Above, just a snippet of one of my inboxes. No critic could ever listen to all the music that's sent to him on a given day.

Column 345: Brother, Can You Spare Five Minutes?

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

You see, it’s all about time.

It was about three-quarters through Thao and the Get Down Stay Down’s set Sunday night at The Waiting Room, only about an hour or so before The Head and the Heart would take the stage, that I began to wonder how a crowd this size — a sold-out crowd — had heard of the bands playing on the night’s bill.

It isn’t as if local radio plays music by bands like The Head and the Heart. We don’t have a radio station in our market that plays good new modern music in regular rotation, and never have. There’s no reason to belabor the point. Omaha’s lack of decent radio has been a topic that’s been mulled to death; it ain’t exactly fresh column fodder.

Bad radio. We all know this. Moving on.

So if you didn’t hear The Head and the Heart broadcast to your car radio or home hi-fi unit, how’d you discover The Head and the Heart? The simple answers are the easiest, and usually wrong. There’s satellite radio, good ol’ Sirius XMU. My little Mini isn’t equipped with a satellite deck, so I have no idea if HatH is played on XMU, but even if it is/was, it wouldn’t account for a mob this size.

Could the crowd have been called to The Waiting Room by the Pied Piper we call the local press? Well, as much as my fellow writers would like to take credit for it, the answer is flat-out “no.” No amount of press in any of the local rags or blogs has been able to generate a crowd at a local show. People who read about bands featured in The Reader or the Omaha World-Herald or whatever electronic or pulp-derived reading material that litters the streets or the internet already know who the band is or they wouldn’t be reading about it.

Which brings us to record reviews, and music criticism in general. Lately the idea has edged into my mind that music criticism is becoming more useless as the technology gets better and music becomes more available and affordable. I began writing about music while in college at UNO for one reason: To get free CDs. I cannot begin to tell you the thrill I felt when a box arrived post marked from Lawrence, Kansas, from The Note, a regional music magazine that I wrote for back in the early ’90s. It usually weighed a few pounds, was the size of a record album but about three inches thick, wrapped in carton tape and marked in big letters FRAGILE. CONTAINS MUSIC.

Inside was a treasure trove of albums, singles and CDs from a variety of labels culled together by some intern and shipped for my ears to embrace. Yes, The Note paid me, but I already had a good job. The contents of that hand-made cardboard box was why I was doing it.

Now, a hundred years later, The Note is a distant memory, along with those care packages from Lawrence. Shortly after Lazy-i.com went online in ’98, manila envelopes filled with music began arriving at my house. Stacks of them. Sent directly from record labels. Those, too, have dwindled. Nowadays, labels seeking pre-release “press” merely email a link that takes writers to a download site, allowing them to copy a digital file to their hard drive — not very romantic, but still a luxury. Now even those downloads are fading.

Services like Spotify have wrung all the magic from the audio top hat. No, Spotify is not free, but it’s cheap and everyone has access to it. In fact, everyone has access to everything.

The critic’s role used to be to convince you to lay down your hard-earned cash on the gamble of buying a record sight unseen… or unheard. Now our job is merely to get you to listen. Just listen. If you’ve got Spotify or any of the other services, you’ve already paid for the music. But having access to all the music in the world doesn’t give you the time it takes to listen to it.

Look, I could write 900 words right now telling you how Eleanor Friedberger’s new album, Last Summer, is the best thing I’ve discovered this year — a kicky, hooky, roll-in-the-audio-hay hit factory, some of the best song writing you’ll ever hear. All in an effort to get you to type her name into Spotify or Rdio or Rhapsody or browse to her SoundlCloud site or even seek her out on Media Fire. No one said anything about buying her record. All it would take is just five minutes of your time.

These days when a local band contacts me about their new record, they always include a link to a SoundCloud or download site, along with a pitch letter that says, “Please, please, please just take five minutes and listen.”

There’s only one problem — no one has the time to listen to all the music being thrust at them from every corner of the internet. So while more music is being created by more bands available to more people than any time in the history of recorded music, no one is listening.

It’s all about time. Time is now the commodity. If you don’t spend the time to listen to the music, you’ll never hear it. And if you don’t hear it, you’ll never love it. And if you never love it, you’ll never show up on a Sunday night at The Waiting Room and PAY to see it performed live, right in front of your eyes.

That’s where we are now. That’s where technology has led us. The biggest entertainment decision we make is how we invest our time. Because time is always running out.

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I have not spoken to Matt Bowen since his operation; I don’t know the grisly details behind his condition. I can tell you that everyone of any consequence in the Omaha music scene was and is concerned about him. If you don’t know Bowen, well, you’re worse off than he is. More than a DJ and a bartender, he’s one of the founding fathers of the current Omaha music scene, a member of a number of important early Saddle Creek-related bands including Commander Venus, The Faint, Magic Kiss (which turned into Tilly and the Wall), Race for Titles and, of course, current project, The Third Men. Translated: Matt Bowen is a National Treasure.

And according to the One Percent Productions website, Matt Bowen also is “no longer a person with a full colon.”  Or, for that matter, a full bank account, as ongoing medical procedures has also meant stacks of medical bills. Which is where tonight’s benefit event comes in. Swing by The Waiting Room anytime past 8 p.m. and enjoy some fine spinning by DJ Kobrakyle (and DJ Matt Bowen himself). Take part in the raffle and silent auction. There is no cover but a donation to the Bowen fund is encouraged. So come on down and bring your wallet or our check book and help a brother out.

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Also tonight, Landing on the Moon headlines a show at fabulous O’Leaver’s with The Photo Atlas and New Lungs. Whoa! $5, 9:30 p.m.

And Fierce Bad Rabbit is playing at The Barley Street with Travelling Mercies and Fools. $5, 9 p.m.

And Lincoln Calling is going on strong. Among the highlights is UUVVWWZ and Conduits at The Bourbon Street. Check out the Lincoln Calling website for the full schedule and other details.

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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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Head and the Heart at The Waiting Room, Oct. 9, 2011.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

If last night’s sold out The Head and the Heart show at The Waiting Room taught us anything, it’s that in this age of endless “vibe” bands, people are thirsting for songs that they can sing to.

I mean, seriously, who wants to sing along to Animal Collective or Toro Y Moi or Neon Indian or Girls or Grizzly Bear or even St. Vincent? The current wave of indie is more about setting a mood than songwriting. So when a band like The Head and the Heart comes along and creates simple songs with simple lyrics about simple things like love and loss and longing — all sung to super catchy choruses and refrains — well, people just can’t help themselves but join in. And that’s exactly what they did during last night’s show.

The six-piece band was joined by a chorus of a few hundred who sang along to almost every song, sounding like a warm ocean lapping gently on the shores of the band’s acoustic folk. I haven’t heard so much singing since Dashboard Confessional circa 2003, only these songs weren’t cheesy heartbreak anthems sung by children. Instead the crowd was mostly in their mid-20s, with more women mixed in than I’m used to seeing at typical indie rock shows. Credit the nature of their music, which is more soothing than rousing, though it had its moments of exultation.

I leaned over and asked one music pro in the crowd if this was the coming of the next Arcade Fire. He said more like the next Mumford and Sons. I think they meet somewhere in between, with enough modern touches to please Arcade fans, and those song-along choruses for the Mumford crowd (but, thankfully, without the brogue and side order of Gouda). Where they go next is anyone’s guess, but who knows what happens after they perform on Letterman Oct. 28.

By the way, word going ’round last night before the show was that the band had a little meltdown the night before in Minneapolis, where one of the guitarists/vocalists walked off stage in anger, forcing the band to finish without him. Maybe last night was a “healing set” for them.

Fizzle Like a Flood at The Barley Street Tavern, 10/8/11.

I said last week that we wouldn’t be hearing my favorite song from the new Fizzle Like a Flood record, “Cutters,” performed at the CD release show as it was recorded. And I was right. Instead, we got a Pixies version of “Cutters” played by Doug Kabourek’s other band, At Land. As much as I enjoyed hearing acoustic Fizzle Like a Flood, the revved up and rocking version was more fun.

When he’s out there with just his guitar, Kabourek channels John Darnielle a.k.a. The Mountain Goats, though Doug’s songs are less story telling and more emoting from the heart. When he’s behind the drum set with At Land, Kabourek pushes the songs closer to territory heard on records, though nothing can compare to those multi-tracked marvels. Despite that, my favorite moment of Friday night’s CD release show, played to only about 20 people at The Barley Street, was Doug solo singing “Believe in Being Barefoot” from his watershed release, Golden Sand and the Grandstand, an album that has still yet to get its due.

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It’s going to be a very tiring week for yours truly and anyone else who loves going to rock shows. It started last night, it continues tonight with Melt Banana at The Waiting Room with openers InDreama and Flesh Eating Skin Disease. $12, 9 p.m.

Then it’s Smashing Pumpkins tomorrow, Portugal. The Man Wednesday, The Matt Bowen Benefit Thursday, and MEN (members of Le Tigre) on Friday. I’m going to need an IV drip to make it through work this week…

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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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Iron & Wine at Slowdown, June 5, 2011

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Where’s the Bright Eyes review? It’ll be online and in print Thursday.

Now what about last night? The best thing you can say about any opening band’s performance — especially a band whose material you’ve never heard before — is that it made you want to seek out and acquire some of their recordings. That was the case for The Head and the Heart, who opened for Iron & Wine at a sold-out big room show at Slowdown last night.

The Head and the Heart at Slowdown, 6/5/11.

I went in knowing next to nothing about the band and left wanting to hear more. At first blush, they seemed like your run-of-the-mill indie folk act complete with a neck-bearded frontman. But as their set rolled on, it was obvious that there was more to them. Big-hook melodies, gorgeous sing-along harmonies and dense instrumentation. Think of Okkervil River combined with Beach House and The Decemberists and you’re getting there. All the vocalists were good, but it’s the contrast of violinist/vocalist Charity Rose Thielen that added the real dimension. They closed with a song that ended with layered, multi-part harmonies. And the crowd went nuts. Where is it written that openers can’t do encores?

Looking all formal and Zack Galifianakis-like in his intimidating dark suit, Iron & Wine frontman Sam Beam took charge of a huge ensemble that included a small woodwind/brass section, turning the Slowdown into his own private lounge. The smoky opening number made me think of an indie-version of yacht rock, but Beam took it into more swampy territory for a set that pulled together old and new into something altogether different. With two women back-up singers, the harmonies at times reminded me of ’60s CSNY folk, while other songs found a groove that Beam and his band stretched out over for five or 10 minutes without getting boring. With his wry asides and clever smile, you can tell this guy doesn’t take it too seriously, and that relaxed nature made it all sound perfect. This could go down as a top-10 show for ’11.

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According to One Percent, the Langhorne Slim show slated for tonight at TWR had been cancelled due to illnesses.

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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 © 2011 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.