter Matt Whipkey to submit his latest album — an ode to the late, lamented Peony Park called Penny Park — to Pandora.

Before we get to that, what is Pandora? The service is a website and a smartphone app that plays music based on an artist’s “station.” For example, when I typed in “Led Zeppelin Radio” the four songs Pandora belched out were Zep’s “Whole Lotta Love,” Pink Floyd’s “Have a Cigar,” Jimi Hendrix’ “Voodoo Chile” and Rolling Stones’ “Beast of Burden” — basically the same thing you’d hear on Z-92.

Where Pandora gets interesting is when it “suggests” songs you haven’t heard before. That rarely happens when tuned into dinosaur acts like Zep; but it happens all the time when tuning into indie band “radio stations.”

Not just any act can get its music in Pandora. Whipkey said bands signed to record labels have a clear path. Unsigned artists, on the other hand, undergo a process that isn’t exactly easy.

Step One: Open an Amazon Marketplace Account and offer a physical copy of your CD for sale. Step Two: Submit two songs from your record to Pandora. Whipkey said it took two months for someone from Pandora to notify him that his music had been accepted. Hooray! Step Three: Fill out a ton of legal forms. Step Four: Send Pandora a complete copy of your CD.

Three months after Whipkey began the process, “Matt Whipkey Radio” was on the air, but more importantly, his music became part of Pandora’s sci-fi sounding “Music Genome Project.”

According to Pandora, every song in the Music Genome Project is analyzed using up to 450 distinct musical characteristics by a trained music analyst. Those attributes capture not only the musical identity of a song, but also the many “significant qualities that are relevant to understanding the musical preferences of listeners.” Pandora does not use machine-listening or other forms of automated data extraction.

I envision a huge warehouse filled with hipsters and tweed-wearing music professors sitting behind row after row of desks like headphoned elves. As they thoughtfully listen to each CD, they check boxes from a long list of descriptions that includes traits such as rhythm syncopation, key tonality, vocal harmonies and displayed instrumental proficiency (i.e, bitchin’ guitar solo).

“By utilizing the wealth of musicological information stored in the Music Genome Project, Pandora recognizes and responds to each individual’s tastes. The result is a much more personalized radio experience – stations that play music you’ll love – and nothing else.”

And nothing else.

So what does Matt Whipkey Radio sound like? In the first hour I heard songs by Delorentos, Second Dan, Boys School, Sissy and the Blisters, Two Cow Garage, Kirby Krackle and Peter Elkas — all artists and bands I’ve never heard of. Whipkey thinks Pandora groups unsigned indie artists with other unsigned indie artists.

Not everything on Matt Whipkey Radio was anonymous. I also heard songs by The Thermals, The Cynics, Gasoline Heart, Maps & Atlases and one of my all-time favorite bands, The Feelies. Pandora lets users “thumbs up” songs they like, and as a result, it learns a listener’s tastes. I “thumbed up” The Feelies, for instance.

As a whole, the music streamed for Matt Whipkey Radio was pretty good and in character with Whipkey’s style of music. I can’t say the same for “Eli Mardock Radio.”

Mardock is one of my favorite Lincoln singer/songwriters whose debut album was released by tiny label Paper Garden Records. An hour of his station included commercial-friendly music by unknown acts Black Lab, Golden Bear, No Second Troy, The Click Five, a Pat Benetar cover (“Love Is a Battlefield”) by Jann Arden, and songs by familiar (but dreadful) artists Blue October and Travis. None of the music bore the unique, sinister quality that makes Mardock’s songs so interesting.

On the other hand, listening to “Little Brazil Radio” (a popular local punk band) resulted in a very satisfying hour of music that included songs by classic indie bands Superchunk, Silkworm and The Academy Is… Cursive Radio was a veritable hit parade of ‘90s indie, with songs by Radiohead, The Pixies, Modest Mouse and Brand New. The groupings oddly made sense.

What would make Pandora really cool? Imagine the thousands of people listening to “Bruce Springsteen Radio” being fed a Matt Whipkey song. Whipkey says it (probably) will never happen, though he’s heard of bands that have become “Pandora famous.”

“Someone listening to Led Zeppelin Radio who was fed an indie band that sounds like Led Zeppelin probably wouldn’t be too cool with that,” he said.

Whipkey said he submitted to Pandora purely for the chance of gaining wider exposure (He never expects to see a royalty check). “When you tell people you’re on Pandora, they think it’s cool,” he said. “It’s kind of an achievement of sorts. They did have to pick me. They won’t take just anything.”

And who knows, strangers might actually hear his music, which is something they won’t hear on the regular radio. Whipkey said he’s done his share of in-studio performances on local radio stations, “but I never understood how my two minutes live on the air is different than putting on one of my CDs and hitting ‘Play,’” he said. “That’s a no-no. They can’t do it. The guys that host the shows say they have to play what they’re told to play, and that’s it. On the other hand, it’s super-cool that they let me come on their shows.”

So is Pandora the new “radio”?

“I think of Pandora as radio,” Whipkey said. “It’s out there, it’s always on my phone, it’s easy. I just hit the button and there it is. That’s kind of cool.”

Over The Edge is a weekly column by Reader senior contributing writer Tim McMahan focused on culture, society, music, the media and the arts. Email Tim at tim.mcmahan@gmail.com.

First published in The Reader, Jan. 22, 2014. Copyright © 2014 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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Before radio host Dave Leibowitz can chime in with “What about my show, New Day Rising on 89.7 FM The River? We play local music,” I want to point out that Whipkey did mention how much he appreciated Sunday programming on The River. And I’ve written a couple times in my column about Dave’s radio show, which airs from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday afternoons (In fact, New Day Rising was the subject of the very first installment of my former music column, way back in 2004).

But I don’t think I need to remind Dave that three hours — along with a couple other shows aired on Sundays — do not make up for The River’s abhorrent play list the rest of the week. I explored this topic with Sophia John in my column as well — go here, and scroll down to the May 9, 2005 entry. The River’s perceived shift in format referenced in that column never happened. The station is still a glowing bastion of growly, Cookie Monster goon-rock, and  likely will remain so until Sophia moves on. Her justification for not changing format: “If I did that, I wouldn’t be doing what’s best for everyone. I want to bring the masses what they really want while opening their minds to something different.

Argue all you want about the quality of terrestrial radio, it’s not changing. If you like the kind of music The River spins, then you’re lucky; you’ve got an outlet right here in your home town. If you wish a station had a full-time playlist similar to what Dave plays on his show — or for a radio station that spins local musicians regularly — well, you’ve always got Pandora, Spotify and your record and CD collection. Technology will catch up eventually, and you’ll soon be able to tune into that music in  your car as if it were a terrestrial radio station.

This begs the question: Why doesn’t someone create an online radio station that focuses solely on Nebraska music? Keep watching, folks, it’s just around the corner.

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Tonight at The Barley Street Tavern it’s Phanton Scout (featuring Jeremy Stanosheck). Also on the bill, Sacramento band Misamore and Sowers. $5, 9. 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.

Lazy-i

Cave Singers, Landing on the Moon tonight; Whipkey Peony Park album release show Saturday; Cursive, Digital Leather Sunday…

Category: Blog — Tags: , — @ 4:28 pm June 21, 2013
One of Peony Park's lousy rides.

One of Peony Park’s lousy rides.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

If the weather holds out, I think I’ll be riding my bike to Benson a lot this weekend. I’m a little nervous about this, not because I’m afraid that I’m going to be run over by a drunk, but because I don’t want my bike to get stolen when it’s locked up outside wherever I’m at. I’ve got one of those big, thick, hooped bike locks, but you never know. It’s not like my bike is some sort of high-dollar valuable asset that everyone’s dying to steal, I’m just paranoid and wonder if I’ll be able to enjoy the show without checking every five minutes to see if it’s gone.

I need to do what Spaulding Gray used to do when swimming in Cambodia — just leave your wallet on the beach and get lost in the waves.

Anyway, most of the high-end shows are in Benson this weekend, which is a change of pace. It starts tonight when Seattle indie band Cave Singers plays at The Waiting Room. The band’s first two albums came out on Matador before they switched to the more appropriate Jagjaguwar label — more appropriate in that I identify this sort of weedy folk rock music more with Jag than Matador. Opening band, Durham’s Mount Mariah (Merge Records) is another up-and-coming folk rock trio with a frontwoman in the Jenny Lewis vein. Jesse Sykes is listed as solo rather than with her band the Sweet Hereafter. It’s a lineup that’s definitely worth your $13 if you’re into the folk rock thing. Starts at 9.

Also tonight, Landing on the Moon headlines at The Barley Street with New York artists Sons of an Illustrious Father and Lexie Roth. $5, 9 p.m.

Longtime jangle-pop act Turtle Moon bids adieu tonight with a final show at Shamrock’s, 5338 No. 103rd St. 9 p.m..

Saturday night is dedicated to The Whipkey Three album release show at The Waiting Room. Strike that: The record is actually credited simply to Whipkey, which, when you consider that Matt Whipkey wrote all the music (as he usually does) makes a lot of sense, especially for a double-vinyl album that is a rumination of the days of his youth spent at Peony Park.

From the outset, I’ve been a little tepid about the record’s concept because I have very few fond memories of Peony Park. I remember it as a dirty, noisy, half-ass neighborhood carny with shitty rides and overpriced crap food. Whipkey remembers it as a place to pick up tail, an idea that never entered my mind when I was stuck there. I just remember gliding around on that monorail looking at all the shitty rides down below (and the accident when someone was killed falling out of The Hurricane). As I got older, I went to the park’s giant pool / beach, which was the best part of Peony Park. I skipped the Royal Grove and Sprite Nite. My “coming of age” years instead were spent sneaking into Council Bluffs bars like The Warehouse, The Depot and Fat Jacks, but that’s another story.

Anyway, Matt has recorded all of his golden memories of Peony Park and pressed them onto two slabs of pink vinyl. Did he succeed in musically transforming a seedy park into a glorious sex-fueled wonderland? Pick up a copy of the album Saturday night and find out. Expect a genuine rock and roll experience. Opening acts are Moses Prey, Jessica Errett and Tara Vaughan, and  Fizzle Like a Flood. $7, 9 p.m.

Also Saturday night, Saturn Moth plays at The Barley Street Tavern with Talking Mountain and “chiptune” band Superbytes, who counts among its main instruments an old-school Game Boy. $5, 9 p.m.

Also Saturday at fabulous O’Leaver’s it’s Pony Wars with The Howl and the debut of  a new project by Jeremy Stanosheck (Thunder Power, Kite Pilot) called Phantom Scout. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Finally, Sunday night Cursive returns to The Waiting Room for reasons I do not know — they don’t have a new album out and aren’t working on one (though Tim Kasher is finishing a solo recording). Does it matter? It’s friggin’ Cursive, dude. Opening is the amazing Digital Leather and See Through Dresses (Sara from Millions of Boys). $13 adv/$15 DOS. 9 p.m.

Did I miss anything? Add it to the comments section, below. Have a great 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 © 2013 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

…and here’s the Matt Whipkey ‘Penny Park’ Kickstarter; KMFDM tonight…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , — @ 12:58 pm March 26, 2013

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

An update on yesterday’s post about Matt Whipkey’s Penny Park Omaha NE: Summer of 1989 project: This morning Whipkey launched a Kickstarter program to help fund production of the double-vinyl album. His goal is to raise $4,000 in 30 days. As of this writing, he’s already almost a quarter of the way there.

My initial skepticism for crowd funding has recently turned into pure enthusiasm,” Whipkey says on the site. “This is an exciting time for independent music, like a live performance there is now no barrier between artist and listener. Through Kickstarter, we remove the proverbial middleman who always holds things up. You and I are working together on this one, in concert. Quite frankly the idea of a double-gatefold, 150-gram vinyl double concept album about a long gone Midwestern amusement park in 1989 would make many labels immediately stop communicating.”

I’m sure it would. Check out the Kickstarter site and make a pledge.

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Tonight at The Waiting Room it’s the return of Chicago-by-way-of-German industrial band KMFDM. Opening are Legion With and Chant. $25, 8 p.m.

By the way, I discovered from this review of KMFDM’s show in Milwaukee that the acronym stands for “Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid,” a grammatically incorrect German phrase meaning roughly “No Pity for the Majority,” and not, as the band has jokingly claimed on occasion, “Kill Motherfucking Depeche Mode.”

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Tomorrow: Some very special news for fans of ’90s-era Omaha-based punk…

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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.

Lazy-i

Whipkey launches Penny Park music/memories project; Kickstarter update: Outlaw Con Bandana, Travelling Mercies…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , , , — @ 12:55 pm March 25, 2013

Penny Park graphicby Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Bad weather (or the threat of if) kept me away from the bars all weekend. What month is it, anyway? March? March used to be “kite-flying month.” Not anymore. Thank you global climate change.

Over the weekend, Matt Whipkey launched his Penny Park Omaha, NE Summer 1989 project. For those too young to remember, there was this urban amusement park located where the Hy-Vee currently stands at 79th and Cass St. I always thought the park itself was kind of shitty, but the lagoon, well, that was special.

Anyway, it was called Peony Park, not Penny Park. But there were some legal questions tied around using the Peony Park name. Whipkey points out that the record isn’t specifically about the park but about a girl named Penny Park.

Penny Park is a person. Peony was an amusement park. The former spent a great deal of time at the later. This is a record about a girl,” says the mypennypark.com website.

As part of the recording project, Whipkey is asking people to send in their memories and photos of Peony Park. Those photos may be used in the album’s gatefold. We’re talking about a 21-song double vinyl album, folks. In fact, tomorrow, Whipkey will be launching a Kickstarter campaign to help fund its production.

For now, here are a couple recordings that will give you a flavor of the project:

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/84636455″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/84638002″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

 

Speaking of Kickstarter projects…

Outlaw Con Bandana is currently running a Kickstarter to help produce a new double-vinyl LP and writing collection.

White Pariah is a micro publishing company started by four friends from Omaha, NE. The Ticks and Trips vinyl and writing collection will mark our first release. We’ve worked really hard to make sure this thing rules. The writing collection has a bunch of great prose, and poetry from Brendan as well as some old photos we had him dig up from the depths. The booklet also features lyrics to all 27 songs featured on the album, which we had fun making Brendan type up. We hope everyone loves sitting down and going through this thing.

OCB is only trying to raise $1,000 and currently is at the $865 mark with four days to go. Go to his Kickstarter page and give him a hand.

About a month ago I told you about the Kickstarter campaign for Travelling Mercies’ Motel album. Well, according to that Kickstarter site, the band has met it’s $4,000 goal (though the pledges listed don’t add up to $4,000 — I’m not sure how that works. Regardless, congratulations are in order).

Kickstarter is quickly becoming a accepted way for artists to “pre-sale” their albums, effectively funding their production and taking away a lot of the risk involved. For better or worse, it’s become a primary business model for independent musicians.

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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.

Lazy-i

Live Review: Brad Hoshaw and the Seven Deadlies; Deerhoof, Mount Eerie, UUVVWWZ tonight…

Category: Blog,Reviews — Tags: , — @ 12:52 pm September 24, 2012

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Brad Hoshaw and the Seven Deadlies took the stage for only the third time this year Friday night at O’Leaver’s and uncorked a slew of new material that one assumes is destined for an upcoming Long Player.

Hoshaw has shifted up his core band quite a bit since the last time I saw them, with a new drummer (Wayne Brekke), new bass player (one of the Fergesen clan) and the addition of a mandolin. That left only one remaining Deadly — Matt Whipkey on electric guitar, the one piece of the puzzle that cannot be replaced without irreparably marring Hoshaw’s music. Whipkey’s role as sideman is absolutely core to this band. His fills and leads give Hoshaw’s tunes an added dimension that frankly would not be there without him.

Matt Whipkey is one of the longest running singer/songwriter veterans in the Omaha music scene. I remember seeing him way back in the early ’00s doing a solo acoustic gig with Landon Hedges and Joe Knapp. Since then, Whipkey has gone on to front a number of bands, from The Movies to Anonymous American to The Whipkey Three, but his guitar his never sounded better than when it’s backing Hoshaw. Maybe it’s a question of focus, or maybe the two are the perfect compliment to each other.

Hoshaw’s new songs continued in the same gritty folk vein as heard on his amazing debut full length from a couple years back. Opening number “New Tattoo” is the best Bob Seger song that Bob Seger never wrote or sang, sort of an updated version of “Turn the Page” (but boiling with broken-hearted venom) that underscores every ’70s folk-rock reference that permeates Hoshaw’s lean, melody-driven song-writing style, perfect for playing in the back of Sammy Johns’ 1973 Chevy van.

While adding the mandolin seems like a good idea, we’ll have to wait until Hoshaw & Co. play a different stage to know for sure, as it was almost completely buried in the mix. But what wasn’t unheard was Whipkey’s guitar, which was pushed to full throttle on the second-to-last song of the evening, featuring Whipkey in full rock-star freakout mode. If Hoshaw can capture that energy in the recording studio, we’re in for another fine Hoshaw/Deadlies album.

* * *

There’s a decent show going on every night this week. Maybe we all should take a week off from work? Why not?

It begins tonight with the return of Deerhoof to The Waiting Room. The band is touring in support of its latest Polyvinyl release, Breakup Song, which came out just a couple weeks ago and earned a 7.2 on the Pitchfork meter. Quirky? You bet. They certainly were the last time I saw them back in June 2010. Opening is Buke And Gase, Raleigh Moncrief, & Rahypnol Rangers. $13, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, Mount Eerie plays at Daniel Muller Studios, 6066 Maple Street in the heart of Benson, with UUVVWWZ. $10, 8 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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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Live Review: Dead Wave, Whipkey Three; St. Vincent tonight (SOLD OUT)…

Category: Reviews — Tags: , , , — @ 12:03 pm May 14, 2012
The Whipkey Three at Stir at Harrah's, May 12, 2012.

The Whipkey Three at Stir at Harrah's, May 12, 2012.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I’m looking over my notes from Friday night’s debut performance by Cooper Moon’s new band, Dark Wave, a band we’ve all heard about for months. Well, the build-up worked, as the Barley Street was respectfully packed with curious music lovers wondering what exactly Cooper and this other band, that includes Tom Barrett (also in DM), Chad Gregerson and Mike Ivers, have been up to.

The answers (for me, anyway) and general impressions were typed into my iPhone in the following order:

Deep, dark well.
Cooper strangling the mic.
Barrett’s keyboard = dark electronic.
First song pure Joy Division.
Bauhaus dance party.
S&M bondage club. Should be played in a black hole bar.
Kill the Christmas lights, kill all the lights.
Goth played by bikers. Biker goth.

Dead Wave at The Barley Street Tavern, 5/11/12.

Dead Wave at The Barley Street Tavern, 5/11/12.

Any time a new band hits the stage, the first thing anyone does is draw the inevitable comparisons. Mine included Joy Division, Bauhaus, Peter Murphy, The Chameleons and The Church, and on the opening song, Joy Division. I’m not sure why Barrett referenced The Jesus Lizard the other night. After the brief six-song set, one well-schooled local musician/music fan compared them to early Christian Death, which may be too poppy for this rather dark dance stew. That same person pointed out that the one cover song played during the set was a very obscure Echo and the Bunnymen song that Cooper told him had only been played once by John Peel and was never captured on a “session,” but rather was a bootleg recording that Cooper, an avid Bunnymen fan, just happens to have.

That’s enough background to give you an idea where this band is coming from. Other than the post-punk, goth metal inflections, the highlights were Barrett’s keyboard textures and Cooper’s vocals, which were more “musical” than his Dim Light vocals — more range and more sustained moments. Cooper cannot merely bark the lines with this stuff, he has to use his voice to provide another texture layer, and a rather course texture at that. It’s taken almost a year to get them to play one six-song set, which concerns me as other bands in similar situations disappeared after one show. Let’s hope that isn’t the case with Dead Wave.

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As Matt Whipkey said from the Stir “Live and Loud” stage Saturday night, I guess all the press worked, as the club was full during the opening of his two 45-minute sets, when he played many of the songs off his new LP, Two Truths, including personal favorite, “Maria.”

It was your typical Whipkey show, as Omaha’s best haircut made all the right moves to get his crowd of loyal followers (as well as a handful of hardcore gamblers) eating out of the palm of his hand.  In that context, he’s something of a throwback to a simpler time, before the advent of slumped-shouldered, indifferent indie hip-stars who go out of their way to ignore the audience with dollops of you’re-lucky-we’re-even-performing contempt. Whipkey, on the other hand, is the ultimate stage performer, not satisfied if even one crowd member isn’t “into it,” whether it’s on Stir’s tiny lounge stage or at Stir’s mammoth Concert Cove amphitheater. Whipkey was born for an arena, whether he ever makes it there or not.

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Tonight will be the fourth time that I’ve seen St. Vincent. The first time was at The Waiting Room in July 2007, where I said Annie Clark was going “to be bigger than PJ Harvey. Maybe bigger.” Two months later she played a solo set opening for The National on Slowdown’s big stage. The last time was almost two years ago on June 3, 2009, when Clark and her band played at Slowdown Jr. It was fantastic.

Tonight we get her again on the Slowdown big stage, this time with her band. No tix? That’s a shame, because tonight’s show is sold out. Opening is the amazing Shearwater, who has recorded for Misra, Matador and with their latest, Animal Joy (2011), Sub Pop. The fun starts at 9.

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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.

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Lazy-i Interview: The singular truth about The Whipkey Three; Universe Contest tonight…

Category: Interviews — Tags: , , — @ 12:35 pm May 9, 2012
The Whipkey Three

The Whipkey Three

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Matt Whipkey takes compliments with suspicion.

When told that the new Whipkey Three album, Two Truths, sounds like “a Whipkey record,” he immediately raised an eyebrow.

“Is that a negative thing? Does that mean it’s stagnate? That there’s been no development?” he said over Sunday morning coffee at Caffeine Dreams.

It’s only after it’s been explained that having a distinctive style — like Springsteen or The Rolling Stones or Tom Petty — is a good thing that he begins to get the gist of the comment.

“My girlfriend was digging on me last night about how I take criticism,” Whipkey said, “but I think it’s different for musicians.”

He better get used to it. Very few Nebraska artists have such a well-defined musical style and unique voice as Whipkey. Within a few measures of any song, those familiar with his material instantly recognize the booming, golden-hearted power chords touched with a hint of twang, and Whipkey’s Nashville-by-way-of-Benson “southern” drawl that injects each phrase with his big-sky, Heartland roots.

It’s a style that he’s been defining for more than a decade as a solo artist and leading man in a handful of bands including The Movies, Anonymous American and now The Whipkey Three, a band whose name is more of a misnomer. Defined as Whipkey on guitar, vocals and harmonica along with veteran drummer Scott “Zip” Zimmerman and bassist Travis Sing, the new record also features producer J. Scott Gaeta on Hammond B3, piano and keyboards on almost every track. So when The Whipkey Three takes the stage for their CD release show Saturday night at Stir in Council Bluffs, skip the head count.

“If it was up to me, I’d have six guys on stage,” Whipkey said. “The songs work well as a three piece, but in the studio I felt free to indulge, and that can be your own worst enemy. There’s no more than 24 tracks on any given song. We didn’t bring in a Baptist choir.”

The Whipkey Three, Two Truths (self-released, 2012(

The Whipkey Three, Two Truths (self-released, 2012(

But most of the album simply highlights the trio, with Gaeta’s whirling Springsteen-esque Hammond glowing in the background on songs like high-flying rocker “Wasn’t Thinking” and CD-closing back-beat ballad “Reagan Era.” Always at the center is Whipkey’s pure rock sensibility distilled from years of listening to American FM radio. He may be a true indie artist (the album is being self-released), but there’s nothing indie about his style. Whipkey’s songwriting is unapologetically straightforward, un-ironic and ultimately familiar to anyone who grew up listening to arena rock.

At age 31, he says his career goals haven’t changed since his early solo days. He’s managed to make a sizable mark on the local music scene, but has only rarely strayed outside the state lines, despite his efforts to break through to a bigger market.

“I’ve done the college radio thing. It’s a joke,” Whipkey said. “But what else do you do? I wish someone could tell me. I’m back to handing flyers to people I meet. Maybe that’s the best thing you can do. Is it all about who you hang out with? I think it is. I don’t know. Someone tell me. I know how to write songs and perform them, and we do it very well.”

He also knows how to teach, augmenting his income with a day job giving private guitar lessons at Dietz Music. When asked if he still harbors dreams of being as big as Ryan Adams he says, “You have to,” but quickly adds, “You can let those ideas destroy you, because they can make you feel like a failure.”

Instead, Whipkey’s content letting it all hang out on stage and making his own records, right down to meticulously hand-stamping and constructing the cardboard holders for his new CD. “If I give you one, you better listen to it,” he said. “We’re not getting 1,000 jewel-case copies. We pressed 300, and we’ll sell them all.

“This is what I do, it’s who I am,” he said. “Between teaching and playing and performing, it’s my livelihood, my career, and I take it very seriously. I get more out of making music now than I ever did.”

The Whipkey Three plays with The Big Deep Saturday, May 12, at Stir Live and Loud, 1 Harrah’s Blvd., Council Bluffs, Iowa. Showtime is 9 p.m. Admission is $7. For more information, call (712) 328-6499 or visit harrahscouncilbluffs.com.

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In other news…

If you didn’t pick up your ticket for The Faint’s return show at The Slowdown Aug. 18 at The Slowdown you’re out of luck, because it’s already sold out.

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One of the reasons I’m checking out Universe Contest tonight at The Waiting Room (actually thee reason) is that the band is managed by Jeremy Buckley.

Buckley is the guy behind the annual Lincoln Calling Music Festival. Needless to say, he’s seen and heard just about every decent local band in the area. The fact that he’s chosen to take on the rather thankless job of managing Universe Contest is a testament to his confidence that they have what it takes to become big, fat rock stars. To my knowledge, UC is the only band that Buckley ever managed. You can check out their new four-song EP at their website, universecontest.com. Something tells me these guys have a few Modest Mouse albums loaded on their iPods.

Opening for Universe Contest are local heroes Dim Light and Lincoln proto-punkers Ideal Cleaners. All for a mere $7. Show starts at 9.

Also tonight, Brad Hoshaw is playing at The Barley Street Tavern with Ashley Raines. $5, 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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

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