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Home - Lazy I
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Austin Bound, Pt. 1 - |
by Tim McMahan
I used to think that South By Southwest’s legendary role as facilitator of the great rock ‘n’ roll dream was a load of you-know-what.
Review the list of bands performing March 17-21, at the annual music festival in Austin (located at sxsw.com). Most of them — almost all of them, actually — are already signed to a record label, have plenty of “representation” in the form of publicists and booking agents; and some are downright huge (Metallica, for example, played last year). Any thoughts of SXSW being some sort of rock ‘n’ roll casting call where a young band is “discovered,” signed and processed, and set upon a road of excessive sex and drugs, well, that was a thing of the past, right? |
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Soundtrack Stinkers - |
by Tim McMahan
With the Oscars this Sunday night, I thought I’d write a column about indie music in movies. The problem: Most movies that use indie music aren’t very good. In fact, they usually suck.
I go to a lot of movies, at least one or two a week. And I go to theaters, I don’t just “Netflix it,” like everyone else. But sometimes I have no choice. As research for this article, I Netflixed (500) Days of Summer because a friend said it had a great soundtrack filled with lots of indie songs. And she was right, it did. Great tunes by Regina Spektor, Feist, Doves, Black Lips, The Smiths, even Hall and Oates. But the movie again proved my theory — it wasn’t very good. |
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A Serious Man - |
Live Review:
Tim Wildsmith
by Tim McMahan
I got a text from Whipkey at 10:30 p.m. last Friday telling me Tim Wildsmith began his set 20 minutes ago. This was a CD release show. He was the headliner. He started at 10 p.m. I was told he wanted to play early because he had a lot of friends and family in the audience that don’t like to stay out late. Fine. Not so great for the traveling band, Charn, who had come all the way from Minneapolis. Anyone who knows anything about Omaha music crowds knew what was going to happen to Charn. But we’ll get to that.
So, I missed the first half-hour of Wildsmith and his band, The Lost Cause, but still got about 45 minutes worth since he played a long set with a long encore. This was the first time I’ve seen these guys, and my first impression was that they’re a tight, talented band that plays middle-of-the-road, mid-tempo suburban “Adult Alt” music. |
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Quarterly Report - |
by Tim McMahan
Tim Midgett of seminal ’90s Chicago rock band Silkworm (now, unfortunately, no longer a band) said in a frighteningly insightful essay about music criticism that critics should listen to every album five times before putting their thoughts to electronic paper. And while I generally agree with Midgett, you don’t need to take five bites out of a turd to realize that you’re eating a piece of shit. On the other hand, a really good album could take five times that long to really understand, and then you still may not “get it.” With that in mind, the following aren’t CD reviews as much as casual impressions after listening to these albums in shuffle mode for the past few weeks. The bottom line: Very few will leave a bad taste in your mouth. |
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Long Live The Hole - |
by Tim McMahan
This story of the death and rebirth of an all-ages music venue (in 24 hours) begins with me being chastised by show promoter Lucas Wright.
He’d read my annual “Predictions” column and took offense with the part where I said no young local promoter had stepped up in ’09 to give One Percent Productions a run for its money.
“You couldn’t be more off base,” Wright ranted. “I think you may be just unaware what’s been going on in some circles of music in Omaha. I know I don’t own my own venue and book HUGE national touring acts very often, but there’s still a LOT going on in underground music that you have no idea about, Tim.” |
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Child's Play - |
by Tim McMahan
Oh my, The Grammys. There was a time when they meant something to me. But that was a long time ago, back when I was working at K Mart and sneaking (underage) into The Depot in Council Bluffs. Back when bands like The Police and Michael Jackson dominated the awards. All these years have led up to last Sunday night’s Grammys, where I realized, to my chagrin, that I didn’t know most of the acts that were nominated (and I bet you didn’t, either).
Had I finally become what I’ve always dreaded becoming: An adult who doesn’t like music, an old fuddy-duddy who’s “out of touch”? |
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New and Improved - |
by Tim McMahan
So how is the newly remodeled Waiting Room?
There’s something about the new, wall-less/ceiling-less design that makes the crowd seem bigger and, from a getting-around standpoint, denser — as if the room is smaller (though it’s not). Or maybe more people than I realized were there last Saturday night to see NOMO.
First, the venue’s overall vibe: More modern. It feels like a completely different club. I’ve heard it described as “Austin-like,” or like a venue you’d find in a different city. I didn’t quite get that. It did, however, feel more cosmopolitan, and now has more in common with Slowdown. It is, hands down, a better club. |
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The Letting Go - |
by Tim McMahan
I write this at 4 a.m. coming off Percocet and poor sleep after the agony of abdominal surgery last week.
Three stories burned with controversy in the haze of my midweek absence. First there was Haiti. But that was simply too big to put my feeble mind around. Then there was “The Tonight Show” controversy — Conan O’Brien being laid to rest in the path of a greedy Jay Leno. In the end, who cared? Both would wind up at 10:30 p.m. somewhere. Then there was The 49’r Situation.
But wait, there actually were four stories that happened during my sleep. Jay Reatard died somewhere in Memphis. His death was one of the first things I Tweeted about after surgery; I felt I needed to, since no one was talking about it on the InterGoogle. Reatard, who recorded on Matador but has roots in Memphis labels like Goner and In the Red, was a fresh, new hope for rock ‘n’ roll. He was a guy who embraced the simpler style of garage rock; his noisy, shambolic sound somehow made everything new again. |
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Visions of 2010, Pt. 3 - |
by Tim McMahan
If you’re coming in late, Pt.1 was a review of my 2009 predictions. Pt. 2 was predictions based on the theme for 2010: Survival in the Time of Music Industry Cholera. And now, the “lightning round”:
Consider it a raising of the white flag — a well-known mainstream band will give away the digital download of its next album. You’ll simply have to log into the band’s website and voila! The files will be transferred to your computer and/or iPod. Though the download will be free, you’ll still have to pay for the CD version and the limited edition vinyl (as well as the tickets to see the band on tour). |
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The Bear Session - |
Bear Country reinvents itself with Frozen Lake
by Tim McMahan
Compared to Cowboy Junkies’ The Trinity Session, Bear Country’s new EP, Frozen Lake, is downright uplifting.
In fact, the two bands don’t have much in common other than a similar love for laid-back country swing, and heartfelt melodies, and a great female vocalist, and terrific musicianship. Come to think of it, they do have a lot in common despite the fact that the bands’ albums are separated by 21 years. |
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Capgun Confessions - |
It’s all about the
attitude
by Tim McMahan
“I’m pretty poor, I guess. I don’t have a job and I live in my mom’s basement for now. After this tour I’m going to get a job and save money to travel. You can’t be really poor and do your art, but to be a songwriter, all you need is a guitar and to be alive.”
That’s Capgun Coup’s Sam Martin on the poverty of being a musician. He was responding to having his band’s press materials read back to him, the part where it says how they “willingly dove head first into poverty in order to pursue music, bidding farewell to the possibility of financial stability.” It conveniently ties to the theme of this year’s Music Issue — the price of pursuing the life of a musician. |
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The Big 250 - |
Five years down …
by Tim McMahan
This week’s column marks the five-year anniversary of Lazy-i — 250 columns, which equates to around 250,000 words, which, if you linked them end-to-end, would reach to the moon and back. Who would have thought that someone could write essays about the Omaha music scene — and indie music in general — for five frickin’ years? I sure didn’t. Anyway, it’s time to glance over our shoulders at the past year’s worth of columns and provide any needed updates before we slog into year six. As I do every year, I beg/grovel/beseech you to send your column ideas to tim@lazy-i.com. It’s your input that keeps this thing going. Now, onward! |
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Sound Perspectives - |
Indie label owners discuss the state of the biz
by Tim McMahan
The topics ranged from iTunes to the role of record labels, the “single” to the resurgence of vinyl, bands vs. brands vs. Pitchfork. In the end, the only consensus was that it’s harder these days to make a buck in the music business.
The discussion occurred last week during a National Public Radio (NPR) online summit of indie music industry movers and shakers, intended to get a then-and-now take on how the business has changed since 2000. The panelists were Maggie Vail and Portia Sabin from Kill Rock Stars (Elliott Smith, Deerhoof), Gerard Cosloy from Matador (Yo La Tengo, Cold Cave), Mac McCaughan from Merge (Conor Oberst, Arcade Fire), Chris Swanson and Darius Van Arman from Jagjaguwar/Secretly Canadian/Dead Oceans (Yeasayer, Okkervil River) and our very own Robb Nansel from Saddle Creek (Bright Eyes, UUVVWWZ). NPR’s Carrie Brownstein moderated. |
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Shark Jumping - |
The OEAAs and Benson
by Tim McMahan
And so, with last Friday night’s Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards (OEAA) showcase in Benson, another Omaha music festival season comes to a close. But did it go out with a bang or a whimper?
If you judge the event by its turnout, it would appear to be the former. When I showed up at the Pizza Shoppe Collective around 8 p.m., the room where the stage is was nearly full. By the time the first band, Son of ’76 and the Watchmen, began playing it was standing room only. So crowded, in fact, that a couple of strangers happily shared our table in the back of the room while we scarfed down a pizza.
About a half-hour later, the scene was repeated (sans pizza) down the street at The Sydney where Jes Winter and her band played — every table was filled. And while it wasn’t SRO at The Waiting Room for Matt Whipkey and Midwest Dilemma, the crowd was respectable (and it is, after all, a rather large venue). Keep in mind — this was all happening before 10 p.m. in a city where no one shows up before halftime.
While I saw the usual cast of lovable miscreants that make up the Benson music scene, there were a lot of new faces in the crowd, which one assumes were drawn to the showcase by its reputation for quality bands and a good time. So, a success, right? |
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Lovely, Score - |
Mogis and Walcott provide the background music
by Tim McMahan
I’ve been hearing about Lovely, Still for what seems like forever — or at least five years — and last Friday night I saw the final product.
Lovely, Still is a film by local maverick filmmaker Nik Fackler. Over the years you’ve read about him in this column, whether about his early days as a music video maker for a plethora of Saddle Creek Records bands or his work creating a video montage that was projected as a backdrop during a Bright Eyes tour, or his various music projects, including fronting the band The Family Radio and his work with Derek Pressnall in the revamped Flowers Forever. |
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Safe at Home - |
Monsterless by choice
by Tim McMahan
This was supposed to be a review of last week’s Monsters of Folk concert at The Holland Center, but the “poets of our time” were up against the Yankees, and they didn’t stand a chance.
In their defense, there was more than a little uncertainty helping the Yankees in this battle. I’d had a conversation a few weeks ago with Monsters of Folk’s publicist about that Conor interview that never happened. At the time, the publicist said she was putting me on “the list” for the show, but it was spoken almost as an aside. I emailed her the morning of the show asking for confirmation, but never heard back.
Late in the afternoon I stopped at the Holland box office to see if I was on the guest list, but they said they wouldn’t know until an hour before the show, and that I could call to confirm. But when I did, the grunt on the other end of the phone said the only way I was going to find out for sure was to drive downtown. A side note: I’ve had three bad experiences with the Holland box office in my critic’s capacity. Good thing I rarely attend shows there. |
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Roll On - |
This time, Simon Joyner’s music is as strong as his words
by Tim McMahan
I stole some words from Simon Joyner for this review of his latest album, Out Into the Snow. I figure his words are better than mine, since he has a way of saying things as only a poet or a dreamer (or a realist) could. Lines like this one from the song “The Arsonist”:
“I look for you in the dye of cancelled stamps / In the panic of sirens / In the vanishing kite strings of airplane exhaust”
I’m never going to come up with anything like that. When talking about his records, it’s best to use his words, because nothing will describe his music better than his own lyrics. Highbrow analysis or references to literary or musical giants of the past only reveal a reviewer reaching for something that isn’t there. |
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Monsters of News - |
Ragged Company,
Cursive, Ladyfinger, Conor
by Tim McMahan
This week’s column is a real grab bag, so stay with me …
People ask why I go to so many shows every year, a number that’s just north of 100 (that’s a lot of late nights, folks). Part of the reason is to see bands I know and love do their thing, but just as enticing is the chance to discover something altogether new and special — something that’s become more and more rare these days. That said, the highlight of the past weekend was finding the four-piece folk-rock act The Ragged Company, who played a show at The Saddle Creek Bar Saturday night with Cass Fifty and the Family Gram. |
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2001: A Grubb Odyssey - |
From GTO to Saturn and beyond
by Tim McMahan
It was only a few minutes into the interview for last week’s Landing on the Moon article that his name came up, and then we proceeded to talk about him for the next hour: Curtis Grubb.
I hadn’t thought about him in years, and hadn’t talked to him since 2004, when I did my last interview with Grasshopper Takeover, the trio Grubb fronted with James McMann and Bob Boyce. I knew that he’d opened a studio, Grubb Inc., but whatever happened to GTO? |
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Turning the Corner - |
Best year ever for
Lincoln Calling
by Tim McMahan
After word got out that a reunion of legendary ’90s-era rock act Mercy Rule was going to replace Domestica last Saturday night at Lincoln Calling, I knew I was going to make my first excursion to the festival after writing about it for the past six years.
Jeremy Buckley, Lincoln Calling organizer and “A-No. 1 Ass-kicker” (as designated from stage by Mercy Rule’s Jon Taylor) had texted me with the details. Ron Albertson — Mercy Rule’s drummer who moved to Brooklyn all those years ago — was back in town to stay, and Mercy Rule was a band again. In Ron’s absence, Taylor and his wife, bassist/vocalist Heidi Ore, had formed Domestica with drummer Boz Hicks. I guess Boz simply stepped aside, understanding the obvious historical implications. |
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