by Tim McMahan,  Lazy-i.com

A few notes to pass along from the in-box (and other places)…

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In addition to releasing a new album with his band Cursive, Tim Kasher has a new feature-length horror film about to make the festival rounds called Who’s Watching. 

“Who’s Watching is a story I first conceived way back in 2010, as I had yet to see a movie approach the stalker trope from this particular angle,” Kasher said in an article in horror film blog Bloody Disgusting. “After passing the script around to little interest, I set it aside before returning to it around 2018, realizing that STILL no one had told this story in such a fashion. A few bumpy years followed (as well as a pandemic) but we eventually got it shot in late summer of 2023, in and around Omaha, Nebraska where I was born and raised.”

The film was written and directed by Kasher, who also composed the film’s music. While it doesn’t have a release date, Who’s Watching will be shown at Beyond Fest and the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival. Can a world premiere at Film Streams be far behind?

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Has Saddle Creek Records’ high-flying act Indigo De Souza left our hometown label? In a surprise move last week (to me, anyway) De Souza released her new EP, Wholesome Evil Fantasy, via Loma Vista Recordings. If you go to the Loma Vista website you’ll find plenty of Indigo De Souza content. However, click to Indigo’s personal website and she still lists Saddle Creek as her label contact. Hmm?

The 3-song electro-pop auto-tuner-driven EP is a departure from the usual indie-rock heard on De Souza’s past Saddle Creek releases. Is this a one-off experiment or a permanent change of pace (and change of label) for one of Saddle Creek’s most popular artists?

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Post-Omaha singer/songwriter Anna McClellan announced last week via Terrorbird PR that her new album, Electric Bouquet, will be released Oct. 25 via Father/Daughter Records.

Co-produced with long-time collaborator Ryan McKeever and ARC Studios engineer Adam Roberts, the album was recorded both in Baltimore and Omaha. “While writing the album, Anna attended trade school, apprenticing to become an electrician to escape the service industry grind and secure a foundational career alongside music. Eager to break free from Omaha, she decided to take her newfound electrical skills to pursue a career in the film industry in Los Angeles, CA where she’s now based,” reads the one-sheet.

The 11-track LP includes a send-off of sorts to her hometown — “the grungy “Omaha” sees McClellan delving into her complex relationship with her hometown, navigating between identity, sense of place, and self-groundedness: ‘Wilting til I rot / Is it me or is it Omaha?’”

Check out the video for the first single, “Endlessly,” released Sept. 10…

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Tonight at Slowdown Cinci band WHY? headlines on the frontroom stage. Check out the Ten Questions survey taken by frontman Yoni Wolf before you head down to the show. Joining them is Chicago multiple instrumentalist/songwriter NNAMDÏ (Secretly Canadian Records). $25, 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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

We all already sort of knew Jake Bellows and his band, Neva Dinova, had a new record in the can. Today they officially announced that the new album, Canary, is set for release Sept. 27 on Saddle Creek Records.

Interestingly, the press release leads with “Omaha greats Neva Dinova have announced…” Jake moved to Los Angeles a number of years ago, but still identifies with his hometown (as he should!). In fact, the entire press release is feels very Omaha-centric maybe because drummer Roger Lewis and bass player Megan Siebe, who round out this iteration of Neva Dinova, still live here. 

Canary is the first new material by the band in 16 years, and in my humble opinion, it’s the fastest, heaviest stuff Jake and Co. have done. Recorded at Make Believe Studio, “The songs on Canary were honed on the road allowing for a largely live recording session that captures the visceral energy of the band.”

Check out the revised lyric video for first single “Edge of Something,” and pre-order your copy 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 © 2024 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Obersts reunited for a few numbers at Oberst’s show at Teragram Ballroom in LA March 21.

By Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Time to clean out ol’ in-box. Hold onto yer hats… Much of this you may already have seen on the socials; some you haven’t. Here we go…

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Once again, our hometown record label – Saddle Creek Records – has been nominated for a Libera Award — the annual awards handed out by the American Association of Independent Music. Saddle Creek was nominated in the Label of the Year category for labels with 6 to 14 employees. Also in their category: Captured Tracks, City Slang, Lex Records, Light in the Attic, Mack Avenue Music Group and Photo Finish Records. Seems like Saddle Creek is nominated every year. Could this be the year they take home the prize?

In addition, Saddle Creek Records artist Indigo De Souza was nominated in the Breakthrough Artist, Best Singer-Songwriter Records, and Music Video of the Year categories. The 13th annual Libera Awards ceremony will take place June 10 at Gotham Hall in New York City. More coverage at Variety.

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The indie music world was thrown in a tizzy last week when Phoebe Bridges joined Conor Oberst on his “Conor Oberst and Friends” residency show at Los Angeles’ Teragram Ballroom – a series that heads east to Bowery Ballroom in NYC next month. The best coverage of the incident appeared in Them, an online publication that purports to be the “best of what’s queer.” 

Them’s James Factora reported that Bridgers walked on stage during the show’s encore and together with Conor performed Bright Eyes classic “Lua,” Oberst’s “Double Life” from 2014’s Upside Down Mountain and Better Oblivion Community Center tune “My City.” The occasion marked the first time the two have performed together since October 2020. Factora wonders whether, with the announced hiatus of Boygenuis (Bridgers’ project with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus), if this unannounced reunion could be a sign of future BOCC things to come… 

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I already mentioned that legendary ‘90s-‘00s Omaha punk band Ritual Device is among the performers at this year’s Lincoln Calling May 3 and 4 (the festival schedule has yet to be released). Now comes word that RD will be playing back-to-back nights at Reverb Lounge in Omaha May 2-3 leading up to the LC weekend gig. The shows feature the band’s original lineup of Jerry Hug, Mike Saklar, Eric Ebers and Tim Moss. 

It’s been a decade since the band has taken the stage stage, and I’m sure there’s a good reason for this reunion. More to come…

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Speaking of artists from Omaha’s first golden age of indie music, Patrick Buchanan, the frontman of another ’90s-’00s legendary punk band, Mousetrap, yesterday released a new 5-song EP from his project House of Transgressor called Ain Soph Aur, which, along with the eerie album cover artwork, seems a wee bit satanic. Check it out on Spotify (I don’t see a Bandcamp or YouTube link), and here’s the first song on YouTube: 

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Finally, word from on high is that the fine folks who putting together the Outlandia Festival will announce the line-up for the August 9-10 festival sometime Thursday evening. No doubt you’ll see it blasted all over the socials that night, but I’ll be writing about it the following morning in Lazy-i. 

Who do you think will be this year’s headliner? After last year’s Lord Huron / Modest Mouse headliners (a festival that also included The Faint, Cat Power, Criteria, The Good Life and Horsegirl, among others), I can’t even imagine what they have up their sleeves — prior to this festival, I had never heard of Lord Huron.

With the Maha Music Festival taking the year off due to financial issues (according to their press release), Outlandia controls the board as the only indie music festival in the Omaha area this year. As it enters year 3, will it maintain its indie focus? We’ll find out Thursday night…

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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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Singer/songwriter Shalom was one of the promising new wave of artists signed to Saddle Creek Records over the past few years — artists signed by the label’s former A&R professional, Amber Carew. I mentioned back in April (here) that Carew had departed from Saddle Creek sometime in May 2022, based on her LinkedIn profile and comments made by Shalom in an interview. 

Well, yesterday Stereogum reported that Shalom also no longer is part of the Saddle Creek family, basing their reporting on comments published on Shalom’s substack blog, Lover Over Fear, where she outlined the reason for the departure. Shalom pointed to Saddle Creek having “fired the person who signed me, never replaced her, and then treated me like shit the rest of my time there.” According to the blog, after demanding and not getting an apology from the label, communications broke down, and Saddle Creek moved to terminate Shalom’s contract. 

Stereogum quotes more of her blog at length. Needless to say, she’s not happy. No mention in the Stereogum piece of Saddle Creek’s response, likely because Creek wasn’t contacted. I highly doubt the label would comment, anyway, as no company comments publicly on personnel matters. And yes, I have just now reached out to Robb Nansel at Saddle Creek for comment and will let you know if he replies on the record…

I dug Shalom’s debut album, Sublimation, released this past March by Saddle Creek. She’s working on the follow-up now. Wonder who will release it?

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Puddles Pity Party is tonight at The Admiral Theater. I normally wouldn’t post about this kind of show as it’s really sort of a novelty / comedy act, but the guy who dresses up in a clown outfit and sings ‘80s power ballads (such as Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is”) has garnered quite a following partially due to playing smaller venues earlier in his career (he’s been to Omaha a few times, I believe). His star rose after a number of appearances on the loathsome America’s Got Talent.  Reserved seats are $39.50-$45 (before fees). Show starts at 7:30. 

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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 © 2023 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

A few random notes that are getting dusty in my in-box:

Yesterday Bright Eyes announced the “special guests” on the next leg of their tour will include Stranger Things’ star, singer/songwriter Maya Hawke, who also appears in the new Wes Anderson film Astroid City. But more notable is that Cursive and Neva Dinova will be the band’s special guests for the May 14 show at Tulsa’s Cain’s Ballroom and that Azure Ray will be a special guest at the May 18 gig at Houston’s White Oak Music Hall. 

Conor also is in the news because of the release of the new Boygenius album, which has member Phoebe Bridgers doing the media circuit. Yesterday, Nylon speculated that the record’s closing track, “Letter to an Old Poet,” was about Oberst, which would be a less-than-flattering portrait if true. 

Rolling Stone asked a similar question to Bridgers back in February about lyrics she added to a SZA song, where she calls some bloke an asshole. She declined to acknowledge the asshole was Conor and went on to say she didn’t know what the future holds for Better Oblivion Community Center, the project she had with Oberst.

Ah, the complicated lives of rock stars. 

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Patrick Buchanan, the frontman to ‘90s Omaha punk band Mousetrap, will do a one-off performance of his new project, House of Transgressor, May 11 at miniBar in Kansas City. Says Buchananon, “The live setup is actually NO stringed instruments at all. I will be singing & playing synth, there’s a 2nd guy who is playing dual synths, and a drummer who is playing a completely modular electronic drum kit AND synth. It’s a bit like a gothic Kraftwerk or an electronic Bauhaus.” Check out their recorded music here.

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Hand Habits announced that their next album, Sugar the Bruise, will be released on Fat Possum June 16, apparently ending their relationship with Saddle Creek Records, who release their last couple albums, including 2021’s Fun House, which was one of my favorites that year.

It also appears that the label’s Los Angeles A&R person, Amber Carew, left Saddle Creek sometime last year. Carew was involved in signing many of the band’s recent acts, including Palm, Indigo De Souza, PENDANT, Shalom, Tomberlin, Black Belt Eagle Scout, Ada Lea, Disq, Spirit of the Beehive, Stef Chura and Young Jesus. The only reason I found out was that Shalom mentioned Carew left the label in a recent interview. Carew’s LinkedIn indicates she left Saddle Creek last May, so this is pretty old news.

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And finally, Nebraska native Mary Ruth McLeay reached out in late February to let me know she released a new indie tune called “I Want Too Much.” McLeay, who’s a student at Berklee College of Music, produced the track and played on it with Dean Andreadas, who engineered and played guitars.

I’d never heard of McLeay before, though she said she’s played at Reverb and The Waiting Room, where she’s opened for acts and taken part in Femme Fest. I checked out her older music and it was anything but indie, more pop-flavored in the Swifty vein. Was the change intentional, and why?

“Definitely intentional and for so many reasons, many of them relating to simply growing up,” she said, adding her early stuff was recorded when she was 17 and influenced by acts like Lorde and Blackbear. She produced a couple pop rock songs at Berklee, which were examples “of me honing my pop writing chops but not necessarily carving my personal place as an artist.”

“The making of ‘I Want Too Much’ felt like my arrival to the place I’ve been trying to get for eight years. I went into my friend Dean’s home studio (I discovered that’s my favorite way to record over the years) with my only objective being I wanted to make something that sounded like my interior and my thought processing and reflected my presence. Therefore, the sound turned out like the exact path genre-wise I’d like to be on for a long time.”

Here you go. Looking forward to the next one:

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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 © 2023 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I used to love love love going to South By Southwest, if not for a chance to see both emerging and classic indie bands than as an escape from our crappy, cold weather here in Omaha. I attended four years in a row and saw some amazing acts, including The Oh Sees, Jesus and Mary Chain, PJ Harvey, Peter Murphy, Glen Hansard, Big Star, Bob Mould, the list goes on and on, not to mention a lot of local talent that made the trip to Austin either on their own (Digital Leather, Little Brazil) or as part of a Saddle Creek Records showcase. 

Saddle Creek, by the way, is back at SXSW again this year, doing a joint a showcase with Sub Pop and Hardly Art, happening tonight at my favorite SXSW venue, Mohawk. Creek bands playing are Young Jesus, Pendant, Tomberlin and Indigo De Souza. I would definitely have gone to this showcase had I attended this year.

Who else would I have seen? Well, top of the list is an LA band called Blondshell, which I’m noticing now is emerging on the top of a lot of people’s list. Both NME and Brooklyn Vegan list Blondshell, a.k.a. Sabrina Teitelbaum, as a must-see act. The reason is the release of the band’s self-titled debut April 7, which includes tracks previously release on an EP that already is on my list of favorite releases of 2023. Teitelbaum is the first artist to emerge in the past decade with both a tunefulness and lyrical honesty that rivals Liz Phair during her Guyville days. Needless to say, her tour isn’t taking her to Omaha, but I’ve already purchased tickets for her 7th Street Entry show in Minneapolis in July (my first travel gig). 

That’s the standout. Also on the list is Tacoma’s Enumclaw, Chicago post-punk act Lifeguard, Matador rock band Algiers (who will never come to Omaha, I guess), legends New Order and Tangerine Dream and The Oh Sees (again).

The only uncertainty about going to SXSW is rolling the dice when it comes to the weather. When it’s warm and sunny in Austin, it’s heaven. Unfortunately, the forecast calls for rain today and highs the rest of the weekend only in the 50s and 60s. Dang! It’s still better than what we’re going to have here this weekend.

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We’ve got our own indie show going on tonight right here in Omaha. Former local band Thick Paint returns to Reverb Lounge (hey, weren’t they here one year ago on this very day?). What have they been up to since then? Find out tonight. Joining them is Detroit band Summer Like the Season. Omaha’s own Masonjixx headlines. DJ Hair Brain opens at 8 p.m. $15.

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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 © 2023 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

An addendum to The Reader column about Saddle Creek Records recent releases…. there are a few artists off their recent roster who weren’t mentioned because they’ve been relatively dormant. Among them is Black Belt Eagle Scout, the project of Swinomish Indian Tribal Community-based multi-instrumentalist Katherine Paul. Creek released a new single by BBES yesterday, “My Blood Runs Through This Land,” and announced a new LP out Feb. 10, 2023, which you can pre-order now. Psst… I actually like the second track, “Don’t Give Up,” (not to be confused with the Peter Gabriel song (but wouldn’t a cover of that be something)), more. Nothing like closing out your LP with a strong track. 

Saddle Creek’s most recent signing, Pittsburgh’s Feeble Little House, just got a review of the re-release of their debut album, Heyday, at Pitchfork, which said, “The Pittsburgh rock quartet’s newly reissued debut is a relentless, intentionally chaotic document of twentysomething existential dread.” Chaotic? Maybe not so much. Definitely a throw-back sound to ‘90s indie acts like Helium or even Chavez (yeah, I said it). The Pitchfork rating was 7.4, btw, which is high for a Saddle Creek release, but I’m finding that Pitchfork likes this era of Saddle Creek a whole lot more than they liked the first wave (and definitely the second Saddle Creek wave). 

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Tonight at Reverb Lounge Aussie indie act The Murlocs headlines. The band has been recording and touring for a decade. Their latest, Rapscallion, was released in September on ATO Records.  Their sound has been described as “neo-psychedelia” but is closer to straight-on jangle-pop. Montreal singer/songwriter Paul Jacobs, who has been compared to Kurt Vile, opens at 8 p.m. $17.

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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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

This month’s column in The Reader is a look at the latest wave of releases from Saddle Creek Records. Our hometown label keeps stretching, and the results can be quite impressive. Read the column online here or in print at newsstands around town (Hy-Vee, LaCasa, etc.).

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Chicago post-punk band Meat Wave is playing a free show tonight at fabulous O’Leaver’s. They just released a pummeling new album, Malign Hex, on Swami Records and are about to hit the road opening for The Bronx. They’re longtime pals and tour mates with local heroes Cursive and haven’t been back through Omaha since their stint headlining Day 1 of O’Leaversfest before the pandemic. Omaha band Nowhere opens the show at 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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I’m trying to think of really interesting things going on indie-music-wise in Omaha and there just haven’t been any. It’s as if the city is in a dormant period.

That said, our hometown label, Saddle Creek Records, just signed yet another band, Philadelphia noise-pop four-piece Feeble Little Horse. Saddle Creek is re-releasing their debut album, Heyday, which came out last year. 

The band, formed in Oakland, PA, in 2021, described their sound in an interview from Pittsburgh radio station WYEP:

How do you describe your sound?  

• Sebastian Kinsler, guitar/vocals: We don’t use reverb, we don’t hard pan guitars, and we double track everything.
• Lydia Slocum, vocals: It’s like we took our favorite songs and put them in the Sebastian blender. I think the sound is super influenced by the music we like and then what the four of us are each exclusively able to contribute.
• Jake Kelley, drums: noise pop 

When asked what was the first album that “really changed your life,” three of the four members referenced a Green Day album (one referenced High School Musical 2 soundtrack). This is ironic because they (thankfully) sound nothing like Green Day. 

As mentioned, their debut LP was originally released on Philly community label Julia’s War Records, but the band also released a 10-song EP called Modern Tourism in March on local label Crafted Sounds Records. 

The rerelease of Heyday comes out on Jan. 13 (and includes bonus tracks), but no doubt new original material won’t be far behind. Here’s the first video from that album. It sounds much more influenced by Sonic Youth than Green Day. The full album and EP are already online at Spotify. 

By the way, my Novermber column in The Reader looks at Saddle Creek’s 2022 output (minus Feeble Little Horse). I’ll link to it when it’s online. Saddle Creek is 29 years old this year. What fun do they have in store for their 30th birthday?

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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 © 2022 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Bright Eyes yesterday announced it was returning to the road with a U.S. tour that kicks off March 23 in St. Paul. That’s about the closest this tour comes to Omaha. The band will announce additional dates in January, including rescheduled gigs on the West Coast and Atlanta. Will the band make its way here? They still haven’t had a local show in support of Down in the Weeds…

Yesterday, Pitchfork (once the bible of indie music tastemakers) released its 2021 list of 50 best albums. No. 1 was Jazmine Sullivan, Heaux Tales, an album that I’ve, well, not heard.

Of note for indie fans, Low’s HEY WHAT came in at No. 5; followed by Turnstile’s Glow On (a game changer or a throwback?), The Weather Station’s Ignorance, and Mdou Moctar’s Afrique Victime with Dry Cleaning’s New Long Leg closing out the top 10.

Saddle Creek Records had one if its best year’s ever. Indigo De Souza’s Any Shape You Take came in at No. 25; Spirit of the Beehive’s Entertainment, Death was No. 28, and Hand Habits’ Fun House was No. 43. An impressive outing for our little local label.

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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 © 2021 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.