Bandcamp is waving its share of revenue on all purchases at the site today.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The last time Bandcamp waved its cut on all online shares for a day it resulted in $4.3 million in music and merch sales. It also resulted in some pretty sloooow Bandcamp server speeds.

Well, Bandcamp is doing it again today, waving its “revenue share” on all shares at its website today until midnight PDT. In addition, 150 artists and record labels are offering donations and special merchandise (check out the list). It’s kind of like Records Store Day but for online music sales. Among the labels taking part is Saddle Creek Records, which is giving 100 percent of revenue from generated sales to artists.

Actually, most of the good indie labels are participating this way, including Matador, Merge, Captured Tracks, Dead Oceans, Jagjaguwar and more.

With that in mind, here are a few recordings to check out (and buy!):

Big Nope, the new project from See Through Dresses’ drummer Nate Van Fleet, today released the 3-song Back to You EP. Recorded and mixed by Ben Brodin with contributions from Nick Costa and Charlie Finnigan, this is the best Big Nope release yet. Buy here.

Last month’s Live at The Sydney live stream will be remembered as one of the few bright spots from this COVID misery we’re currently suffering, and now you can relive it after the pandemic has subsided, thanks to today’s release of Mike Schlesinger – Live at The Sydney. The six-song EP is one of the best live sets I’ve heard in a long time. Buy here.

Speaking of live sets, Simon Joyner today released Simon Joyner & The Bingo Trappers Oct. 21st 2012, an 11-song LP that features Joyner favorites like “The Only Living Boy in Omaha,” “Three Well-Aimed Arrows” and “Christine,” along with a couple Bingo Trappers covers. Buy here. Also check out Joyner’s Bandcamp merch page that includes a new T-shirt designed by urban folkie Jeffrey Lewis, with all profits today going to Food Bank of the Heartland and MusiCares Foundation.

Seminal ‘90s punk band Poster Children today released a live recording from their 1992 Cabaret Metro show. It’s a scorcher. Buy here.

Finally, released today is a vintage track from Lincoln band The Golden Age, called “Home is a Hotel,” recorded in the first half of the 2000s. The band featured Rob Hawkins on guitar/vocals with Tim Jensen, Alisa Heinzman and Ian Aeillo. Ah, where are they now? Buy here.

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 © 2020 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Unless you’re living completely off the grid (which means you’re not reading this, either) you already know today is Omaha Gives day. So if you have the jack to spare, spare a little to your favorite local 501(c)(3) charity.

In year’s past I’ve hyped Hear Nebraska as a charity that gives back big to the local music scene. And while HN still exists, if you want to support it you need to give your money to its umbrella organization, Rabble Mill (click here to do so). HN has a number of upcoming events, not the least of which is Beer Nebraska Aug. 4.

Other charities to consider:

Omaha Girls Rock
Maha Music Festival
Film Streams
Benson Theatre
Benson First Friday

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Poster Children is a punk band out of Champaign, Illinois, that’s been around since the late ’80s. They really hit their stride in the mid-’90s with records released on Sire and Warner Bros., around the same time as Nebraska’s golden age bands began to venture out into the world, bands like Mercy Rule, Frontier Trust, Mousetrap, etc.

PC sort of went away after 2004’s No More Songs About Sleep and Fire, but if you were on their mailing list, you got updates here and there. Poster Children never died.

Now they’re back with Grand Bargain!, released last Friday on Lotuspool Records. What does 14 years do between releases? I guess it only makes you stronger, as this record absolutely rocks with an intensity reminiscent of those mid-’90s golden years but with a message solidly grounded in today’s politics. As evidence, check out the first single which is also the title track.

As I was listening to the new album on the way to work this morning I got this idea of somehow getting the band to come to Omaha for the “Better Than Ever Festival.” The line-up would be Poster Children with Domestica (ex-Mercy Rule), Wagon Blasters (ex-Frontier Trust), Bad Bad Men (ex-Cellophane Ceiling/Ritual Device), Simon Joyner and the Ghosts and anyone else from the ’90s who is still kicking, such as Bunnygrunt, Fugazi, Superchunk, GBV, Belly, etc… Maha could host this one day before their annual Festival, wouldn’t that be a kick in the head?

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Let’s put wishful thinking aside for a moment and tune into what’s really happening tonight, which is The Golden Pelicans at fabulous O’Leaver’s.

The Orlando punk band is known for their hard punk stance, as proven by Disciples of Blood, their last album released in 2017 by Goner Records. This is a stacked show with David Nance Band and Rusty Lord opening. $6, 9 p.m. Should be a sweaty good time…

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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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

U2 at The Grammys back in 1988. They returned last night.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I had the Grammys on while I was making dinner last night (chicken penne pasta soup, in case you were wondering). I’m of the tired opinion that awards are meaningless when it comes to the arts. I understand that they provide a chance to hype artists and their releases, and by god the music industry needs all the hyping it can get these days.

That said, the artists they hype on their broadcast need the least hyping. They already make their millions. But thus is the way of the world when it comes to awards….

None of the categories of interest to me were broadcast, and the collection of winners was, at times, awkward. For example, any opportunity to give credit to the late, great Leonard Cohen is welcome, but “Best Rock Performance” for You Want It Darker? Odd. That said, I’d never heard of a couple of the category’s other nominees: Kaleo and Nothing More, so…

War On Drugs’ A Deeper Understanding took home the Best Rock Album award (no doubt to Mark Kozelek’s disapproval).

LCD Soundsystem’s “Tonite” won for Best Dance Recording. I love this track. I can’t believe it beat out a host of R&B artists (such as Bruno Mars), which I guess the Recording Academy doesn’t consider “dance music”?

Kraftwerk’s 3-D The Catalogue won Best Dance/Electronic Album. A real surprise (I figured this was Sylvan Esso’s year). Love to see Kraftwerk get some love.

The National’s Sleep Well Beast was Best Alternative Music Album. I think the record’s a real snooze, but at least it’s an indie record.

Aimee Mann’s Mental Illness won for Best Folk Album — a great record, though not a folk record. Oh well…

I was going to say there was a time in the 1970s and ’80s when rock bands dominated the Grammys broadcast, but that’s just not true. Looking back at photos from The Grammys during that era, the talent on the show was as middle-of-the-road as anything we saw last night. Will rock ever make it’s way back to the Grammys? Does it matter?

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Speaking of rock music, Champagne, Illinois’ The Poster Children have a new album coming out this spring, their first in 14 years. The first single was released Jan. 19 to coincide with the year anniversary of the Trump presidency. Check out “Grand Bargain!” below… Now can someone please get to work on getting Poster Children to play here? Thanks in advance…

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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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.