by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Petfest 2024 is just around the corner, Aug. 17 to be exact, and among the bands playing is the debut of Lincoln act Vempire. Who is Vempire? It’s Thirst Things First frontman Mike Elfers and Ghostlike’s Lindsey Yoneda, and last week the duo released a new video for the song “Blattodea,” which is below. Their debut album, Your Steps, drops Aug. 16. Don’t forget get your Petfest tickets in advance and save $10 vs. DOS.

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Two shows tonight, which I’m dying to attend, though I’m a wee bit afraid of the hail-storms being forecast… 

Snõõper is a freshly minted Nashville five-piece punk band fronted by vocalist Blair Tramel whose debut album, Super Snõõper, was released last year by Jack White’s Third Man Records. 

Wiki calls their genre “egg punk,” which is a new one on me, but they say is a subgenre “influenced by new wave band Devo” this is attributed “to a community of DIY midwestern American punk rock artists from the early 2010s, including The Coneheads and Lumpy and the Dumpers.” 

It just sounds hard, fast, old-school punk to me, with each song clocking in at a little over a minute or less. Madcap fun. Joining Snõõper tonight at Reverb Lounge is our very own Pagan Athletes and Size Queen. $18, 8 p.m. 

Meanwhile, also tonight New Haven, Connecticut, psych-rockers The Mountain Movers are playing an in-store at Grapefruit Records in the Old Market. Consisting of guitarist/vocalist Dan Greene, bassist Rick Omonte, guitarist Kryssi Battalene and drummer Ross Menze, the band has been together for over a decade. Their latest, the double-vinyl Walking After Dark, was released this past May by Trouble in Mind Records. Heavy man! Local hero Megan Siebe opens this show at 8 p.m. $10. Grapefruit Records is located at 1125 Jackson Street. 

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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.

Mountain Movers plays tonight at Brothers Lounge with David Nance Group.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I just wrote a column about Colorado for next month’s issue of The Reader where I talk about pot laws and the fact that I’ve never smoked a joint in my life. It hits the newsstands in a couple weeks. The point of mentioning it is  there was a long aside (that didn’t make it into the column) about a musician who told me that if I wasn’t stoned when I listened to his music than I was missing the point. Maybe he’s right. I’ll never know.

What I do know is that if there was one band whose music (I’d guess) would go well with pot and/or hallucinogenic drugs it would be Mountain Movers.

The New Haven, Connecticut, four-piece, led by guitarist/vocalist Dan Greene with lead guitarist Kryssi Battalene, plays a modern take on ’60s/’70s-style psych rock with an extra helping of fuzz-tone guitar and wow-wow leads that will make your head spin. They’ve been compared to Neu! and Ash Ra Tempel by their label, Chicago’s Trouble in Mind Records, who released a number of the band’s records including their latest, 2018’s Pink Skies. That album includes a brazen 11-plus minute head trip called “The Other Side of Today” that has me worried about flunking a drug test after merely listening to it. Droning, at times experimental, Mountain Movers plays fogged-out journeys into sonic landscapes cast in hues of deep blues and purples.

And they’re playing tonight at Brothers Lounge.

Joining them is our own David Nance Group, who has been known to spin their own mammoth guitar-fueled audio odysseys, as well as more straight-forward rock songs. For reference check out “Amethyst” and “In Her Kingdom” from 2018’s Peaced and Slightly Pulverized (Trouble in Mind). The band just released a new 7-inch out on Jack White’s Third Man Records, described by the label as “bottom-heavy druggy attic bummer jamming.” Hopefully they’ll have copies on hand at tonight’s show. $5, 10 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 © 2019 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.