by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Ugh, there’s not a lot of music news to pass along, and the few things I do have you probably already know or heard, but this being Friday and the space where I usually recommend live shows for the weekend, I feel obligated to pass along something.

Despite the lockdown I continue to get 30 to 40 emails a day from promoters and labels about new music. It continues to keep coming, god bless it, even though there’s nowhere for these bands to play these days. If I were a band I’d probably postpone my release, however the other argument is that you’ll never have such a captive audience as the ones stranded in their homes for the next month or so (that’s right, I have doomed us all to quarantine until at least May 10 (if we’re lucky)).

Supermoon, Half Country (2020, Bandcamp)

Among the music to cross my screen is the new lyric video for Supermoon’s “Come to Learn,” which dropped last Tuesday. Supermoon is a project featuring Jake Bellows, who you remember not only as a one-man songwriting phenomenon but also frontman to Saddle Creek Records act Neva Dinova. Singing alongside Jake and making up the better half of the duo is Morgan Nagler of Whispertown. This campfire lullaby begs you to sing along, too.

And thus, the entire album was released: “The debut album ‘Half Country’ was recorded to half-inch tape and produced by Nik Freitas, who also contributed on drums, bass, and keys. In the surreal soup of the Covid-19 Pandemic wild west, the band has decided to release the album April 7, 2020’s biggest Supermoon, (the Pink Supermoon) in the hopes of shining a little light in the dark.”

Here it is, via Bandcamp.

It would be great to get these two and Mr. Freitas came to Omaha after the cloud of contaminants has lifted.

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I’ve been consuming in 30- to 40-minute chunks the 4-hour Henry Rollins podcast via KCRW called Cool Quarantine. It’s Henry playing records (lots of hardcore punk but also rock and other stuff) and telling stories and I love the format, but it’s hard to have on while you’re trying to do something (other than drive or run or work out) because it’s so distracting. Check it out below.

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Speaking of online content, Phoebe Bridgers is doing some sort of livestream via Pitchfork’s Instagram today (Friday) at 3 p.m. CT. She dropped a new video last and has a new record coming out soon.

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As you may or may not know, the Mars Bar located way out in West Omaha closed its doors for good weeks before COVID struck and shut down everyone else. Despite the setback, proprietor Brent Malnack hasn’t lost his love for live music, and thus created Live from Mars House, a new live stream performance program that debuts tonight at 7 p.m. via Twitch.

Brent is promising a three-camera shoot with a 24-track live mix. The first guests are N8 M Sic and Sarah Brandt, two musicians I’m not familiar with. That said, Malnack said future guests will include a lot of past performers at Mars Bar. Here’s the link. https://www.twitch.tv/livefrommarshouse

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Let me leave you with something I’ve been listening to for the past few weeks. It’s the new album by Lewsberg called In This House (12XU Records). Think Lou Reed meets Silver Jews meets your favorite Rotterdam deli. As good a soundtrack as any for these times we live in.

That’s all I got. If you hear anything worth passing along, send it my way. 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.

Big Nope is a new project from See Through Dresses drummer Nate Van Fleet.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Work kept me from the clubs this weekend, but I hope y’all had a grand time without me. Why do I miss all the fun?

A couple new bands cropped up via social media in the past few days.

Big Nope is a new project by See Through Dresses drummer Nate Van Fleet. Nate’s taking the frontman position this time handling guitars and vocals, with Liv Baxter also on guitar, Aaron Lee on bass and Zachary Roland on drums.

The band has a two-song single on Bandcamp: “Never Going Outside” b/w “Grass is Greener,” recorded at Little Machine by Van Fleet and Matthew Carroll (also of See Through Dresses), mixed by studio wizard Ben Brodin at Hand Branch.

The tune is upbeat indie pop that kind of reminds me of Thin Lizzy, I guess because of Van Fleet’s vocal phrasing on the A-side more than anything (and the arrangement). The B-side is more traditional indie. Pretty cool! Can’t wait to see them live.

I just saw Van Fleet play drums in Las Cruxes. See Through Dresses is also gearing up, and now this. What else can he pull out of his hat? Check out the single at their bandcamp page:

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Another new one is Blondo, a project by Lincoln’s Alex Malnack. This is straight-up emo-pop a la The Get Up Kids or Saves the Day, very pop-punk. On the debut 6-song EP, Heritage, Malnack plays everything but the drums, which are handled by Salt Creek’s Nate Skinner. Malnack is currently filling out his roster to play these tracks live.

This one came to my attention via Alex’s pop, Brent Malnack, the proprietor of Mars Bar and Grill, the West Omaha brew pub / performance space formerly known as Growler USA. Brent went out on his own (Growler was a chain) because he said the Growler folks weren’t down with his continued music focus for the club.

That being the case, Malnack is eagerly looking for bands to play Mars. Hit him up at the bar’s Facebook page. Tap into that unexplored West Omaha music market.

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Unexplained Death is back, this time taking aim at Mitch McConnell. Check it below via Spotify. We’re all still waiting for Whipkey and Co. to make their stage debut…

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Tonight at The Trap Room (located just north of The Slowdown), Supermoon is playing a free show. Supermoon is Omaha ex-pat / legend Jake Bellows (Neva Dinova) and members of Whispertown. 8 p.m. and free!

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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.