Eric in Outerspace at O’Leaver’s, Aug. 31, 2016.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

How is it, you ask, that I’m able to go out to a rock show during the busy work week? Well, instead of my annual trip to NYC, this year I’m enjoying a “stay-cation” right here in beautiful Omaha. So naturally I don’t have to get up at 5 a.m., which allows for late-night rock ‘n’ roll fun. Like last night’s show at O’Leaver’s.

Triathalon was on deck when I rolled in at around 10:30 to a very sparsely attended show. I’m talking fewer than 20 people were sitting around watching the Savannah four-piece play laid-back R&B-infused rock masquerading as baby-making music for nerdy indie types, all (or mostly sung) in a Beckian falsetto.

Triathalon at O’Leaver’s Aug. 31, 2016.

For the last tune, frontman Adam Intrator put down the guitar and provided some gnarly shoulder-rollin’ dance moves that got everyone smiling. Also smile-inducing was how he ended every song in the set with a spoken “Thank you.” Nothing wrong with good manners.

Local heroes Eric in Outerspace closed out the show after a lengthy set up as no one could figure out what was wrong with the stage monitors. After a lot of fiddling around, I don’t think it got figured. It didn’t matter to the audience, however, because we could hear the band loud and clear.

Despite apparently being under the weather (you couldn’t tell) frontman Sean Paul and company crushed a set of indie rock songs that stylistically recalled Pavement, Nirvana and assorted ’90s-era indie bands like Vitreous Humor and (I’m not sure why) a slowed down version of New Sweet Breath. There were times when Paul’s voice sounded a bit gravelly but that only added a weathered world-weary nuance.

Favorite songs included one about how much he hates summer and another that featured a grand-build all-hands-on-deck guitar-attack ending. I’m listening to the band’s Soundcloud tracks now and there ain’t a one that I don’t like (especially this one playing right now called “Trailing Away,” which I think was that grand-build song I just mentioned). Check them out when they play O’Leaversfest Sept 23 with Bien Fang and Flowers Forever (reunion?).

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Milk Run has another of its 4-band specials tonight. The headliner is Chicago act Dowsing (Asian Man Records). They call their sound “Chicago emo.” Yeek. Joining them is Diners, which calls their sound “Arizona desert bedroom pop,” and which seems to be an apt description. Laid-back groovy. Opening are locals Timecat and Bed Rest. $7, 9 p.m.

Also tonight, Brothers Lounge is hosting a deathmetal show with Horrendous, Flak and Manslaughterer. $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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

Sam Martin at O’Leaver’s Jan. 29, 2016. He opens for Triathalon tonight at O’Leaver’s.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

We all talk about influential records we owned growing up or when we were gaining our critical footing, figuring out what we like and don’t like (that is, if you were able to form your own opinions without being brainwashed by radio or television, which very few people are). One of those records for me was the original motion picture soundtrack to the film Athens, GA – Inside Out. I bought the record from a cut-out bin having never heard of the movie but recognizing a few of the bands listed on the album sleeve, specifically R.E.M. and Pylon.

It was through that record, which was released in 1987, that I was introduced to The Squalls, Flat Duo Jets, Love Tractor, Time Toy, Bar-B-Que Killers and The Kilkenny Cats. But what I enjoyed most about the record was that it was recorded live at venues throughout Athens. You got a snap-shot of what the scene must have been like during its short-lived hey-day.

Live at DBA, Start Your Own Fucking Show Space (2016, Famous Class)

Nearly 30 years later, along comes the three-record set called Start Your Own Fucking Show Space, Live at DBA — or as it was more affectionately known, Death By Audio, a warehouse space in Williamsburg founded in 2007 by Oliver Ackermann of the band A Place to Bury Strangers. DBA hosted more than 1,800 shows before it was evicted by Vice Media in November 2014, effectively ending an era. But before it ended, DBA hosted a month of shows whose recordings make up this album.

Omaha music fans will recognize a lot of the included artists because they’ve also played at places around town like O’Leaver’s, 1% Productions spaces, Sweatshop, house shows or DIY spaces. Among the bands are Parquet Courts, Deerhoof, Pujol, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Screaming Females, Don Deacon, Ty Segall, Future Islands, Metz, Nots, Protomartyr, Jeff: The Brotherhood, Lightning Bolt, as well as some bands I didn’t recognize like Pampers, Shellshag, the Numerators, Downtown Boys, Coasting w/ Patty Conway, Natural Child, Sleepies and Grooms.

The album’s 26 tracks not only document DBA but also an underground indie-garage-noise scene that flourished in small venues throughout the past decade. Every song is a keeper and the massive vinyl set, released by Famous Class Records, is bound to be this generation’s Inside Out. Rating: Yes.

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BTW, I could see Live at O’Leaver’s releasing a similar album as Live at DBA. Get on it, Ian.

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Speaking of O’Leaver’s, tonight they have an epic show headlined by Eric in Outspace, with Sam Adam Martin and road band Triathalon — a wicked little indie R&B/surf-pop-flavored five piece from Savannah, GA., whose new EP, Cold Shower, comes out Sept. 16 on Broken Circles Records. $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 © 2016 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.

by Tim McMahan, Lazy-i.com

Singer/songwriter Matt Whipkey writes to say he redesigned mattwhipkey.com, and in honor of the new look he’s giving away all the music that he’s made prior to this year’s self-release, Underwater. That’s right eight Whipkey-related albums including Penny Park, Instant Heart, and all the Anonymous American, Whipkey Three and The Movies titles can be downloaded for free from his website through tomorrow, April 1. Get in on it while you can.

What else..

Tonight Athens GA indie band Triathalon is playing at fabulous O’Leaver’s. The band has a shimmery pop sound that’s kinda cool (check it below). They’re actually opening for the Coaxed. Eric in Outspace also is on the bill. $5, 9:30 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.