Yuppies to release self-titled LP in July

by Chris Aponick

* Yuppies plan to release their self-titled full-length album in July on New York-based label Dull Tools. The label is ran by members of Parquet Courts, who will return to the Omaha area Thursday, June 20th for a show at the Sweatshop Gallery, 2727 North 62nd St. Yuppies plan to support the album release with a massive fall tour kicking off in September.

* Touch People, the current project of...

‘The Blues is All Right’

by B.J. Huchtemann

Lincoln resident, Zoo Bar family member and blues legend Magic Slim was laid to rest in a funeral service Saturday, March 2, at Horizons Community Church in Lincoln. At least four generations of local musicians were influenced by Slim’s adoption of the Zoo Bar as his home away from home since 1975 and his move to Lincoln in 1994.
Two more formal musical memorials are planned.
Lincoln’s Zoo...

Numbness to Clarity

by Chris Aponick

The last time Brendan James recorded an album, the theme was transition right down to the very title of the 2012 release.

Now as James prepares to follow-up Hope in Transition with new material in 2013, the next stage might just be all about rejuvenation and reclamation.

James, a singer/songwriter who centers his adult-alternative pop sound around his piano playing, released two albums on...

White Mystery crushes it live

by Chris Aponick

* Chicago's White Mystery are always on and their return to Brother's Lounge, 3812 Farnam St., Saturday, March 2nd was no exception. The stripped down rock of Alex White and her brother Francis ripped. While the band's new album Telepathic shows signs of a new, subtler sound, the Whites kept their finger on their riff-centered mind meld of bluesy garage rock and no frills 70s rock. Meanwhile,...

Razor-Sharp Jazz

by Jesse D. Stanek

The jazz trio has long been the minimalistic backbone of this fiercely improvisational art form. Usually consisting of stand-up bass, drums and melodies courtesy of a horn, piano or guitar, these three pieces usually take a balls-to-the-wall approach to reinventing and composing songs. Twin-Cities based The Bad Plus, while certainly a trio, has taken the all-too-familiar three player line-up to...

World Remembers Magic Slim

by B.J. Huchtemann

It was a sad week for blues fans when Magic Slim, also known as Morris Holt, passed away in a Pennsylvania hospital early Thursday, Feb. 21. He had been hospitalized for several weeks after having health issues while on the road doing opening slots for Johnny Winter. Magic’s son Shawn “Lil’ Slim” Holt was traveling with and performing with Magic and his band, and finished out several more dates...