Anonymous American  at Slowdown Jr., Nov. 30, 2011. The band reunites tonight at The Barley Street Tavern.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Feels like a Saturday, doesn’t it? The holidays will do that to you, especially if you have the day off.

Lots o’ shows going on this weekend. Let’s get right to it…

Expect a nutso crowd at The Brothers Lounge tonight for a reunion of Capgun Coup. Today as in 2004 when the band first got rolling, Sam Martin, Greg Elsasser and the rest of the crew were/are on the verge of something. Find out what that “something” is tonight. Joining them is hip-hop crew M34N STR33T. $5, 9 p.m.

Listen to “Bad Bands” from Capgun Coup’s Maudlin (Team Love, 2009), below:

Also tonight at brand new all-ages rock venue Milk Run there’s a three-band bill featuring Lincoln band Domestica — consider it a christening of the club as only Jon and Heidi can. Also on the bill are The Morbs (Lincoln indie-pop trio featuring members of Manic Pixie Dream Girls) and Relax, It’s Science (Jeremy Stanosheck and Co.). $5, 9 p.m.

Read more about Milk Run in my detailed interview with the club’s proprietors, Chris Aponick and Sam Parker, and watch this interview from Hear Nebraska.

Speaking of reunions, Matt Whipkey and the boys of Anonymous American reunite at The Barley Street Tavern tonight. The band, which also features Wayne Brekke, Bobby Carrig and Corey Weber, hit its stride with the 2004 self-release of When the Drummer Counts to Four. Opening is Travelling Mercies. $5, 9 p.m.

Tomorrow night is all about The Good Life at The Slowdown main room. Consider it a victory lap for the band whose been touring on and off since the release of Everybody’s Coming Down (Saddle Creek, 2015) this past August. Read about the record here. It’s a star-studded bill with the return of Big Harp, whose new cassette Waveless (Majestic Litter, 2015) is a career high-water mark. If that wasn’t enough to get you to Slowdown, the hottest Omaha band of 2015, High Up, opens. $13, 9 p.m.

Also going on Saturday night, Ocean Black (the band formerly known as Nightbird) headlines at O’Leaver’s. Joining them are Laughing Falcon and Montee Men (Matt Baum and Co.). $6, 9:30 p.m.

And John Klemmensen and the Party headlines at Lookout Lounge, 320 So. 72nd Street. Also on the bill are Anthems, Low Long Signal and Super Ghost. $5, 9 p.m.

Consider Sunday a day of rest.

That’s what I got for this weekend. If I missed your show, put it in the comments section. Have a frosty 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 © 2015 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

The Pitchfork review for The Good Life’s new album, Everybody’s Coming Down went online today. The album scored a lowly rating of 4.4. The review compares the record mostly against past Kasher material rather than considering it on its own merits. That, of course, is the writer’s prerogative, and the obvious past-time for any critic who has been following Kasher’s work throughout his career.

Needless to say, he didn’t like the record, as he concludes:

But whether it’s Cursive or Good Life or Tim Kasher, it’s all sitcom at this point, his version of “Mulaney” or “Mr. Robinson”—a barely fictionalized, deadened version of his own life starring him. Or, ‘Shit Tim Says”.

I had to Google “Mulaney” and “Mr. Robinson” to figure out what he was talking about. I guess someone watches those teevee shows after all. Consider that when you read the review, here.

The record has been scoring better reviews from other sites as a whole. Consequences of Sound gave the record a “B,” concluding: “In a word, it’s a human album. Kasher doesn’t pretend to make sense of all the things he sings about. But in the act of trying not to ignore life’s absurd anomalies, to make as much sense as any one person can, he finds solace.” Read that review here.

While that old standby All Music gave it 3.5 stars (here), saying “Everybody’s Coming Down is ultimately engaging if meandering, and at its heart — whatever the style — is memorable, energized songwriting.”

And Exclaim gave the album an impressive 8 out of 10 (here), saying, “Everybody’s Coming Down feels both focused and purposeful, something not all albums can lay claim to after a band’s nearly decade-long absence.”

My take: It rocks. Check it out for yourself.

* * *

The Fat Wreck Chords tour rolls into town tonight at The Slowdown (in the big room). On the bill: Lagwagon, Strung Out, Swingin’ Utters, The Flatliners, toyGuitar and Bad Cop/Bad Cop. That’s a ton of punk for $25. Show starts at 7.

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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.

Speedy Ortiz at SXSW, March 18, 2015. The band plays at The Maha Music Festival Aug. 15.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Maybe it’s because Maha is Saturday, but it’s a dead week show-wise. I mean nothing’s going on (unless there’s a show under the radar  I don’t know about (which is very possible)).

That lack of shows allows you to scratch together $50 for your Maha ticket. I’ve had three people in the past three days contact me via the internet asking what the Maha set schedule is — three people who apparently don’t know how to use the internet, because the Maha set schedule has been at mahamusicfestival.com for weeks now.

So for those lazy few unwilling to click the above link and scroll down, here’s this year’s Maha Music Festival set schedule:

Noon        Gates Open
12:00    BOTH
12:40    FREAKABOUT
1:15    Ex Hex
2:05    Alvvays
2:55    The Jayhawks
4:00    All Young Girls Are Machine Guns
4:35    Vintage Paisley (Omaha Girls Rock)
4:50    Wavves
5:55    Speedy Ortiz
6:50    Atmosphere
8:00    The Good Life
9:00    Purity Ring
10:20    Modest Mouse
Midnight Show Over – See you in 2016!

I’m told there may be a secret “special guest” joining The Jayhawks, whose set is pretty early in the day. In fact, my favorite band of the festival — Alvvays — plays right before The Jayhawks at 2:05 p.m., and indie darling Ex-Hex is right before that. At first blush you might say, “I would have scheduled both those bands later in the day,” but perhaps Maha has finally taken my advice and scheduled a couple quality national bands early in an effort to get people to Stinson Park earlier in the day. Now let’s hope the heat index is somewhere below 100 degrees.

Maha today sent out a press release that lists this year’s food and booze vendors. Not a bad selection (though I would have loved to see LaCasa on the list):

To Eat: Big Daddy’s Donuts, Country Sno, Hy-Vee, Jones Bros, Kebobs Gyros and Brats, Mangia Italiana, and Voodoo Taco. For VIP only: Kitchen Table and Dante Pizzeria.

To Drink: Boulevard Brewing Company (hopefully the beer backpack dudes will be back), Pabst Blue Ribbon, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Mike’s Palm Breeze Ruby Red, Angry Orchard, Red Bull, Coors Light, Pepsi Products (boo! Where’s my Dr. Pepper?) and that old favorite Mixed Cocktail.

* * *

The Good Life have a prime slot at Maha, going on at 8 p.m. The band’s new album, Everybody’s Coming Down, is being streamed in its entirety at Stereogum (but actually on YouTube, below). Listen to the whole damn thing prior to its Aug. 14 drop date and read about the album in my interview with the band.

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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.

The Good Life are back in the saddle again…

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

My feature story/interview with members of The Good Life for The Reader is on newsstands now and online right here. The band talks about their return, their new record (and what it means) and where the band fits in today’s music.

From the article:

He pointed to a number of Omaha bands influenced by ’90s rock, such as Noah’s Ark Was a Spaceship and See Through Dresses. The difference between The Good Life playing “120-Minutes-style” alternative rock versus those bands, Kasher said, is “we’re actually from that era.”

Read the rest here. Everybody’s Coming Down really is a great album and a departure for the band. As described in the article, there’s virtually no acoustic instruments on this record. It rocks more than any past Good Life record and as much as any Cursive album, though it’s not nearly as abrasive. Favorite tracks are “The Troubadour’s Green Room,” “Everybody,” “Holy Shit” and closer “Midnight Is Upon Us,” but it’s all good, and in some ways, more cohesive than a typical “concept album.” Read about it.

BTW, The Good Life kicks off their international tour at this year’s Maha Music Festival Aug. 15. Tickets are still available (for now). Kasher chimes in on Maha in my Over the Edge column in this month’s Reader. Look for it on newsstands, or wait ’til the column goes on line later this week…

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Holly Miranda returns to Omaha tonight, this time to The Slowdown. I interviewed Miranda (via email) five years ago in support of a show at The Waiting Room. The inspirational line from that story:

…Miranda did say how much success in the music business depends on talent and how much depends on lucky breaks and Kanye flukes. “You’ll need a LOT of both, and a strong sense of self,” she replied. “If you don’t know who you are in this industry, someone else is going to tell you who you are and they probably won’t get it quite right.”

No kidding. Read the rest of story from March 2010 here. Toronto’s Marnie Herald opens. $10, 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 © 2015 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Desaparecidos rock the Holy Name Fieldhouse in April 2001. And they still don’t give a f***.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

I’ve been interviewing members of Desaperacidos since the band first formed way back in 2001. The guys have a new album called Payola, which came out on Epitaph last month, that just happens to be No. 14 in the College Music Journal top-20. With a show coming up Sept. 10 at The Waiting Room (which, btw, is bound to sell out, so if you want to go, you better get your $20 tix now), it would seem like an opportune moment to interview the band again.

However, I’m not sure what I’d ask the band that didn’t get covered in technicolor in this Noisey interview with Dan Ozzi that dropped today with the headline ‘Desaparecidos didn’t give a fuck back then and they don’t give a fuck now.’ In it, Conor Oberst and Matt Baum give candid, straightforward answers to questions that I probably would have asked, such as “Why did you go with Epitaph instead of Saddle Creek?” “What’s wrong with journalism these days?” and “Why has public opinion (in this case, Pitchfork) about Desa changed over the past 12 years?”

Perhaps the most controversial answer in the interview involves Saddle Creek:

You guys are so strongly associated with Saddle Creek. Why did you decide to go with Epitaph on this one?

Conor: Well, the Saddle Creek thing has been kind of unraveling for a long time. They’re still our friends, and I’ve definitely got no ill will. When the label started when we were all kids, it was very much a collective thing. I’m talking way back in like, ’93, ’94. The record label honestly started with me and our friend Ted Stevens, who plays in Cursive, and my brother Justin, and we started in my parents’ attic making Kinko’s copies of record sleeves. Anyway, the collective aspect sort of fell to the wayside and it became more of a regular business and certain peoples’ names ended up on the paperwork and other people’s didn’t and it… I don’t know. After years, it kind of soured a little bit and we happened to go our own way. I wish all of them the best, but we knew we weren’t gonna do it with them and we started talking about what label would make sense with our band, and what’s the label we respect, and can get it out there, and Epitaph was the very first one that…

OK, wow. There’s no question that Saddle Creek V.2015 is a lot different than Saddle Creek V.2001. The only artist from the label’s original “crown jewels” that’s stuck around is Cursive/Tim Kasher. Not sure what “certain peoples’ names ended up on the paperwork and other people’s didn’t…” means, but I can venture a guess, especially if things “soured a little bit…” Certainly Oberst and Co. didn’t go to Epitaph because it’s some sort of “collective” (’cause it ain’t).

Anyway, after I read this interview (and there have been countless others recently) I wondered what’s the point of pursuing an interview of my own? What could I ask that hasn’t already been asked? Just read these ones if you want to know what’s happening with the band.

That said, if anyone from the band wants some press in ol’ Lazy-i (and thereader.com), I’d love to shoot the shit with them…

BTW, Desaparecidos starts their next tour tomorrow in Indianapolis. Digital Leather opens that show along with the show the following night in St. Louis.

* * *

Speaking of crown jewels, here’s yet another new song off The Good Life’s upcoming album, Everybody’s Coming Down, out Aug. 14 on Saddle Creek Records.

* * *

We all know MarQ Manner, even some of you readers who don’t live in Omaha. MarQ is sort of the ex officio mayor of Benson and a strong supporter of bands that haunt Maple Street’s liquor corridor. While MarQ and I don’t always share the same taste in music, I pay attention when he goes ga-ga over anyone other than Prince (to which I’m already a fan). Kind of like he did with Sturgill Simpson.

I don’t follow country music, but I must say Simpson puts a modern face on a traditional approach to C&W that is hard to resist, even on first listen. Which is a round-about way of saying MarQ is right about this guy; he is special, and he’s playing tonight at Sokol Auditorium. So dust off your cowboy boots and scoot on down at 8, when opener Cody Jinks starts things off. Tix are $25.

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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.

TBT: Spoon’s Britt Daniel at Sokol Underground, April 19, 2001.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

With nothing else happening today (or tonight), here’s a little Throwback Thursday action, from the Lazy-i Wayback Machine, April 19, 2001. Looking forward to seeing The Good Life folks return to stage…

Live Review: Spoon/The Good Life

April 19, 2001

Sokol Underground, Omaha

There were two notable distractions the night of Spoon/The Good Life at Sokol.

Distraction No. 1 — Someone had “remodeled” the Underground since the last show I attended (only a few weeks earlier). Gone were all the rock posters from shows over the past 10 years or so. Gone were the band stickers and the markered graffiti. Gone was the flat-black paint job. All had been covered by cheesy faux-pine paneling, washed-out brown and grooved, hardly rock. I asked the promoter about the decor change, and he said it had been like that for a long time. It hadn’t, but he’s not one to notice the details.

Distraction No. 2 — the promoter decided to try a different sound system for tonight’s show. More streamlined and not as loud, I could actually listen in comfort with my earplugs kept cozy in my pocket. The promoter thought it actually sounded louder than the usual system (but he’s not one to notice details). Of the 200 who showed up, the ones I asked either gave the PA a thumbs-up or complained because they thought the drums sounded bad. You can’t please everyone. I thought it was the best sound the venue’s ever had.

Especially on The Good Life’s set. Tim Kasher’s Robert Smith-like vocals never sounded better, or maybe he’s been working on his annunciation, because I could understand every word he sang. They played a number of songs off their current Better Looking Records release (the dreamy Novena for a Nocturn), as well as a few what I assume were new songs that pretty much fit into TGL’s regular canon of moody, poppy indie songs of love and loss. The sound was remarkably full, thanks to a couple extra accompanists including a guy on accordion and woman (from Bright Eyes?) on keyboard. Vivid memory from the set: drummer Roger Lewis, sitting off the side of the drum riser, smoking a cigarette and looking almost forlorn while the drum machine provided the tick-tock accompaniment for one of the tracks.

The house lights were still up, the between-set music still on and people still getting beers, talking and generally mulling around when Spoon began playing their set. “Is he actually starting?” the guy next to me asked. We thought they were still tuning. But no, Britt Daniel had started playing what would be a string of intense rock songs, one after the other, with only the briefest of pauses between them.

Before the set, a guy I was talking with while standing by the entrance, trying to look inconspicuous amid the youngsters (I wasn’t alone — Spoon’s Daniel had also been skulking around during TGL’s set, sitting on the soundboard stage or leaning against a wall, chatting up the girls at the merch table, etc.), had said he came to see The Good Life and only knew about Spoon from what a friend had told him: That they sounded like The Pixies. I told him that their new CD Girls Can Tell, was actually much poppier, more Beatle-esque. As the set ran on, the guy must have thought I was an idiot or didn’t know who the Pixies were, because live, even those pop ditties from the new CD sounded Pixie-ish, certainly harder, faster and, well, modder than recorded. This four-piece version of Spoon were well-oiled and road hardened, tight as a unopened pickle-jar lid. Daniel and company sweated out almost the entire new album plus about a dozen “greatest hits” before leaving the stage, only to come back and do a 3-song encore — a rarity for any band at Sokol Underground.–April 19, 2001

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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.

The Good Life, Everybody’s Coming Down (Saddle Creek, 2015). Release date Aug. 14.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Lots to cover and virtually no time to do it. Here’s the bullet list:

The Good Life will release Everybody’s Coming Down — their fifth full-length album and first in eight years — on Aug 14 on  Saddle Creek. The band premiered the first track off the album, “Everybody,” yesterday.

From the press release:

Everybody’s Coming Down marks a vibrant sonic evolution for The Good Life. The album fully expresses the band perhaps more so than any previous release, combining and reflecting each member’s nature and strengths: drummer Roger L. Lewis’s love of classic rock, multi-instrumentalist Ryan Fox’s chaotic approach to melody, Stefanie Drootin-Senseney’s propulsive yet tuneful bass parts, and Tim Kasher’s deft, complementary song writing. Viscerally hitting songs like rollercoasting anthem “Everybody” and the boisterous “Holy Shit” sit alongside psychedelic-tinged rock like “Flotsam Locked Into A Groove” and the ambient, atmospheric “Diving Bell,” as well as The Good Life’s now-known lyrical, folk-indebted pop (“The Troubadour’s Green Room,” “Midnight Is Upon Us”). Lyrically, Everybody’s Coming Down is an engrossing, contemplative mix that touches on existential and cosmic queries, ruminations on regrets and self-worth, and the power of memory versus experience.

Everybody’s Coming Down was written mainly in late 2014, and The Good Life played a few shows that August, October and December to road-test some of the new songs. Recording began in January 2015 at Omaha’s ARC studios and finished in the quartet’s respective homes, which are scattered across the US: Chicago, IL (Kasher), Omaha, NE (Lewis), Los Angeles, CA (Drootin-Senseney), and Portland, OR (Fox). The band then traveled to Dallas, TX to mix with John Congleton (St. Vincent, Baroness, Angel Olsen, Cloud Nothings) at his Elmwood Recording. A full track listing and cover artwork are below.

As you already know, The Good Life are slated to play this year’s Maha Music Festival Aug. 15, which will be followed by a U.S. tour with Big Harp.

Will Kasher write a script for this album, too?

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Give to Lincoln day is happening today. And as with Omaha Gives, as a member of their Board, I beseech you Lincolnites to open your wallets for Hear Nebraska. One could argue (and more than a few have) that Hear Nebraska covers as much (or more) in Lincoln than it does in Omaha. In fact, I’ve heard one local musician refer to HN as Hear Lincoln. But seriously, I hear about more bands in Lincoln from hearnebraska.org than any other website. Help them keep it coming. Make your donations here.

* * *

Tampa indie band Merchandise (4AD Records) headlines at Slowdown Jr. tonight.  According to The Georgia Straight, the band’s 2014 album, After the End, was met with “universal acclaim, with critics and fans alike responding to its lush layers of chiming guitars and brooding melodies with comparisons to the Smiths, the Church, and Echo and the Bunnymen.” Indeed, despite its 4AD pedigree, the band has a surprisingly commercial sound. Opening the show is Cloakroom (Run for Cover Records) and local heroes Super Ghost. $10, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, Matt Whipkey and his band perform at Reverb Lounge with The Willards. It’s a warm-up show for his opening set tomorrow night for Dwight Yoakam at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. Tonight’s show is $7, 9 p.m.

Finally, singer/songwriter David Kenneth Nance plays a set tonight at Almost Music in Benson. Also on the bill are Itasca, Oath and The Full Slabs. $5, 9 p.m. More info 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 © 2015 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Check out the Good Life reissues…

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Saddle Creek is dipping into its rather enormous back catalog again, this time to dish out reissues of early Good Life and Maria Taylor albums. From the press release:

We are excited to announce that The Good Life’s first three LPs and two accompanying albums of demos will be issued on vinyl April 7. Novena on a Nocturn is available for the first time ever on vinyl, Black Out is back in print for the first time in over a decade, and Album of the Year has been expanded to 2xLP in gatefold packaging. Also available is the never-before released Novena on a Nocturn demos and the never before released on vinyl Album of the Year demos, both Saddle Creek Online Store exclusives.

Then there’s the Maria Taylor stuff:

On April 18 (a.k.a. Record Store Day) Maria Taylor’s first two solo records will be available for the first time ever on vinyl — 11:11 on opaque light blue vinyl, and Lynn Teeter Flower on transparent gold vinyl.

In addition, Cursive’s The Ugly Organ (Deluxe Edition) [Remastered] vinyl is back in stock. To order any or all of the above, go to the Saddle Creek online store.

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Did Big Harp jump the Saddle Creek Records ship? This today in Spin: “After two very good albums with Omaha-based Saddle Creek, (Big Harp has) moved to Fat Possum to release their newest single ‘It’s A Shame.” Check out the track below.

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Speaking of Saddle Creek ex-patriots, Two Gallants shared a new video for the track “Incidental” from the band’s fifth studio album We Are Undone, out now on ATO Records. Two Gallants is playing at Reverb April 22.

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Episode 3 of the Lazy-i Podcast went online this morning. The weekly recap includes a brief interview with Matthew Sweet, new music by Icky Blossoms, Simon Joyner and Bloodcow, info on the No Coast Music Festival and live reviews and recordings from last weekend’s Shy Boys and J Fernandez performances at Almost Music. Plus: The best shows happening this coming weekend. Check it out here.

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Tonight at The Waiting Room Doomtree returns to Omaha for the first time since their Maha Music Festival performance last summer. The band is touring behind their latest full-length, All Hands, out now on Doomtree Records. Opening is Busdriver & Transit. $15, 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.

The Good Life at The Slowdown, May 1, 2011. The band plays tonight at fabulous O’Leaver’s.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Expect another crazy night at fabulous O’Leaver’s as the club hosts The Good Life tonight playing new music from their upcoming album. In fact, the band enters the studio tomorrow to begin recording, so tonight’s show is sort of like the date leading to conception. Opening is the incomparable James Maakestad (Gus & Call, McCarthy Trenching). $5, 9:30 p.m.

O’Leaver’s is on a roll these days. Craig D, who books the club, shared their January schedule. Here are some of the highlights:

1/9- Clear the Day, The Sapwoods, Foxholes, Mitch Gettman
1/16- Bloodcow with Pro-Magnum and Nightbird
1/22- TIT and Worried Mothers
1/23- Handsome as Sin w/ The Toppings
1/24- Derby Birds, Shane Lamson (Brigadiers), All Young Girls are Machine Guns
1/30- Feel Tight with Christopher the Conquered
1/31- Lightning Bug w/ Fontenelle and Low Long Signal

Of particular note is the TIT show Jan. 22. TIT is Shawn Foree of Digital Leather and Bobby Hussy of The Hussy. Their debut album came out last month on FDH Records and is more of the electronic mayhem we’ve come to expect from these two. That Jan. 16 Bloodcow show should also be off the hook (as the kids used to say)…

* * *

I’ve been trying to find an online resource for upcoming releases. Not much out there, but I did stumble onto Consequences of Sound‘s “50 Most Anticipated Albums of 2015″ list, and found (sort of) what I was looking for, which is the more interesting indie releases in the coming months. Among them, new ones by Belle and Sebastian (1/20, Matador); The Decemberists (1/20, Capitol); Sleater-Kinney (1/20, Sub Pop); Ft. John Misty (2/10, Sub Pop); Will Butler (3/10, Merge) and Twin Shadow (3/17, Warners).

There are a handful of other interesting mentions on the list (The Wrens will have a new album out?), but as a whole, if this is all there is, we could be seeing the doldrums of the last quarter of ’14 continuing.

* * *

OK folks, today is the LAST DAY to enter into the drawing to get a copy of the coveted Lazy-i Best of 2014 Compilation CD — the 20th Anniversary edition of this timeless classic. The collection includes tracks by Angel Olsen, Alvvays, Run the Jewels, Brad Hoshaw and the Seven Deadies, The Lupines, Twin Peaks, Spoon, Strand of Oaks, Protomartyr and ton more, including a wild-card surprise track from the 1994 Best of Cassette (each CD has a different surprise track). The full track listing is here. Entering is super-easy: To enter, either: 1. Send an email with your mailing address to tim.mcmahan@gmail.com, or 2) Write a comment on one of my Lazy-i related posts in Facebook, or 3, Retweet a Lazy-i tweet. Hurry, contest deadline is MIDNIGHT TONIGHT!

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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.

It’s the 20th year for the annual Lazy-i comp. The cover reflects all the past years’ artwork.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

This year’s Lazy-i Best of… compilation CD marks the 20th year that these collections have been made. The collection is my favorite tracks from 2014 pressed on CDR for friends and family. To commemorate the 20th anniversary, Donovan Beery designed packaging that shows all the cassette and CD artwork used since 1994 (starting with the Alpo cover). In addition, every copy includes a different “1994 Surprise Track,” taken from the original 1994 comp tape.

Here’s the track listing:

1. Avant Gardner – Courtney Barnett

2. Do You – Spoon

3. J Smoov – Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks

4. Sun Kil Moon – Richard Ramirez Died Today of Natural Causes

5. Forgiven/Forgotten – Angel Olsen

6. Maria – The Lupines

7. Mirror of Time – Twin Peaks

8. Archie, Marry Me – Alvvays

9. You Are Now – The Trouble with Templeton

10. Bassically – Tei Shi

11. Money Rain Down – Big Black Delta

12. Lie, Cheat, Steal – Run the Jewels

13. Tarpeian Rock – Protomartyr

14. Evil Voices – The Faint

15. You Can’t Help Me Now – The Both

16. It Falls Apart – Brad Hoshaw & the Seven Deadlies

17. JM – Strand of Oaks

18 – Cruel Sexuality – Le Roux

19 – ’94 Surprise Track

Want a copy? Enter the drawing! I’m making it oh so easy this year. To enter either: 1. Send an email with your mailing address to tim.mcmahan@gmail.com, or 2) Write a comment on one of my Lazy-i related posts in Facebook, or 3, Retweet a Lazy-i tweet.

Hurry, contest deadline is midnight Jan. 6!

* * *

Well, you made it through another year, and as a reward this last weekend of 2014 happens to be one of the best weekends for rock shows.

It starts tonight with the big Cellophane Ceiling / Ritual Device show at The Waiting Room (read all about it here). As of this posting, $10 tickets were still available. If this doesn’t sell out, it’ll be darn close. Opening is Nightbird, who will be playing songs by Cactus Nerve Thang, another legacy band from the early 90s. It all starts at 9 p.m.

While that’s going on, just around the corner at Reverb Lounge Little Brazil headlines a show with Millions of Boys and Dumb Beach. $7, 9 p.m.

Down the street at the Barley Street Tavern Brad Hoshaw and the Seven Deadlies headlines tonight with Matt Whipkey and friends, John Klemmensen and The Party and Matt Cox. $5, 9 p.m.

And down at The Slowdown Satchel Grande holds court with special guest Buck Bowen. $8, 9 p.m.

Saturday night, The Good Life returns to The Waiting Room. This show has gotten very little hype, though it’s one of the bigger shows of the weekend. Joining Tim Kasher and Co. will be Big Harp and Oquoa. Expect another packed house. $13, 9 p.m.

Also Saturday night, Pyrate plays at fabulous O’Leaver’s with Chicago band The Howl. $5, 9:30 p.m.

And Brad Hoshaw opens for Two Drag Club and Civicminded Saturday night at Reverb Lounge. $7, 9 p.m.

Then comes Sunday and the first of two nights with The Faint at The Waiting Room. Sunday night’s show, with openers Sucettes and Ruby Block, is SOLD OUT. Show starts at early at 8 p.m. Tickets are still available for Monday night’s Faint show with openers Ramona and the Slimdudes & Feel Tight. $20, 8 p.m.

Also Sunday night, The Sweatshop Gallery is hosting a rock show with David Kenneth Nance & his band, Nathan Ma and the Rosettes, and Stomach. $5, 9 p.m.

Finally, Josh Hoyer and the Shadowboxers returns to The Slowdown Sunday night with All Young Girls Are Machine Guns. This is a super-early show, starts at 7 p.m. $8.

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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.