Screen capture from the Speedy Ortiz video for “Tiger Tank.” The band is playing tonight at West Wing.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Good ol’ Pitchfork. Some of the shit that they’ve pushed to the top of the list has, indeed, been shit. And though their reviews are hit and miss, music fans have no choice but to take Pitchfork seriously since it’s the default “house organ” of the indie music scene. In fact Pitchfork has become so successful, the folks behind the website recently launched a new film review website called The Dissolve, so now you can get that famous Pitchfork point of view about the movies opening this weekend (though The Dissolve will never have the impact on the film industry that Pitchfork has had on the indie music industry…).

Anyway… I say all this because I do keep an eye on Pitchfork if only to help guide my Spotify listening habits (though these days I almost exclusively rely on review aggregator Album of the Year for that need), and noticed they got it right when they lauded the new release from Massachusetts band Speedy Ortiz called Major Arcana (Carpark). The record already was at the top of my personal music-listening list before it was ordained with Pitchfork‘s “Best New Music” status, scoring a massive 8.4 rating

For me, Speedy Ortiz conjures comparisons to Guyville-era Liz Phair (but much heavier), Breeders, Pavement… It will end up on my “favorites of 2013” list.  If you haven’t heard their stuff, check out the YouTube vid at the bottom of this post.

Anyway, before the Pitchfork review came out, Speedy Ortiz booked its current tour, which consists mostly of small rooms and house shows, like the one going on tonight at West Wing here in Omaha. If you don’t know what West Wing is, well, look it up on The Google. The band now has a booking agent and are likely to play more “traditional” venues the next time they come through (though the band comes out of the Boston DIY basement scene which they love, and I’m told has played at West Wing before).

I’m still trying to figure out a game plan for going to tonight’s show. As I’ve said many times before, whenever I go to a house show everyone thinks I’m a cop, or someone’s dad come to spy on his son/daughter, and I can’t blame them as I’m usually old enough to be the father of most people in the room… No idea when this starts, who else is playing or how much it costs, but if you see someone who you think looks like a narc in the crowd, be sure to say hello.

If you don’t feel like going to a house show, Melvins are playing tonight at The Waiting Room. This is being billed as their “30th Anniversary Tour,” and features the core band of King Buzzo and Dale Crover. Honky (ex-Butthole Surfer Jeff Pinkus’ band) opens. $17, 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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

With all these lists coming out, here’s one more: Pitchfork today announced its Top 50 of 2012. The list is relevant (I guess) because Pitchfork continues to be the more revered music criticism website in the country for indie music, whether you like it or not. No. 1 went to Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d. city (Interscope) of which I’ve heard nary a track, more damning evidence of just how out of touch I am with today’s music. No. 2 was Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange, which I have listened to a few times, though it didn’t make my list (which you’ll have to wait until next week to read). No. 3 was Fiona Apple’s The Idler Wheel…, which I reconsidered (and relistened to) after the very public death of her dog, and must say it was better the second time around.

I was surprised at the number of artists on the list who were making follow-ups to breakthroughs, such as Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors and Beach House. We continue to regurgitate ourselves. As a whole, it’s not a bad list, but it’s hard to argue against the fact that this was another (in a series) off year(s) in music…

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The STNNNG are back with a new album, Empire Inward, slated for February. Check out the first track, “Brain-Dumb,” below. They just got back from playing the UK’s All Tomorrows Parties (curated by Shellac). Something tells me we’ll be seeing them on an Omaha stage soon…

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The Hear Nebraska T

Hear Nebraska is hocking new T-shirts for 2012/13. Do yourself a flavor and order one right here. Your $25 not only gets you a colorful fashion statement but also helps support Nebraska music’s No. 1 mouthpiece. And HN major domo Andy Norman says if you get your order in today, you should get it delivered by Christmas. Good luck.

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The other day Desaparecidos announced that it’s headed to Europe in February as part of a tour that will focus mainly on the Eastern Seaboard of these United States of America, ending with a couple dates at Webster Hall in NYC (one of which already sold out). How long will this Desa stretch continue, or is this going to do it? We’ll just have to wait and see…

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Speaking of Conor Oberst, his concert at Joslyn’s Witherspoon Hall is officially sold out. Opening band Whispertown hits the stage at 8 p.m. followed by the boy wonder himself playing a collection of tunes that will likely stretch back to the early Bright Eyes years.

Don’t have tix? Well, you’re not completely out of luck. There’ still plenty of tickets available to tonight’s Ladyfinger show at  Slowdown Jr. with Everyday/Everynight and Maps for Travelers (Back When, who had been scheduled to perform, have cancelled due to illness). $8, 9 p.m.

That brings us to Saturday, when Kite Pilot is slated to play at fabulous (and recently repainted) O’Leaver’s with Gordon (acoustic set) and Video Ranger. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Finally, the most bizarre event of the weekend is the Musico reunion show The Barley Street with Cat Island. Musico was a three-piece power-pop band from around the turn of the century that included among its members Darren Keen of The Show Is the Rainbow and Touch People fame, Brad Underwood and Mark Hinrichs. Expect crazy. $5, 9 p.m.

Have a good 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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I’m back. And it only took three days. Don’t get what I got.

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Not much happening musicwise. The PR folks behind Statistics (Denver Dalley of Desaparecidos) are letting it be known today that you can download the first Stats track, “Nineteen Ninety-Nine,” right here. It’s free. Get it.

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Pitchfork just posted its top-100 tracks of the year. Grimes’ “Oblivion” was No. 1. Meh. They sure like Frank Ocean.

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There is actually a show going on tonight. They’re calling it “The Last Hootenanny.” I’m not sure if it’s a side-joke about the Mayan calendar or they’re really ending the series, which has been going on around town for years. Regardless, it’s happening tonight at The Waiting Room and features the usual collection of Benson-centered alt-country/Americana/folkies, with one very bold exception. Listed in the line-up is the one and only Solid Goldberg, a.k.a. Dave Goldberg’s one-man rock freakout which must be experienced to be believed. It’s not just a performance, it’s also fan-frickin’-tastic songs by one of Omaha’s most iconic musicians. Your $7 cover supports “the Nebraska Farmers Union and the Nebraska Agriculture Council in their efforts to start up a small food hub so you can buy more local, sustainable, humanely raised meat” (because “Humanely Raised Meat Just Tastes Better”®). The show starts super-early at 5:30 p.m., and the partial lineup of acts is here on the One Percent website.

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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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Tilly & The Wall

There’s a nice feature in today’s issue of the New York Daily News about Tilly and the Wall and the band’s new album, Heavy Mood, as well as their upcoming show at The Bowery Ballroom this Saturday. From the article: “Tilly and the Wall’s songs make an insightful, and subversive, connection between the mania of punk-rock and the madness of toddlerhood.” That pretty much sums it up, along with the headline, which describes Tilly as “…children’s music for twisted adults.” Read the whole thing here.

Heavy Mood is the first Tilly album that I’ll likely keep on my iPhone after the hype has worn down. The record sounds like 21st Century B-52’s combined with Lykke Li and the usual tap dancing/hand-clapping action. I’ve always preferred their dance stuff over their ballads, and that’s the case this time as well. Heavy Mood is the most “adult” sounding album of their catalog. Now let’s see if the band and Team Love can turn it into a big fat hit. With press like this, along with this feature in the Chicago Sun-Times, they’re off to a good start.

Certainly those stories will help offset last week’s dreaded Pitchfork review, which gave Heavy Mood a ho-hum 5.9 rating, negatively compared it to last year’s tUnEyArDs album (apples v. oranges?), and concluded with, “Where are the characters, and what became of those kids passed out on the lawn? The heart of Heavy Mood is lost its in own sloganeering.” Oh those kids are still there, they’re just older and are starting to have kids of their own, but one assumes they’re as high as ever.

Under the Radar gave Heavy Mood a less-than-complimentary 5/10 rating, here.

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In this week’s column, how the presidential election won’t affect me, why I’d make a perfect Romney supporter, and why I’m not one. You can read it in this week’s issue of The Reader, or online right here. Tonight is the VP debate, which I’m sure the Prez is hoping will erase all memory of last week’s debacle. Expect a circus.

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Speaking of debates, tonight at fabulous O’Leaver’s I foresee a number of debates taking place between piss-soaked patrons, including PBR vs. Old Style; Rumplemintz vs. Jagermeister and maybe most crucial of all: hold it vs. wet your pants, while everyone’s favorite bar keep, Chris Machmuller, strolls out from behind the bar to stand (or sit) behind a microphone backed by the rest of The So-So Sailors for an evening of personal, evocative rock and roll. Joining them is Lincoln band Kill County for what promises to be a memorable night of Midwest-style soul music. $5, 9:30 p.m.

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Also tonight: Lincoln Calling Day 3. Here’s the sched:

Thursday, October 11 — $13 for day pass (age restrictions may apply)

Bourbon Theatre
* 9:30 p.m. Cowboy Indian Bear (Lawrence) https://www.facebook.com/cowboyindianbear
* 10:30 p.m. UUVVWWZ (Lincoln) https://www.facebook.com/uuvvwwz
11:30 p.m. Laetitia Sadier (Paris, France) https://www.facebook.com/pages/Laetitia-Sadier/111944478831848

$8 adv, $10 dos 18+

Duffy’s Tavern
9 p.m. Shipbuilding Co. (Lincoln) http://www.facebook.com/ShipbuildingCo
* 10 p.m. The Lepers (Omaha) http://www.newlepers.bandcamp.com/
11 p.m. Christopher the Conquered (Des Moines) https://www.facebook.com/pages/Christopher-the-Conquered/32754596859
* 12 a.m. Poison Control Center (Des Moines/Ames) https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Poison-Control-Center/98639736292
$5 for 21+

Zoo Bar
8 p.m. Bonehart Flannigan (Lincoln) https://www.facebook.com/bonehartflannigan
9 p.m. The Big Deep https://www.facebook.com/thebigdeep
10 p.m. The Bears of Blue River (Chicago) https://www.facebook.com/thebearsofblueriver
11 p.m. The Spring Standards (New York) https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Spring-Standards/22313881085
12 a.m. Low Horse (Lincoln) https://www.facebook.com/lowhorse
$5 for 21+

The Spigot
9:30 p.m. Discourse (Lincoln) http://discoursehc.bandcamp.com/
10:30 p.m. Skullskowski (Lincoln) http://www.facebook.com/pages/SkullSkowSki/221262994614504
11:30 p.m. Diamondz R 4Eva (Lincoln) http://www.facebook.com/pages/Diamondz-R-4Eva/137403893010744
12:30 a.m. Piss Poor (Lincoln) http://www.facebook.com/PissPoor
$5 for 21+

Black Market
7 p.m. Guilty is the Bear (Omaha/Lincoln) https://www.facebook.com/GuiltyBear
8 p.m. Fraternal Durango (Lincoln) http://www.facebook.com/fraternaldurango
No cover, all ages

The Alley
9 p.m. Alex Walker (Lincoln) https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alex-Walker-The-Revival/110816322379631
10 p.m. Intergalactic Fu (Lincoln) http://soundcloud.com/intergalactic-fu
11 p.m. Zed Tempo (Lincoln) http://www.facebook.com/ZedTempo
12 a.m. Drum and Disorderly (Lincoln) http://www.drumanddisorderly.com/
$5, 21+

Fat Toad
Nick the Quick (Lincoln)
Adam A (Lincoln)
No cover, 21+

Mix Barcade
Grindhouse presents Digitalove featuring
$pencelove (Lincoln)
Cocky Cat (Lincoln)
Cake Eater (Lincoln)
No cover, 21+
http://www.facebook.com/grindhousecrewofficial

Yia Yia’s
10 p.m. Professor Plum (Lincoln)
11 p.m. Powerful Science (Lincoln) https://www.facebook.com/pages/Powerful-Science/139781829399076
12 a.m. Time Hammer (Lincoln) http://www.facebook.com/timehammermusic

No cover, 21+

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by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Icky Blossoms' Pitchfork rating...

The Icky Blossoms Pitchfork review went online today. They gave the band’s debut a 6.6, which is a little better than OK, and in line with what they typically give Saddle Creek releases (though Mynabirds’s latest came in at 7.5). Kudos to writer Ian Cohen for using the term “Cornhusker” in his review. Whether he got the rest of it right is a matter of opinion, though this write-up was better written with more color (and more research) than the typical Pitchfork review. It concludes with:

“So while the band comprises veterans, it’s worth remembering Icky Blossoms is still a debut. That point is driven home by the appropriately-titled closer ‘Perfect Vision,’ the moment where the past and present of Icky Blossoms’ personnel dovetail towards an individual perspective. A woozy, six-minute duet cruising at a pace no quicker than a backhand moving across a sweaty brow, Pressnall and Bohling kick back as boredom sets in, bicycles spin all over town, and ‘there’s nothing to do but get high in the afternoon.’ It’s the most in-tune the two sound with each other on Icky Blossoms and the most potent unification of sound and emotion as well. It’d be too easy to posit Icky Blossoms as a mid-career diversion for Pressnall, to consider the band latecomers or hayseed interlopers to a sound NYC hasn’t had much use for in a while. And perhaps it’s unfair to hold them to the standards of their urban peers when “Perfect Vision” suggests Icky Blossoms might be more suited for wasteful afternoons than a wasted evening.”

Not bad. Read the whole thing here.

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Tribute bands are a dicey experiment for everyone involved, especially if the band being tribute-ized has an avid fan base that knows every nuance of the music. Such is the case for R.E.M. and The Cure, both of whom get the tribute treatment tonight at The Waiting Room.

R.E.M.odeled

Via drummer and TWR bartender Matt Bowen, R.E.M.odeled is “a chronological series of album-by-album shows paying tribute to R.E.M. (natch!) that includes myself (Matt plays in The Third Men), Chuck Davis (ex-Janglepop), Jeff Bell (ex-Janglepop), Mike Volk (Qing Jao) and Mike Hergert. For the first show we’re doing Murmur, of course, but also throwing in Chronic Town since it was actually their first release.”

R.E.M.odeled will be followed by Fear of Ghosts, which Bowen says, is a “straight-up Cure tribute, covering most of their career, up to and including Disintegration. That band is me (again!), Phil Reno, Braden Rapp, Tom Barrett and Ryan McLaughlin.”

Unlike bands that play original music, tribute bands (and cover bands) are by their very nature novelty acts. Their intent isn’t to communicate personal messages or emotions of the musicians on stage. They exist purely to entertain. For many people (myself included) the music of R.E.M. and The Cure is ingrained with deep personal meaning. Their songs are not just music, they’re the soundtrack to our lives; signposts as we traveled through times both triumphant and disastrous. So when a band goes on stage and tries to recapture those intimate moments, they better know what they’re doing. The margin of error is razor thin. The audience will either smile and nod knowingly, or roll their eyes and shake their heads (or even worse, laugh).

Make no mistake, these bands will be judged from the moment they walk on stage. Yeah, I know this is “all for fun,” which is generally why I don’t go to these things. I’d like to keep my memories of this music as unmarred as possible for the same reasons that I prefer closed-casket funerals. One person’s “goofy fun” is another persons loathsome insult. That said, Bowen not only is a local legend as a musician (He’s a veteran of such Saddle Creek-related bands as Norman Bailer, The Faint, Commander Venus and Lullaby for the Working Class as well as Magic Kiss — a precursor to Tilly and the Wall), he’s also an audiophile, DJ and music aficionado whose knowledge about both bands runs deep and wide. Translated: I trust Matt to take this endeavor seriously.

So… go. The show starts at 9 and costs $7.

Also tonight, Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship headlines a show at fabulous O’Leaver’s with Buildings and Lincoln band Dirty Talker, who will be celebrating the release of a new CD. Dirty Talker features Brendan McGinn from Her Flyaway Manner. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Snake Island has a busy night in store. They’re playing an early show in Lincoln opening for A Place to Bury Strangers at The Bourbon Theater before heading back to Omaha to play a show at The Sandbox with Des Moines’ Holy White Hounds, The Dead Records and Isle Life. $8, 9 p.m.

Start your Friday night on the chill side by catching a set by DJ Andrew Norman — that’s right, thee Andy Norman of Hear Nebraska — as he mans the turntable for Loom’s Friday Afternoon Club. It’s part of HOL’s “non-DJ DJ series.” Andy (or as he’s known in the hip-hop community DJ Mad Frodo) kicks out the jams beginning at 5 p.m.. It’s fun and free.

Tomorrow’s big event is the annual SPEED! Nebraska Soapbox Riot (Derby) at noon at Seymour Smith Park. Watch as some of your favorite musicians and O’Leaver’s regulars risk life and limb and reputation as they hurl down the ramp in their homemade racing machines. Gravity as we all know can be a cruel mistress, especially when the engineers of these fine jalopies very likely were tanked when they were put together the brake assemblies. There will be blood, indeed…along with heat exhaustion and stroke.

Later that evening — at 9 p.m. to be exact — the bandaged survivors will pick up guitar, bass and drumstick to perform live at O’Leaver’s. Among the bands: The Filter Kings, Domestica, The Wagon Blasters, The Really Rottens, Sons of Soapbox and Qing Jao. Your $5 not only will pay the bands, but will help cover any ongoing medical bills (j/k)(probably).

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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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

It’s funny and sad where we’ve come in terms of generating interest in indie music. Just a decade ago, finding the best new music was something of a challenge; and if you lived in Omaha, it was practically hidden from sight. Today, everything’s at our fingertips. All you need is someone to point the way.

Unfortunately, from an indie music standpoint, that someone continues to be Pitchfork. As it’s been for a few years now, a review in Pitchfork can help make or break an indie band. For a new band, it can mean the difference between having your music heard and people coming to your shows… or being unheard and unseen. For more established bands like Cursive, Pitchfork won’t break them to a new audience as much as: 1) support a listener’s already-formed notion about their music, or 2) cast doubt on the listener’s own taste.

For Pitchfork‘s review of I Am Gemini, posted yesterday, the effect is the latter. The 4.7-rated review opens with this salvo: “Credit where due: I Am Gemini is Cursive’s weakest record by a disheartening margin…” The opening sentence of the next paragraph gives you a footing as to the reviewer’s past experience with Cursive: “…even while Cursive’s Domestica and The Ugly Organ remain some of the most purposefully narcissistic albums to ever bear the emo tag, their lyrical acts of emotional martyrdom understandably inspired an intense cult.” Yikes…

But it’s not all negative… or is it? “Conceptual tomfoolery aside, the music aligns with Kasher’s increasing tendency to sand off the edges of his prickly attitude and serrated vocals, and I Am Gemini is by far Cursive’s most playful record and almost fun at points.”

The review concludes with: “At one point on ‘Wowowow,’ Kasher sings in puns taken from Cursive titles, and this kind of meta exercise makes a sad kind of sense within the context of I Am Gemini’s impenetrability. After all, main characters like Cassius, Pollock, Young Cassius, Young Pollock, and the Narrator are all voiced by the same guy the same exact way, a more concrete way of essentially pointing out that the whole of I Am Gemini is Kasher talking to himself.”

After reading that, Cursive should be happy to have received a rating as high as a 4.7. Keep in mind that the rating will be the only thing non-fans will ever see. Only Cursive fans will read the entire review, because no one reads Pitchfork reviews anymore, they just look at the number. I take that back. People will read a Pitchfork review if the rating is as low as 2.0 or high as 8.0. Anything in the middle is ignored.

Upon hearing the review, I can imagine Tim Kasher shrugging and saying, “Hey, whattaya gonna do?” There’s nothing you can do about a bad review other than bite down and move on. Kasher knew he was taking a risk with this one; people are either going to get it or they won’t. And in fact the record has received its share of accolades. Drowned in Sound gave the album an 8 out of 10, calling it a “monumental return for Tim Kasher…” adding “This beautifully dark fairytale of a concept album is as heavy as the Cursive of old, ingenious, and just as lyrically surreal as you could hope for.”

Paste Magazine gave the album 7.8 out of 10 with the comment: “Musically, the band is at their most adventurous, albeit not their most accessible,” and recommending repeated listenings — good advice, but will anyone take it in this ADD/Spotify age?

AV Club gave it a “B,” calling it a “forceful, a demanding rock-driven opus…”

On the other hand, the Boston Phoenix gave it 2.5 stars out of 4. The reviewer, who can’t seem to get over the loss of Gretta Cohn, called the record “the most musically conventional record they’ve ever made; it also bears the burden of putting across Kasher’s most preposterous story ever.”

But in the end, it’s the Pitchfork review that carries the most weight if only for the fact that a high Pitchfork rating could have been enough to get a non-fan to check out the record on Spotify or whatever subscription streaming service they use. Not that it matters, because despite the fact that the record dropped today, I Am Gemini is not available in its entirety on Spotify, and may not be for a while…

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I almost forgot to mention: Tonight at the Shop at Saddle Creek it’s the second meeting of the Record Club @ Shop. Tonight’s record to be played in its entirety: Neutral Milk Hotel’s classic In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. It all starts at 7 and will be followed by a short discussion afterward. For more info, go 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 © 2012 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.