#TBT: Reliving 2015 SXSW in audio form (Speedy Ortiz, Laura Burhenn, Icky Blossoms, Natalie Prass, Courtney Barnett, The Residents, The Pop Group, more…)

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , , , , — @ 6:59 am March 23, 2023
White Mystery at Beerland Patio, March 18, 2015.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Flipping through Lazy-i for #ThrowbackThursday I came across this entry, published eight years ago, that compiled three days of South by Southwest 2015 reporting in three podcast episodes that captured descriptions and performances by White Mystery, Twin Shadow, Speedy Ortiz, PUJOL, Laura Burhenn, Icky Blossoms, Viet Cong, Krill, Natalie Prass, Courtney Barnett, Best Coast, LITE, Drivin’ and Cryin’, The Residents, The Pop Group and Will Butler, along with photos from each performance. 

Eight years ago I was first experimenting with podcasting, having caught the bug from listening to the Serial Podcast, and if you dig around Lazy-i you’ll find podcast episodes embedded into entries that captured local and national performances on Omaha clubs along with interviews from around Omaha. The weekly podcast, which summarized my week of Lazy-i reporting and the shows I went to that week, was fun to produce, but I did the whole damn thing by myself with semi-professional audio equipment using Garageband for editing – what a grind!

Now eight years later, it’s a running joke that everyone has their own podcast. In fact, Emmy winning series Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building is a series about a podcast. As more of my free time opens up in the coming year(s), I’d like to do another podcast, but this time with some help!

The podcast never had huge listener numbers – somewhere between 200 and 300 per episode spread out across numerous hosting platforms, including iTunes, Libsyn and Soundcloud – podcast hosting was not easy back then. Considering I was using a hand-held Zoom H2 recorder and MacBook with no sound mixing or mastering, it didn’t sound half bad, especially the live recordings. Who knows how this would have sounded had an audio engineer been involved… 

Anyway, check out the post for all the photos or just listen below:

Day 1: Performances by White Mystery, Twin Shadow, Dotan and Speedy Ortiz.

Day 2: Performances by PUJOL, Laura Burhenn (Mynabirds), Icky Blossoms, Viet Cong, Krill and Natalie Prass.

Day 3: Performances by Courtney Barnett, Best Coast, LITE, Drivin’ and Cryin’, The Pop Group and Will Butler.

* * *

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.

Lazy-i

Leafblower, Skating Polly Saturday; Speedy Ortiz, Xetas, Laura Burhenn Sunday…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , — @ 12:24 pm June 15, 2018

Speedy Ortiz at O’Leaver’s, 8/15/15. The band plays Sunday night at Reverb Lounge.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

We’ve entered “avoid downtown” season as the College World Series gets under way this weekend. Funny thing about CWS, it does make life around the so-called “No Do” area unbearable, but the rest of downtown — the Old Market, etc. — is usually pretty quiet during CWS as the fans seem to be content congregating around the tents. Let’s keep them there, shall we?

There isn’t a thing going on (that I could find) indie-music wise tonight.

Tomorrow night (Saturday) get ready to get smoked out at fabulous O’Leaver’s when Leafblower returns to the stage. They’re opening for Nashville indie band QuicheNight. Sidewalkers kicks it off at 10 p.m. $5.

Also Saturday night Oklahoma City indie-pop trio Skating Polly headlines at Reverb Lounge. Potty Mouth and Histrionic open. 9 p.m., $12 DOS.

Sunday night Speedy Ortiz returns to Omaha, this time to Reverb Lounge. Their new album, Twerp Verse (2018, Carpark), was originally going to be a collection of love songs by front woman Sadie Dupuis, but with the world the way it is these days, Sadie changed course.

The songs on the album that were strictly personal or lovey dovey just didn’t mean anything to me anymore–that’s not the kind of music I’ve found healing or motivating in the past few years, and I was surprised I’d written so much of it,” Dupuis said. “Social politics and protest have been a part of our music from day one, and I didn’t want to stop doing that on this album.”

Anna Burch (Polyvinyl Records) and Austin garage giants Xetas (12XU Record) opens this stacked line-up at 9 p.m. $15 DOS.

Finally Mynabirds’ Laura Burhenn opens for Portland indie-folkies Horse Feathers (Kill Rock Stars) at The Waiting Room Sunday night. $17, 8 p.m.

That’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend.

* * *

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.

Lazy-i

Mailbag: Speedy loves Mogis; new Nik Freitas; new SAVAK video; Brad Hoshaw, Charlie Parr tonight…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , , , — @ 12:38 pm May 8, 2018

Brad Hoshaw at The Shark Club, March 19, 2016. Hoshaw plays tonight at Reverb Lounge.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Tuesday is becoming mail-bag catch-up day…

Speedy Ortiz’s third album, Twerp Verse, came out last week on Carpark Records. As part of the media blitz, Speedy’s Sadie Dupuis did an interview with The 405 where she declares her undying love for ARC’s Mike Mogis, who mixed the new album.

From the interview:

You worked with Mike Mogis on this album, how did he come into it?

Dupuis: Yes! We’ve been in touch with Mogis for years about doing a record. We became friends, probably three years ago, and I obviously am such a big fan of his. Maybe that’s not an obvious thing, but my holy trinity when I was in 9th and 10th grade were Bright Eyes, Cursive and Rilo Kiley, and I would order by mail Saddle Creek records. He was the first producer that I remember knowing the name of, so it was really very cool that we found out he was a fan of Speedy, and had invited us to come see his studio, and now every time we go through Omaha we stay with him.

So we’d been wanting to do this record for a few years and the timing didn’t really work out for him to record it, but we were able to carve out some time for him to mix it. It’s the longest time I’ve ever spent in Omaha, normally I’m there for one or two nights, and we were there for close to three weeks. He’s obviously a thorough producer, but working with him as a mix engineer was so much more involved than any mixing process we’ve gone through; he really pays attention to the tiniest thing. For me, someone who’s an aspiring producer, it was really educational to see what kind of things he picks up on. Lyrics really matter to him in a way that I don’t think they always do to producers, especially when they’re strictly focused on the mixing. He’s automating every word so that everything’s audible, and just thinking very hard about the tone choices we made and how he can improve upon them. He has such an amazing assortment of gear that he’s collected over his however-many years of producing stuff, so that was really fun, to see what cool toys he’d be putting my guitars through on this particular track or day. So, yeah, only amazing things to say about Mogis, I really hope that we get to do a record from start to finish with him, maybe next time around. And what a childhood dream accomplished it was to do anything with him.

There’s more at The 405.

* * *

Mystic Valley Band member Nik Freitas dropped his first single, “What A Mess,” from his upcoming solo album Dark & Day out June 29. Among the guests on the record is Azure Ray’s Maria Taylor.

Freitas is also slated to play at fabulous O’Leaver’s June 8 with Miwi Laupa.

* * *

Former Omahan Mike Jaworski’s latest project SAVAK dropped a new video from their sophomore album Cut-Ups (out now on Ernest Jenning Record Co.) called “Christo’s Peers (Soon We’ll Be Floating).” The band is headed to Europe next week for a handful of dates.

 

* * *

As you may or may not know, Brad Hoshaw is moving away to the West Coast. I’m not sure of the dates or reasons, just that he’s leaving. Which makes tonight’s opening gig at Reverb Lounge for Charlie Parr all that more important. Get yourself some Hoshaw while you can. $10, 8 p.m.

* * *

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.

 

Lazy-i

Boris, Lung, The Natural States tonight; Speedy Ortiz, Bob Log III, Whipkey Saturday…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , — @ 12:41 pm October 20, 2017

Speedy Ortiz at O’Leaver’s, 8/15/15. The band plays Saturday night at Slowdown, Jr.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Welcome to the weekend. Here we go…

Tonight, Japanese noise rock band Boris (Sargent House Records) headlines at The Waiting Room with Subrosa and Endon. $20, 8 p.m.

Meanwhile at fabulous O’Leaver’s the cello and drum duo of Lung (members of Foxy Shazam) headlines tonight with Crybaby and Screaming Plastic. $5, 9:30 p.m.

While over at Brothers Lounge The Natural States headlines with Number One Hit Kids (ex-Wolf Dealer) and Anonymous Henchmen. $5, 9 p.m.

And Satchel Grande plays The Slowdown main room tonight with Domestic Blend. $8, 9 p.m.

The big show Saturday night is the return of Speedy Ortiz, this time to Slowdown Jr. They’re opening for Tera Melos, a band that plays rough, angular math rock, very proggy, very syncopated, very dissonant, very good (if you’re into that sort of thing). The harsh rhythms are cut nicely by Nick Reinhart’s smooth vocals. From Sacramento. On Sargent House. Oquoa opens the evening at 9 p.m. $13 Adv./$15 DOS.

Also Saturday night, Bob Log III, the one-man slide guitarist who wears a motorcycle helmet, plays at O’Leaver’s with Lincoln’s Her Flyaway Manner and our very own Lupines. $10, 9 p.m.

And way out at Growler USA Matt Whipkey and his band play a free show Saturday night that starts at 9 p.m.

And that’s all I got. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a great weekend.

* * *

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 © 2017 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

Ten Questions with Sad13 (Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz), at Milk Run Nov. 25…

Category: Blog,Interviews — Tags: , , , — @ 1:39 pm November 22, 2016

Sad13 a.k.a. Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz plays Milk Run Friday night, Nov. 25.

Sad13 a.k.a. Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz plays Milk Run Friday night, Nov. 25.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Sad13 is Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz out on her own doing the solo thing; and when I say “solo” I’m talking solo-solo: Dupuis wrote, sang, played guitar, recorded and produced her recently released solo debut, Slugger (2016, Carpark), all by her lonesome.

I don’t know who Lindy West is other than being a good writer. She had this to say about Dupuis’ new record:

It’s very strange (“Or not strange at all! Hi!” says feminism) that most of the music we funnel into little girls’ ears — even music written by former little girls — is about how women are petty, pretty garbage whose only valuable function is to hold perfectly still in men’s boudoirs and wait for intercourse. “I wanted to make songs that were the opposite of ‘Genie in A Bottle’ or ‘The Boy Is Mine,’” Sadie Dupuis says of Slugger, her new solo album under the name Sad13. “Songs that put affirmative consent at the heart of the subject matter and emphasize friendship among women and try to deescalate the toxic jealousy and ownership that are often centered in romantic pop songs.” What!? Songs for women that actually champion women’s autonomy, reflect women’s desires, listen to women when they talk, and let women be funny and normal and cool, like women actually are?

Indeed. Lindy references Tacocat, Waxahatchee, Mitski and Bully in the comparisons. I’ll add early Liz Phair and Eleanor Friedberger to the list. And, of course, Speedy Ortiz, who Dupuis doesn’t stray too far from musically.

I asked Dupuis to take my 10 Questions Survey. Here’s what she had to say:

1. What is your favorite album?

Sadie Dupuis: I am very skeptical of musicians who can definitively name *one favorite album* but Helado Negro’s Private Energy and Solange’s A Seat At the Table are probably my favorite albums released this season.

2. What is your least favorite song? 



R. Kelly “Ignition (Remix)” because I fucking despise R. Kelly but the beat is good and I always accidentally wind up dancing to that before I realize what it is.

3. What do you enjoy most about being in a band? 



All the free water bottles and hummus backstage.

4. What do you hate about being in a band?

How it’s changed my perceptions on hummus.

5. What is your favorite substance (legal or illegal)?

Yerba mate!

6. In what city or town do you love to perform?

Omaha! And Mexico City.

7. What city or town did you have your worst gig (and why)? 



On our first tour Speedy Ortiz played in Missoula and 0 people showed up aside from the promoter. So we just had a noise jam by ourselves in a VFW.

8. Are you able to support yourself through your music? If so, how long did it take to get there; if not, how do you pay your bills? 



Music’s the day job and covers my basic living expenses but I’m not really raking it in and have to spend almost all of the year on tour or recording music in order to make it at that level. And I definitely take on lots of odd gigs here and there. I quit my day job in 2013; I was 25 years old. And I’ve been playing in bands since I was 13 or 14, which is around the same time I got my first job.

9. What one profession other than music would you like to attempt; what one profession would you absolutely hate to do? 



I taught at UMass Amherst prior to touring full time. Would do it again! Worst job for me would be anything that supported the prison industrial complex.

10. What are the stories you’ve heard about Omaha, Nebraska? 



I’ve been quite a few times. Y’all have some really great bloody marys.

Sad13 plays with Vagabon and Mannequin Pussy Friday, Nov. 25, at Milk Run, 1907 Leavenworth St. Tickets are $10. Showtime is 9 p.m. For more information, go to facebook.com/milkrunomaha.

Lazy-i

New Live @ O’Leaver’s recordings (The Hussy, Speedy Ortiz, Beach Slang); The Vibrators tonight…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , , — @ 12:45 pm September 23, 2015

The Vibrators play at The Brothers Lounge tonight.

The Vibrators play at The Brothers Lounge tonight.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Seems like I’ve been writing a ton about O’Leaver’s lately. It’s not by design (and I’m certainly not getting paid for it!). It’s merely the fact that the bulk of local indie music news is emanating from O’Leaver’s these days, whether it’s their programming, or in this case, Live at O’Leaver’s, which yesterday released three more live-session recordings from three of the hottest national touring indie bands.

All three sessions are remarkable in their own way. The Speedy Ortiz songs capture the band better then what they’ve laid down in the studio. We hear why Cursive is so ga-ga over Beach Slang. And we get a look inside the madness that is The Hussy on a recording that captures that evening’s madness.

I was at two out of the three shows that were captured below, missing only the Beach Slang gig, which it looks like I’ll get a chance to make up for as Beach Slang is headed back to O’Leaver’s Nov. 5 (with Tim Kasher, Lithuania (members of Dr. Dog) and Worried Mothers).

Check out the new Live at O’Leaver’s sessions below:

* * *

Tonight legendary ’70s British punk band The Vibrators are playing at legendary Omaha club The Brothers Lounge. Opening is Tiananmen Squares and Heavy Lungs. $8, 9 p.m. Slap on your Doc Martins and go.

* * *

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 © 2015 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

Live Review: Maha Music Festival 2015 (and the after party); Midwest Dilemma, Super Ghost tonight…

Category: Blog,Reviews — Tags: , , , , — @ 1:50 pm August 17, 2015

The crowd gathered to listen to The Good Life during the 2015 Maha Music Festival, Aug. 15, 2015.

The crowd gathered to listen to The Good Life during the 2015 Maha Music Festival, Aug. 15, 2015.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

First, read this. It’s the “where do they go next” interview with Lauren Schomburg, who sits on the Maha Music Festival board of directors. It’s a tough question because it’s going to be hard to top this year’s festival, which was held Saturday at Stinson Park in Aksarben Village.

Maha has become a model of how a festival should be run. Actually, it’s been a model of efficiency since its first year in 2009. Even way back then, whether you liked the bands or not, you had to admit the organizers and their army of volunteers had their shit together. Now in the present day, when there’s a band for practically every taste, Maha remains a streamlined, seamless experience, from the overall facility layout to the food offerings to the 501(c)(3) booths to the children’s play area. Even the parking and (in my case) bike lock-up availability was first class. And if you’re a VIP ticket-holder, they even had your restroom needs covered.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, but what about the bands?

First off, this isn’t a comprehensive review of the day. I missed some bands in the middle when (like last year) I needed a break from the blazing sun, heat and humidity and escaped for a few hours of AC and a power-nap (What can I say? Getting old sucks). That, after getting to the festival late, which meant missing opening local acts Both (who I just saw a few weeks ago) and Freakabout (who I can see some other time). I’ve heard a smidgen of grumbling about the lack of a “local” stage at this year’s Maha, but only the smidge-iest of smidgens. While a festival gives local bands exposures to a new audience, it takes away slots for national bands that we’ll likely never get a chance to see in Omaha again.

Ex-Hex on the Maha Music Festival main stage, 8/15/15.

Ex-Hex on the Maha Music Festival main stage, 8/15/15.

Bands like Ex-Hex and Alvvays.  Ex-Hex, the post-punk trio headed by ex-Helium frontwoman Mary Timony, rifled through a set of fast, heavy rock songs in lean-rather-than-gritty fashion that was almost matter-of-fact in its presentation. They powered through one song after the next off Rips (Merge, 2014) playing the closest thing to psych-garage rock I heard Saturday, though their music sounded downright tidy compared to the garage bands I’m used to. Maha needs to book at least one dirty, sloppy, snarling, don’t-give-a-shit rock band per festival to get festival-goers a chance to say, “Can you believe they booked those guys/gals?”

Alvvays on the Javlin (smaller) stage at Maha.

Alvvays on the Javlin (smaller) stage at Maha.

Ex-Hex played on the “Weitz Stage” — the big/main stage — while Alvvays played on the smaller Javlin Stage right next to it, and though it didn’t look as impressive, the sound from the smaller stage was just as fierce (though not as loud). While Modest Mouse was the festival’s main draw, Alvvays was the band I was most excited to see. I chased them around SXSW this year, never able to get into the venues because they were already at capacity. Now here they were on an Omaha stage. Their candy-colored summer shimmer-rock was everything I hoped it would be, playful and fun in the mid-day heat. Alvvays played the best tunes off their 2014 debut along with a few new ones that have me looking forward to their next album.

So did the ploy of placing these two high-quality bands so shortly after noon get people to come out to Maha earlier? Only the Maha folks can say for sure, though the crowd of at least a thousand was definitely larger at 2 p.m. than in year’s past. Certainly Ex-Hex/Alvvays are more known quantities than, say, Army Navy and Appleseed Cast, bands that had the early slots back in the day and failed to draw even a few hundred people. I like the ploy, though when you book as many quality bands as Maha did this year, it’s hardly a ploy at all, it’s a necessity. If the festival is only one day long with one band performing at a time, you have to place them somewhere in the schedule or not book them at all.

The Jayhawks at the Maha Music Festival, 8/15/15.

The Jayhawks at the Maha Music Festival, 8/15/15.

Which brings us to The Jayhawks, a band that is almost legendary locally for putting on shows that bombed over the past two decades. I talked to more people Saturday who were excited to see Jayhawks than any other band. This year they filled the role of the “indie legacy” act that appeals to dudes in their 40s and 50s, many of whom were pushed against the fence of the VIP section during their set.

Somewhere in my basement is my copy of 1992’s Hollywood Town Hall (American Recordings) that contains at least a few of the songs the band played on stage Saturday, sounding exactly like they did when the band played them at Sokol years ago. Ignore the shaggy gray hair and little has changed. There had been a rumor that Matthew Sweet was going to join the band on stage, but it never happened (though photos of Sweet backstage appeared on Facebook Sunday morning).

Speedy Ortiz on the Javlin Stage at Maha Music Festival, 8/15/15.

Speedy Ortiz on the Javlin Stage at Maha Music Festival, 8/15/15.

It was during the Jayhawks’ set that I made my getaway for a few hours, missing All Young Girls Are Machine Guns, the Omaha Girls Rock band and Wavves, returning just in time for Speedy Ortiz on the small stage. What to say about the set? It was a solid walk-through of the band’s songs off their last couple albums, heavy on Foil Deer (Carpark, 2015) material. Frontwoman Sadie Dupuis has a voice that leans toward Liz Phair on songs that have Phair’s same face-kick confessional quality. Dupuis sings about her life with a knee-groin intensity that recalls ’90s post-grunge post-punk. I love it.

The crowd gets into Atmosphere at The Maha Music Festival, 8/15/15.

The crowd gets into Atmosphere at The Maha Music Festival, 8/15/15.

By 7 p.m. the crowd had ballooned to several thousand for Minneapolis indie hip-hop act Atmosphere. The duo of Slug and Ant have been coming through Omaha semi-regularly for nearly 20 years performing a straight-forward, beat-heavy style of hip-hop that takes the lead from ’80s acts and makes it wholly their own. Slug’s rhymes are clear, distinct, personal and in-your-face, which is why the crowd was yelling along with them as they held up their “scissors” (Slug’s word for a peace sign).  No other act got the crowd going at Maha like Atmosphere, a brilliant booking that cut across genres and age lines and added a bounce that the festival sorely needed.

The Good Life at Maha Music Festival, 08/15/15.

The Good Life at Maha Music Festival, 08/15/15.

Atmosphere was the perfect launching pad for the evening home stretch, led off by local heroes The Good Life. Tim Kasher and Co. lit up the small stage with a collection heavy on songs from their intense new album Everybody’s Coming Down (Saddle Creek, 2015) as well as the best Good Life material from throughout the band’s 15-year history. I’ve seen TGL play at least a dozen times over the years, but never to a larger crowd.

Purity Ring's __ on the Maha Music Festival main stage, 8/15/15.

Purity Ring’s Megan James on the Maha Music Festival main stage, 8/15/15.

It was dark by the time Purity Ring took the stage. It became keenly obvious why they were placed so late in the day. The electronic duo of frontwoman Megan James and technology performer Corin Roddick played behind a cascade of multi-colored lights that were draped from the rafters of the big stage and shimmered in iridescent tones in time with their ethereal electronic rock. Their style is dense and gorgeous, ambient and stylish and wholly unique, casting a spell over the massive Maha audience. Again, another smart, unexpected booking that added a level of sophistication to the festival, though the duo’s set went on too long. A little bit of Purity Ring goes a long way since their music is anything but varied. No amount of pretty lights could make it any more interesting.

A view from the side of the stage of Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock during the Maha Music Festival, 08/15/15.

A view from the side of the stage of Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock during the Maha Music Festival, 08/15/15.

The crowd was at its apex for Modest Mouse. I strolled out of the VIP area and discovered the grounds had become a darkened chaos of people, but despite the sell-out size of somewhere in the 9,000 range (or so I was told, I still haven’t heard the official number) there was plenty of room to move either through the crowd or around it along the sidewalks that surround the park. Any more, however, and things could have gotten ugly.

Modest Mouse came on late (maybe because they had to tear down all of Purity Ring’s Christmas lights?), and I was told were going to play late as well. For me, they were one of the least interesting bands on the bill, having seen them do a stand-around set years earlier at Sokol. Not much has changed in their performance style, though their music certainly has changed. Somewhere in the past decade, Modest Mouse lost its weirdness, swaying north of the caustic noise that made The Lonesome Crowded West (1997, Up) a masterpiece. When they discovered thicker, more straight-forward beats and melodies, they lost their edge and (of course) become much more popular. So who can blame them? Had they kept on their initial trajectory they wouldn’t be headlining festivals.

Still, the crowd was definitely into them (at least the folks near the stage) as the band played through their catalog of recent releases. I didn’t stick around until the end, opting to get a head start to O’Leaver’s where Speedy Ortiz had announced they’d be playing an unofficial after party.

Which brings us back to how we started this tome and the question that was on everyone’s minds as they walked back to their cars (or bikes) after a long, hot day in the park: What can Maha do to top this? Just having another sell-out ain’t gonna cut it. In fact, a sell-out is the least they can do to match this year’s success.

As the article pointed out, Stinson’s already booked for 2016. The most common suggestion is expanding Maha to two days, effectively doubling your volunteer needs but gaining some cost efficiency associated with staging, etc. Could Omaha support a two-day indie music festival or would Maha have to expand the stylistic breadth of bands to include non-indie stuff? Maybe instead of two days, Maha should stay at one day and book a next-tier indie band like Arcade Fire, Beck or Wilco and either raise ticket prices or find bigger sponsors to cover the increased booking costs.

My vote would be for Maha to add a Friday night event to the all-day Saturday event (a suggestion which sounds strangely familiar).

The real question: What do the folks who run Maha want Maha to become? What’s their definition of success? What’s the ultimate end-game? How far can they push it before Maha bleeds too far away from its original vision? Lauren outlined where she wants Maha to go. What’s the vision for the rest of the Maha team?  And, by the way, there’s nothing wrong with keeping it just the way it is (no matter what Tim Kasher says).

* * *

Speedy Ortiz at the unofficial Maha afterparty at O'Leaver's, 8/15/15.

Speedy Ortiz at the unofficial Maha after party at O’Leaver’s, 8/15/15.

As I was saying, there were a couple Maha after parties. The official after party was at Reverb. The unofficial party was at O’Leaver’s where Speedy Ortiz finished off the night playing a ferocious set that was different from their Maha set list, crystallizing the difference between seeing a band at a festival and seeing a band in a club setting.

Playing to a crowd of 60 or 70 that included members of Maha bands Alvvays and The Good Life, Dupuis and her band gave a performance that was as dynamic and intimate as you would expect, wearing a flower in her hair given to her by a fan who stood right in front of her.  It was a stark reminder that no matter how much fun festivals may be, they’ll never be a replacement for seeing a band at a small music venue — one of the major advantages of loving indie music.

* * *

A couple shows tonight…

Midwest Dilemma opens for Nashville’s Great Peacock tonight at Slowdown Jr. $8, 8 p.m.

And indie/emo band Super Ghost headlines New Music Monday at The Waiting Room tonight. Also on the bill are Bill Riccetti and Like Noise But Louder. The free show starts at 8 p.m.

* * *

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 © 2015 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

SXSW written recap/reviews Pt. 1 (White Mystery, Twin Shadow, Dotan, Speedy Ortiz); Mynabirds, Orenda Fink, Miniature Horse tonight…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , — @ 1:54 pm March 24, 2015

Speedy Ortiz was the highlight of my Day 1 at SXSW 2015.

Speedy Ortiz was the highlight of my Day 1 at SXSW 2015.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

For those tired of the South By Southwest coverage, bear with me for the next few days as I get through these notes and reviews of each day’s activity. I’m putting them down for posterity and for the record. Writing this is kind of like living the trip all over again, for me anyway.

The first thing one does at SXSW after getting his credentials in order is hit the streets. I arrived late Wednesday afternoon and was on Red River (which abuts 6th Street on the east side) by 5 p.m., which meant an entire evening of music lie ahead. There’s a sense of disorientation when you first arrive — the air is different, it’s humid, it’s warm. That hoodie you brought is no longer needed. Hipsters zing by on bicycles, hucksters are on every corner selling their wares, and everywhere you go there is the deep, pungent stench of weed in the air. Despite the presence of cops, people light up blunts and pass them around in public as if we were in Colorado with no fear of Johnny Law. Too bad I don’t partake in the demon weed as it no doubt changes the complexion of SXSW for those who do.

Anyway, by the time we got to 6th Street we could already hear White Mystery playing on the Beerland patio to a small crowd that tumbled off the sidewalk and into the street. Beerland is an unofficial SXSW venue that hosts its own free day-shows. It is ground zero for garage and punk bands no matter the time of year, and a good place to hang when you’ve grown tired of SXSW’s unending commercialism.

Despite the small PA on the patio, White Mystery sounded as good as when I saw them a few weeks ago at Reverb. The band is a brother-and-sister guitar-and-drum duo that plays gritty, bluesy garage rock reminiscent of another famous guitar-and-drum duo that had “white” in its name.

Next it was off to a warehouse that had been converted into a venue called Iron Castle. There are lots of these conversions along 6th Street during SXSW. Anyplace can become a music venue if you add lights and sound. Only one performer was being featured that night — Twin Shadow. Their staging involved large see-through nylon curtains draped around the triangular stage platform that had images projected onto them. You could sort of see the band’s equipment behind the scrims. I figured someone would pull back the curtain once Twin Shadow took the stage. Nope. The band played behind the opaque mosquito netting — an effect that was more frustrating than innovative.

Twin Shadow plays a bouncy ’80s style of synthpop rife with infectious hooks. This set was no different, though the new music from upcoming release Eclipse wasn’t much of a departure from 2012’s Confess.

Let me note here that SXSW’s history of rigidly following set schedules was nowhere to be seen at this year’s event. Twin Shadow came on 40 minutes late — that meant having to endure 40 minutes of grating house music while I waited.

Onward. Cedar Street Courtyard is located a few blocks off 6th Street in a space between two grand buildings, sort of like the Passageway Gallery in the Old Market. I went to see Speedy Ortiz but (surprise) everything was running off schedule. Instead, I saw a set by Dutch singer-songwriter Dotan and his band. Their sound is mainstream ethnic, the kind of music that would be right at home as the soundtrack for an insurance commercial. Very pretty, very well done. Very safe.

Dotan was a strange opener for Speedy Ortiz (who, in turn, was a strange opener for Spoon, who was scheduled to follow them). The Massachusetts band has played a couple times in Omaha, including at West Wing (and I think Sweatshop Gallery), and I’ve managed to miss them every time. Fronted by Sadie Dupuis, the band plays down-key indie rock reminiscent of Eleanor Freidberger. Great stuff and the best set of the night for me. Spoon was originally scheduled to go on at around 1 but it would be well past that before they got the bands switched out and the sound check out of the way. The courtyard already was well past capacity. There’s nothing quite like standing sandwiched between an enormous crowd and a brick wall unable to move. Spoon would have to wait.

Listen to highlights of Day 1 at SXSW 2015:

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Tomorrow: Day 2, which includes the Saddle Creek SXSW showcase. Two acts that played that showcase are playing tonight at O’Leaver’s — Orenda Fink and Laura Burhenn of The Mynabirds. It’ll be just like being in Austin all over again. Opening is the amazing Miniature Horse. $5, 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 © 2015 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

Speedy Ortiz, Digital Leather, Dereck Higgins, Old Bones tonight; Gardenheads Saturday…

Category: Blog — Tags: , , , — @ 1:35 pm March 21, 2014

The Gardenheads play O'Leaver's Saturday night.

The Gardenheads play O’Leaver’s Saturday night.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Tonight’s show at The Sweatshop Gallery features three bands that just played at South By Southwest. Headliner Speedy Ortiz is coming off a big splash with last year’s Major Arcana (2013, Carpark) and brand new EP Real Hair (Carpark). They must have played a dozen times in Austin last week, and I missed every performance. No strangers to Omaha, they usually play at the Farman St. house. Opening is Digital Leather returning from their own SXSW tour along with Boston band Pile. This $10 show should be a mob scene. Starts at 9.

Also tonight, Dereck Higgins celebrates the release of his new self-released album, Flyover, at the Carver Bank. The album’s music was written for or inspired by Jim Fields’ feature motion picture Flyover Country. Also performing is singer/songwriter Greg Hand. The show starts at 7 at Carver Bank, 2416 Lake Street. More info here.

Meanwhile, local hardcore supergroup Old Bones (ex-Split Second, 8th Wave, Race for Titles) is headlining tonight at fabulous O’Leavers. Timecat and Goon Saloon also are on the bill. $5, 9:30 p.m.

Tomorrow night (Saturday) O’Leaver’s hosts Springfield, Missouri band The Gardenheads. You first read about them here, where I described their most recent album, Growing Season, this way: “Maybe it was because I’d just seen the Big Star movie, Nothing Can Hurt Me, but the band’s music recalled Chilton, Bell and Co. The Beatles also came to mind, as did Matthew Sweet and The dBs and Wilco and the finer pop moments from the Titan! label.

Yeah, I like their record. Check it out in its entirety below (skip to track 1). I saw them play to six people at Barley Street Tavern last year. Let’s see what they can bring to O’Leaver’s Saturday night. Headlining is Those Far Out Arrows. John Larsen also is on the bill. $5, 9:30 p.m.

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By the way, Bank of the West announced this year’s “Independence Day” Memorial Park concert line-up. It’s a real “must-miss” event with Blues Traveler, Sugar Ray, Uncle Kracker and Smash Mouth. Really, really bad. Book your travel out of the Dundee area June 27.

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Uh, 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 © 2014 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i

Brain Drain or Brain Gain? (In the column); Speedy Ortiz returns 3/21; acoustic King Buzzo, Gerald Lee Lr. and Miley tonight…

Category: Blog,Column — Tags: , , , — @ 2:02 pm March 6, 2014

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

In this week’s column, I contemplate the spate of musicians who have flown the coop (Jenna Morrison, Laura Burhenn, Kasher, etc.) and ask if the recent creative “brain drain” is a trend we should be concerned about. The column is in this week’s issue of The Reader or online right here.

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Just noticed (via itsadigitalworld blog) that Speedy Ortiz has been booked to play Sweatshop Gallery March 21 with Digital Leather and Pile. I mention this because SO’s 2013 album, Major Arcana, was nothing less than amazing, and her new EP, Real Hair, is equally sublime. I can’t miss them this time…

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King Buzzo tour poster

King Buzzo tour poster

Roger “Buzz” Osborne a.k.a. King Buzzo is headlining tonight at The Waiting Room with Filter Kings’ frontman Gerald Lee, Jr. opening. For those of you who may not have grown up with their delicious noise, Buzzo is a member of seminal ’80s punk band Melvins, who have been credited as germinating a style of punk that evolved (or devolved, depending on your point of view) into ’90s grunge. Melvins put out a new album late last year that also featured original members Dale Crover and Mike Dillard called Tres Cabrones.

Tonight’s Buzzo show will be a change of pace as he’s out on the road supporting his new acoustic solo EP This Machine Kills Artists. This review from mxdwn.com of a recent King Buzzo show will give you a taste of what you’re in for tonight: 

“Headliner King Buzzo did a mix of classic material from The Melvins’ back catalog and newer material from his upcoming, as-yet-untitled, all-acoustic album coming out this summer. True to form and reputation—see some of his appearances on Fox News’ Red Eye—Buzzo is a total card, cracking jokes at every possible turn. ‘Suicide in Progress’ and Stag’s ‘Captain Pungent’ both show the musical finesse The Melvins material is famous for, and because the songs are being rendered for the first time without drums or bass, how crucial Dale Crover’s drumming is to each track’s arrangement. On ‘Captain Pungent’ numerous crowd members take to singing the drum fills while Buzzo is silently counting the absent spaces to keep in time.”

Sounds like a riot. $13, 9 p.m.

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And then there’s Miley Cyrus tonight at The CLink. Driving into work this morning, I saw her fleet of tour busses — at least a half dozen — parked along the south side of the DoubleTree, along Capitol Ave. I looked but didn’t see Miley getting out of one of the rigs.

The controversy over her live show is… amusing. Maybe people make a big deal about her crotch-grab antics because she comes from the Disney cabal, I don’t know. She’s not doing anything that Madonna didn’t do two decades ago. Back then, people were up in arms about ol’ cone-tits and MTV and yes, there was a sense that pop music had died a little with every vogue, becoming that much more marginalized.

These days Madonna’s core discography is respected more than it was back then, if only for the sheer production value. Madonna had (has) a shitty voice, but it was pure gold compared to Britney’s ear-bleeding caw. Miley’s voice is a step up from her Disney sister, but it’s still pretty bad, while her music is as equally trite. In the end it doesn’t matter. The kids who are headed to Miley tonight are going for the foam-fingered spectacle, not the music. Let them have their fun…

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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 © 2014 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Lazy-i