It’s been awhile since I’ve updated the ol’ blog. In fact, I just wrote a column that’ll be published in the May issue of The Reader saying that it’s been a long time since I updated the ol’ blog, but that I haven’t given up — there just hasn’t been anything to write about music-wise (which is basically the lede to the column).

As I continue to point out, ain’t been a whole helluva lot of rock shows to write about, but there has been some news.

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I just discovered via his Instagram page that Omaha singer/songwriter Simon Joyner is about to open a new record store in the Old Market that will also act as the world headquarters of his Grapefruit Records label. The new shop is located at 1125 Jackson St., Suite 5, which appears to be the old Antiques Annex space on 12th street.

Joyner says the store will open either May 1 or May 7, depending on how preparations go, and will feature new and used records. The shop marks the 3rd record store in the Old Market, joining Homer’s and Vinyl Cup. Hey, just like ol’ times…

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The other hometown record label, Saddle Creek Records, has been on a roll lately.

Their most recent release from just-signed act Spirit of the Beehive, ENTERTAINMENT, DEATH, was bestowed with the “Best New Music” honor from Pitchfork, who gave the album a massive 8.3 rating. If you haven’t heard the album yet, grab some headphones and some LSD and enjoy. It’s a… challenging listen, but people love it.

On a more pop-flavored level, Saddle Creek this week announced that it signed Asheville, NC, singer/songwriter Indigo De Souza and is rereleasing her 2018 debut album, I Love My Mom, April 23. De Souza’s sound is more in line with the indie sound you’d hear on something like Sirius XMU — poppy, fun, accessible.

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A week or so ago out of the blue music blog Vinyl Writer Music posted an interview with Cursive’s Matt Maginn.

Matt covers the usual history/influences/Ugly Organ topics before he gets to what’s next for Cursive. He said he’s spent his off time repairing “a couple of bars/pubs in our beloved hometown….” and then goes on to say “Musically, it’s a bit more depressing. We have thrown around lots of long-distance ideas, but we have really not had the time to focus on them….”

“…I think we will start writing again as soon as it is safe and ideally get back on the road as soon as possible too. We are playing the Psycho Festival in Las Vegas, which we are really looking forward to at the moment. It will give us a chance to feel a little normal again and remember we are a band.

“We had to cancel a lot of good shows when the pandemic struck, so we are itching to get out there and play. It sounds like a dream right now to actually return to a life that involves writing, rehearsing, and playing live. It’s funny how one year can really change how you feel about your existence and purpose in the world.”

Read the entire interview here.

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That’s all for now. I’m hearing various and sundry things about upcoming music events. Things are happening. We’re almost there. Get vaccinated and we’ll get there sooner.

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 © 2021 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

So Bandcamp Friday (today) is the day in which you can purchase downloads via Bandcamp, and all the money goes to the artists because Bandcamp is waiving their cut. With that in mind, I pushed online my column in this month’s issue of The Reader. It’s a listing of 40 Nebraska recordings released during this, the Year of Our Covid 2020. Included in the story are links to all 40 recordings on Bandcamp, wherein you can buy, download and listen to the best our state has to offer.

You know, The Reader didn’t do a “music issue” this year, and as such, didn’t publish a Reader Top 20 (and the next whatever). This list of 40 releases is as good as it gets considering no one was out performing or touring this year. These artists threw their wares to the masses anyway, knowing that they wouldn’t be able to support their album releases with live shows.

With that in mind GO TO THE STORY NOW and check out the list, click through the links and download/buy some music and support local area artists while hearing some damn fine sounds. Another way to help the artists out is by sharing The Reader story on your social media channels so others can discover what we already know.

Couple more things…

Flight School is a musical project of studio engineer/musician/genius Ian Aeillo. Ian doesn’t like it when I call him a genius, he thinks I’m funnin’ him, no matter how many times I tell him I’m not. The guy just can’t take a compliment. Fact is, Ian was involved in a number of the 40 recordings I mentioned in my Reader column.

Anyway, this morning, Flight School dropped its latest digital full-length effort, This Will Get You There. It’s 21 songs Ian wrote for his favorite vocalists, none of which sing on any of the tracks, leaving you with just Ian’s fine instrumental music. I asked him to list the “favorite vocalists” on the Bandcamp page so we could try to guess who went with which song, but he wasn’t having it. Buy/download/listen here.

Also online today, Lightning Stills (a.k.a. Craig Fort and band) released his entire debut EP Sings His Songs, which wasn’t expected to drop for awhile, but this being Bandcamp Friday, he said ‘what the heck.’ Check out the recording here, buy and download!

And for one day only (today), Simon Joyner is making available for download at Bandcamp Ten Songs (Home Demos for 2021 Album). These are demos recorded on his phone over the past few months that he’ll use as reference while working on songs, but the sound quality is hella good (certainly better than those early Sing Eunichs! recordings!). Go, buy, download here.

That’s it. If you’re going out, wear a mask (as if I had to tell you that!). Have a great weekend!

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Read Tim McMahan’s blog daily (if there’s news) 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

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

I’ve got a few musician / fan resources to pass along, but first…

Simon Joyner released a new album today. Some Only Let the Jukebox Hear Them Weep (Live in Phoenix 2014) is an 11-song collection recorded in a living room with professional equipment. On this recording Simon’s band, The Ghosts Trio, consists of Kevin Donahue, Megan Siebe and Michael Krassner. You can buy a limited edition CDR of the set, in a screenprinted sleeve, right here via Bandcamp.

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BTW, Bandcamp is waiving its share of revenues on purchases made at the site tomorrow, March 20, so you may want to wait to order your copy or anything else via Bandcamp.

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From Saddle Creek Records: “We have gotten a lot of questions about how you can support artists who are being directly impacted by the current pandemic. One way to support artists is purchasing physical releases.”

To help, through the end of March Saddle Creek is offering a 15 percent discount on all orders (except preorders) with the code SUPPORT. Check it out here. That info came in an email that included links to organizations that help musicians in need. Here’s the list. Donate if you can.

— Musicares – https://www.grammy.com/musicares/get-help
— Sweet Relief – https://www.sweetrelief.org/covid-19-fund.html
— American Federation of Musicians – https://www.afm.org/covid-19/

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Seattle radio station KEXP has a handy Guide for Artists and Fans to Support Music During the COVID-19 Outbreak. Lots of good resources, lots of tips for what you can do to help. Check it out.

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Kevin Coffey has a story in today’s Omaha World-Herald on COVID 19’s impact on local venues that includes some words from Slowdown’s Jason Kulbel and 1%’s Marc Leibowitz, check it out here.  Says Jason Kulbel in the story: “It’s just thing after thing after thing. We can’t wrap our heads around it. We’re just scrambling.”

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Stay home, order take-out, help out if you can. We’ll get through it.

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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

Two big album release shows this weekend and a handful of other things going on musicwise…

Tonight at Reverb Lounge Clarence Tilton celebrates the release of Start Already Lost (Sower Records). The band always gets bunched in with alt country bands by people like me because of the omnipresent twang that bounces throughout their tunes. You can’t deny the urge to do a two-step when you hear songs like “First One Home,” off the new album.

But it may be more accurate to compare them to power-pop bands like Alex Chilton, The dB’s, Big Star and The Soft Boys on tracks like “High Water” and opening track “No One.” But at the same time, you wouldn’t be off base comparing them to, say, The Silos or The Jayhawks, especially on outlaw countrified songs like “B.A.W.” and slow-dancer “Tears Land.” Either way, it’s good company to be in, and on the new album (as well as their debut) it’s apt. Fact is, the songs off Start Already… aren’t much of a departure from their last couple releases. It’s like getting the next chapter of a novel you can’t put down. Minne Lusa opens the show at 9 p.m. $10.

Then tomorrow night at Slowdown, Jr., it’s Uh Oh’s turn.

Their new one, Stay Close, is a collection of old-school indie anthems that recalls acts like The Promise Ring, Sunday’s Best and Knapsack — i.e., acts that were bunched into the emo category in the ’90s. That said, I wouldn’t consider Uh Oh an emo band but more in line with power-pop indie acts like Little Brazil or Lincoln’s Domestica. At the core is jangling, soaring guitars, bombastic drums and Joe Champion’s nerdy vocals singing lovable loser songs rooted deeply in the Midwestern soil. I think I told Joe album capper “We’ll Laugh Again” was my favorite because I’m a sucker for epic closers, but actually it’s the shuffle-beat rocker “Hang On” that will make it onto my annual comp CD if only for its sing-along chorus and Champion’s message of hope for all of us fellow travelers stumbling around in the dark. Stay Close is a familiar light to help lead the way.

Anyway, Uh Oh will be celebrating the release of that album Saturday night at Slowdown Jr. with Histrionic, Eric in Outerspace and Second String. 8:30, $7.

Also happening Saturday, Simon Joyner kicks off his national tour with a house show (at his house, no less). Joining Simon and The Ghosts are Jim Schroeder and David Nance. The show starts at 8 p.m. To find out the address, you’ll need to reach out to Joyner via Facebook and ask! Entrance is a donation ($5-$10 or whatever).

Also Saturday night, The Sydney has Pacific Northwest grunge masters Reignwolf with King Nun. $20, 9 p.m.

Finally, it’s with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to Jason Steady Saturday night at The Brothers Lounge. Jason is headed to the California desert to commune with some cacti. You can bid him adieu at this performance, which also includes sets by M34N STR33T and Haunted Gauntlet. Cover is $5, start time is 10 p.m., tears are free.

And that’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. 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 © 2019 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Before we enter full-blown Maha Music Festival coverage, a head’s up that Omaha singer/songwriter/folk-master Simon Joyner announced Saturday that he’s got a new album coming out on Grapefruit Records.

Pocket Moon is available for preorder from grapefruitrecordclub.com and is being co-released in UK/Europe by BB*Island and in Australia/New Zealand by Homeless Records. Recorded this past February in Phoenix, backing Joyner on this LP is an all-star band that includes Michael Krassner, Max Knouse, Joshua Hill, Bennett Sarager, Robin Vining and Ryan Jewell.

More I cannot tell you except the record officially hits the shelves Oct. 24. Will we get a hometown album release show for this one?

BTW, are oil portrait covers the “new thing”? I ask because here’s the cover of the new Lloyd Cole album, Guesswork, that’s currently playing on my turntable…

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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.

 

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Out of the blue yesterday Simon Joyner released a new album, Low Fidelities & Infidelities (Demos/Covers/Collaborations) via Grapefruit Record Club and Bandcamp. The 21-song collection includes Simon Joyner demos from his upcoming album Pocket Moon, due on Grapefruit in October, as well as covers of songs from some of his songwriter heroes including Lee Hazelwood, Lucinda Williams, Bob Dylan, Vic Chesnutt, Randy Newman, Richard Thompson, Phil Ochs and more.

The album is actually by “Simon Joyner & Friends” because the music was created in collaboration with his musician pals The Bruces, Pearl Lovejoy Boyd, The Bingo Trappers, Noah Sterba, Fred Lonberg Holm, Dennis Callaci, Sean Pratt & Megan Siebe, Roy Montgomery, Michael Krassner, Meg Baird, L. Eugene Methe, The Renderers and Irma Vep.

“I had all these covers in my (phone’s) voice memos from times when I felt like playing guitar but was unable to write anything myself,” Joyner said. “When I was heading out on this tour I just completed, I thought about putting together a CD of demos so I’d have something new to sell, and while digging through the phone, I found all the covers and had the idea to take my live recordings of the covers and send them to musician friends for them to add their own tracks to, as a kind of through-the-mail collaboration.”

Joyner and his guitar are at the center of all the songs, but his friends add subtle touches of cello, keyboards, pedal steel, drums, harmony vocals and other instruments to make for a surprisingly rich yet personal recording.

Joyner is donating all the digital download proceeds through Bandcamp to abortion access organizations in Alabama, Georgia and Missouri. People can pay what they want beyond the $7 suggested price, and all will be donated.

You can order either the digital album or the CD from Joyner’s Bandcamp page.

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Tonight at fabulous O’Leaver’s Bethlehem, Pennsylvania’s Slingshot Dakota headlines. The duo has a new album, Heavy Banding, out on Community Records (after years of being on Topshelf). Joining them is Muscle Cousins. 9 p.m. $12.

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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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Looks like Simon Joyner no longer is leading the Bemis’s new Sound Art and Experimental Music Residency Program mentioned here a couple days ago.

From the Bemis Center Facebook page:

Simon Joyner will not be leading the program. We will soon be opening a national job posting to find the best candidate to lead this program. Additional decisions about the program will be made after a reevaluation of the needs is complete. These changes and decisions take time.

It also appears, via Facebook, that producer Ben Brodin never was permanently involved in the project, but merely assisted early in offering some ideas about the space.

Joyner being named to the position last week sparked concern targeted at The Bemis Center. As Kevin Coffey reported yesterday in the GO Section of Omaha World-Herald, the Bemis organization fielded a number of e-mails, text messages and posts on social media. “The responses that we received were either supporting Simon or asking the Bemis to reconsider him as someone that would manage this new program, which we’re obviously thrilled to be launching next year,” said Bemis Executive Director Chris Cook in the OWH article.

Concerns about Joyner stemmed from his use of the N-word in a song he wrote that targeted racists and racism in America, released in 2017. Reporting on the controversy appeared in The Reader last November as well as in Lazy-i, which included a Q&A with Joyner about the topic.

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BTW, tonight’s Bemis benefit concert featuring Azure Ray / Destroyer (solo) is sold out.

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It’s the unofficial Halloween weekend at the clubs, which means krazy kostumes and very few live shows. Boo! (pun intended).

There’s a fundraiser tonight at fabulous O’Leaver’s for Kara Eastman. DJ Tyrone Storm (a.k.a. Roger Lewis), Dirt House, Sean Pratt and Stephen Bartolomei are all slated to perform. The show runs 8 to 11 p.m. and suggested donation is $10.

And here’s a walk on the wild side: Jason Steady and the Soft Ponies are playing a free gig at Burrito Envy in Benson tonight. Bradley Unit also is on the bill that starts at 9 p.m.

And there’s a real hum-dinger of a show going on at O’Leaver’s Sunday in the early evening featuring Ian Sweet, Young Jesus and Thick Paint. Sweet’s new album Crush Crusher came out today on Hardly Art. Young Jesus, the latest addition to the Saddle Creek Records roster, released their new LP, The Whole Thing Is There, last week. And Thick Paint is one of Omaha’s hottest properties. All three bands for just $7. Starts at 6 p.m. Get your tickets online here.

And that’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. 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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

This morning I got a “low ticket warning” about this Friday’s Azure Ray / Dan Bejar (Destroyer solo) show at the Bemis Center Okada Sculpture & Ceramics Facility in Omaha’s Old Market (723 South 12th Street). “Just a few $25 tickets remain” they’re saying.

The concert is part of the Bemis Art Auction and Concert 2018. Get your tickets online here.

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Speaking of Azure Ray, a video for “Palindrome,” the first single off their upcoming EP Waves, dropped last Friday and it’s a hoot. It’s directed by Alan Tanner, who you might remember from the band Artsy Golfer (he also played guitar for Maria Taylor). Waves comes out Friday, and I must tell you, it’s sublime.

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And speaking of The Bemis, Simon Joyner has been named to head The Bemis’ Sound Art and Experimental Music Residency Program. This is a MAJOR deal…

Here’s the Bemis press release, which went out last week:

“Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts has received a $500,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to establish a new Sound Art and Experimental Music Residency Program. This funding will support the first three years of a specialized track within Bemis Center’s international Artist-in-Residence program for artists pushing the boundaries of sound, composition, voice, and music of all genres. National and international artists participating in the program will receive the same level of financial, technical, and administrative support as their fellow artists-in-residence at Bemis, along with dedicated facilities for rehearsing, recording, and performing new works that expand the field of sound art and music. The program will officially launch in 2019.

“Omaha-based musician Simon Joyner will join Bemis staff to lead the program. Local sculptor and past Bemis exhibiting artist Sean Ward and local architect Jeff Day of Actual Architecture are collaborating with Joyner, and sound experts Phil Schaffart, Thorin Dickey, and Ben Brodin to design the program’s performance venue and rehearsal and recording studio in Bemis Center’s 25,000 square foot basement space. Under the guidance of Day, graduate-level architecture students in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s design-build program, FACT, are developing conceptual designs for the build-out and will begin construction in October 2018 with completion in early 2019.

“The fully equipped artist-designed performance space will offer free live shows to the community. When artists in the program are not utilizing the venue, it will be programmed with local, national and international sound artists and experimental musicians. Free public access to these performances aims to not only build greater appreciation and new audiences for sound art and experimental music but also to liberate the artists on stage to take risks and present avant-garde work.

“An international advisory committee comprised of artists, curators and other leading experts in the field will assist with the curation of the Sound Art and Experimental Music Residency Program for 2019 and 2020. Beginning in 2020, Sound Art and Experimental Music residencies for 2021 and beyond will transition to Bemis Center’s regular annual open call for applications.”

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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.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

No national touring shows this weekend, except one:

Simon Joyner & The Ghosts kick off their East Coast tour tonight at Brothers Lounge. Simon will be out supporting his latest, Step Into the Earthquake (2017, Shrimper / Ba Da Bing!). It’s been forever since Joyner/Ghosts have played in Omaha and the first time they’ve ever played at Brothers. This one’s stacked, with Lupines and The Wagon Blasters opening. $5, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, Lash LaRue & Hired Guns play at The Barley Street with Ragged Company. $5, 9 p.m.

Scott Severin plays tonight at The Down Under Lounge with The Show Is the Rainbow and Wendy Jane Bantam. 9:30 p.m., no cover listed.

And tonight Little Brazil is hosting a listening party at Hi-Fi House for their new album Send the Wolves, which drops June 1. You can read all about the new record here. Wonder if they’ll have any extra copies of the vinyl for sale tonight? I’m told merch will definitely be on hand. The listening party is from 8 to 11 p.m. and is free.

Tomorrow night (Saturday) Cami Cavanaugh Rawlings celebrates her 50th birthday at The Down Under with a rock show featuring Domestica, The Ronnys and her band, Bathtub Maria. This one’s free (though Cami’s asking for canned food for charity Completely Kids). Starts at 8 p.m. More info here.

Over at fabulous O’Leaver’s Lincoln act Red Cities headlines with The Ramparts and Dead on Dust. $5, 10 p.m.

House Vacations are having an EP release party for their new one, Pictures of Friends, at Petshop Saturday night. Orca Welles, Mago and Threesome Egos open at 8 p.m. No idea what this will cost you to get in.

Strangely, there’s no shows slated for Sunday, which sucks because we all have Monday off for Memorial Day. Come on, people!

It being a 3-day weekend, I might as well mention what’s happening Monday night. LA surf/psych-rock band La Luz plays at O’Leaver’s. They’ve got a handful of albums out on labels like Hardly Art and Burger Records. Kansas City power pop band The Whiffs open along with Omaha’s Dirt House. This one starts early at 6 p.m. $8.

That’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. 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 © 2018 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.