popwreckoning

Omaha’s Maha Festival has started to reveal details of its lineups and its headliner announcement already has us pretty excited. Guided By Voices will headline the Maha Festival on August 13. 

Organizers also revealed local alt rock heroes Cursive would be on the bill along with rapper Matisyahu. More band announcements are soon to come.

Maha Festival is at the Lewis and Clark Landing in Downtown Omaha. Tickets go on sale here at 10 a.m., April 30.

For more information, visit mahafestival.com.

Mad Rad, Das Racist and The Thermals brought the house down at the free Sasquatch Launch Party at the Showbox at the Market last night, where the lineup to the now four-day festival would be announced.

Put on by Livenation and Sasquatch creator Adam Zacks, the launch party was MC’d by Comedian Todd Barry, who kept the crowd entertained between sets with dry wit and some fake teaser headliners.

“If you love me now, you’ll love when I play a set between headliners Elvis Presley and the Beatles, and tickets are only $7!” Barry proclaimed sarcastically to the less-than-attentive crowd. But I guess that’s what you get when you have a free show.

After Mad Rad and Das Racist played their sets, the lineup was announced in a video like previous years, which was played twice over, most likely so people could get a second look because they were freaking out too much over the Flaming Lips.

So far the lineup includes:

Death Cab for Cutie, the Decemberists, Modest Mouse, the Foo Fighters, Robyn, Wilco, Flying Lotus, Bright Eyes, Flogging Molly, Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Das Racist, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Iron & Wine, The Flaming Lips.Black Mountain, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, the Head and the Heart, Mad Rad, the Moondoggies, Noah & The Whale, Sam Roberts Band, Secret Sisters, Twin Shadow, Wye Oak, Tig Notaro, Smith Westerns, Rival Schools, Foster the People, Alberta Cross, S. Carey, White Denim, Washed Out, Gold Panda, Dan Mangan, Axis of Awesome, The Globes, Cotton Jones, Jaill, Basia Bulat, Other Lives, The Bronx, White Arrows, Pepper Rabbit, Talkdemonic, Rebecca Gates and The Consortium, The Young Evils, Bassnectar, Pink Martini, Cold War Kids, Old 97′s, Ratatat, Wolf Parade, Chromeo, Guided By Voices, Yeasayer, Beach House, Local Natives, Matt & Kim, Deerhunter, Mstrkrft, Trailer Park Boys, Sleigh Bells, Major Lazer, Skrillex, Fitz & The Tantrums, !!!, Archers of Loaf, Against Me!, The Thermals, Best Coast, CSS, Surfer Blood, Jenny & Johnny, Bonobo (DJ Set), City and Colour, Reggie Watts, K-Os, Gayngs, Tim Minchin, The Drums, The Radio Dept., Young the Giant, The Antlers, Sharon Van Etten, Villagers, Stornoway, Aloe Blacc.

Tickets go on sale on Feb. 14th starting at $79.50 per day and $285 for three-day passes.

Go to http://sasquatchfestival.com/ for more information or to purchase tickets.

Good things come to those who wait. So for those who have been waiting the very long, seven-year wait for a new release from Manhattan, Kansas’ Ultimate Fakebook, expect very good things. Heck, even if you’ve never heard of the band before this post, you can expect very good things.

After a seven-year hiatus, the power pop group is issuing a new full-length, Daydream Radio Is Smiling Static.  The album is a collection of lost recordings from 2000-2003: 16 originals and a Guided By Voices cover. You can stream it in its entirety below or at ufbrocks.com. Then, if you like what you hear (which we’re betting you will), you can download the album for free just by exchanging your email address for the album.

“Half of these songs were written and recorded to be a follow up to Laughing Week and the
other half were written after 2003’s Open Up and Say Awesome, which was our last album
as a band,” says vocalist Bill McShane of Daydream Radio. “This is 100% a gift to our fans, and we hope that we can gain some new fans as well. Sometimes it just takes awhile for the stars to align.”

July also commemorates the 10th anniversary of the band’s This Will Be Laughing Week, a record that gained the outfit some mainstream success with its Sony/Epic Records release thanks to its catchy hooks, which helped earn the band a loyal fan base.

After having been asked to headline the Village Voice’s infamous Siren Festival at the historic Coney Island for several years, Built to Spill finally accepted the honor, following in the footsteps of some of indie rocks latest and greatest such as Ra Ra Riot, Broken Social Scene, Steven Malkmus and the Jicks, New York Dolls, M.I.A, Cursive, Popwreckoning favorites White Rabbits, TV on the Radio, and Death Cab for Cutie, to name a few. It’s generally speaking a who’s who of both up and comers as well as hard-hitting indie heavyweights and it’s FREE!

The last time I attended I was young 21 living in Williamsburg. It was the first year the festival took place. It was 100-plus degrees and by the end we were crispy, stuffed with zepolis, covered in beer and sand, and eventually everyone started to look like the side show freaks that Coney Island is famous for. That year we saw Peaches, Rainer Maria, Guided by Voices, and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. It was quintessential New York, one of those amazing days where you keep pinching yourself, “Do I really live here?” But for some reason, I never returned to Coney Island or the Siren Festival after that. Truth, Coney Island was dirty, run down and kinda sad. A forgotten NYC treasure with a giant price tag and an expiration date that every New Yorker was aware of. Coney Island was finished…or so I thought. In terms of the festival and it’s stellar lineup each year, I always thought to myself, ‘Well, I can catch them at The Bowery….right?’

I had a change of heart this year. Lured by the opportunity to see Built to Spill under the shifting sky, by the beach, at the end of a perfect Summer Saturday, I returned to Coney Island nine years later, and now I’m left wondering why I waited so long. This years lineup included Built to Spill, The Raveonettes, Spank Rock, Frightened Rabbit, A Place to Bury Strangers, Grand Duchy, Monotonix, Thee Oh Sees, Future of the Left, Japandroids, Michachu & The Shapes, Tiny Masters of Today, Bear Hands, The Blue Van, Justine D., and Deadheat DJs.

Grand Duchy is Frank Black, a.k.a. Black Francis, a.k.a. lead singer of The Pixies, and if you don’t know that…well shame on you, go do your homework before continuing. Anywho, Black Francis and his wife Violet Clark are Grand Duchy and they played songs on the main stage from their debut album, Petits Fours. The hooky songs feature vocals from Clark paired with Francis’s trademark storming guitar riffs. Clark, in an artist statement, describes the music as a set of opposites: “eclectic and consistent, raw and cooked, smooth and rough, punky and pop, guitar and synth, he and she…Dinner and dessert.” Anything Francis does, in my opinion is genius. See Teenager of the Year as reference. Grand Duchy is another feather in his hat.

Built to Spill took the stage to play the last set, just as the sky was changing from day to eve and the Cyclone lights flickered on. The band that inspired Modest Mouse, Death Cab, and the ubiquitous Northwest Sound that followed, played for over two hours. They played everything you’d ever want to hear, giving the crowd just what they came for. Everyone knew every lyric. You almost didn’t belong if you didn’t. The first note of “Carry the Zero” dropped and the hardcores were high-fiving. Doug Martsch turned four-minute songs into eleven-minute epic guitar jams busting string after string as fireworks blossomed in the purple sky overhead and lovers clutched each other closer. It was ridiculously magical. People were literally turning to the stranger next to them with Cheshire cat grins. And again, nine years later, I’m asking, “Do I really live here?”

Coney Island hasn’t changed much in nine years. It’s still run down, forgotten, and kinda sad, but that’s what you love about it. It buzzes with nostalgia for a time when everything was hustling and bustling, when honey roasted almonds were five cents on the boardwalk, when the skyline mattered, and people believed in two-headed snake babies and one hundred pound rats. To visit Coney Island is a suspension of disbelief. Seeing Built to Spill in this context is a somewhat of a similar act, so good it must be fiction.

Built to Spill: website | myspace
Siren Fest: website

Canadian collaborative Broken Social Scene is known for great and experimental music where the only thing more surprising than what they’ll think of musically is who will play with them next. Popwreckoning‘s Bethany got the chance to talk music and food with one of the group’s core members and co-founder, Brendan Canning. Read the interview below:

PW: Let’s start off with some recent events. I just caught your Omaha show and you had to do an impromptu DJ set.
BC: Yeah, Lizzie [Powell], was, well she had a bronchial infection.
PW: Aw. Is she doing better today?
BC: Yeah, she’s doing much better, I haven’t actually spoken to her, but I think she’s on the mend, which is good for everyone.
PW: So no impromptu DJ set tonight?
BC: No, no DJ set tonight, I had to borrow most of those records from the bartender at the Slowdown.

PW: So how do you plan out your set if you hadn’t seen the records before?
BC: Oh, well, I looked at them and I knew most of them. It is pretty easy to put on a PiL record and once you do that it’s like, well, I guess Gang of Four goes well after PiL and you try to go from there.
PW: So how did that compare to the other times when you’ve DJed some of those celebrity parties in NY?
BC: Well, normally I show up with my records. Ha. And I don’t do too many celebrity parties to be quite honest. The odd party here and there. I do like it, though.
PW: So is Lizzie like an official member of Broken Social Scene now?
BC: Well, we try to avoid the word “official” in regards to anything with Broken Social Scene, but she’s playing shows with us and she’s up on stage with us. I’d say that’s as close to being a member as anything right now. She sang on a couple of tunes on my record.

PW: Now when she wasn’t able to perform in Omaha, you guys had to call up some guest singers like Orenda Fink.
BC: That’s right.
PW: Is that hard for you to get a hold of people to do the music or are they pretty willing?
BC: That was not because Val, at the club, she called her up and then I talked to her and she came down to club. We’re very fortunate to have people like Orenda Fink around who can just kind of come in, not really knowing the songs at all, and just come up on stage and do it up. I thought she did a good job.

PW: Do you guys rehearse with guest musicians or is just a quick sound check?
BC: That wasn’t even a sound check. That was just like her, on stage, just her, me, Charlie [Spearin] and I, sort of going over the song for 5-10 minutes because we didn’t even really know what we were going to do that night. So that sort of came together about 8:00 in the evening.
PW: Wow. Now, Nate Walcott of Bright Eyes also played with you. Did he get any more advance notice?
BC: He might have gotten a couple hours extra notice. He’s a great player, though.

PW: So all these musicians, because you guys have other people in other cities that perform with you, all these musicians are pretty much cold turkey?
BC: Yeah, it’s not like they can fly up to Toronto to rehearse with us or anything. I mean, it’s not that difficult. It’s just music after all. If you got ears and some ability, our music is not that hard to comprehend.

PW: With all these guest musicians, who would you ideally like, dead or living, who would you like to perform with?
BC: Oh, I don’t know. That’s kind of a funny question. Who knows? I can’t really answer that because I don’t even know who we’re going to have play with us tonight even. Especially if we have some great player tonight that I don’t even know about yet. There’s not an ideal guest. I’ve never thought in terms like that.

PW: Last year when you guys came to Omaha, you played a secret show.
BC: I don’t know if it was a secret show, but it was an impromptu show. We had the day off there and we just kept running into people who talked to us about playing. We thought it was a good idea, too. We were there in Omaha, so we figured we’d make use of our time.
PW: Does that sort of thing happen a lot?
BC: No, it does not.
PW: How does a show like that compare to last night’s planned show? Are the crowds pretty different?
BC: Nope. Comparable, I’d say.

PW: I do like that you guys surprise and improv, so what’s the story on the “science experiment” and how involved is everyone in that?
BC: That’s Charles. Charles has an album coming out. He made a record with a bunch of conversation blips from some of his neighbors. He’d be better poised to answer, but ultimately he just chopped some conversation clips and made musical pieces and started added instrumentation to different conversations following melody lines.
PW: Yeah, I was just impressed because the first one at the show had been done before, but then the second one you did on the spot and you came out to join.
BC: Ha, yeah, well I mean I hadn’t played the cowbell before to that one, but like I said, it’s not that hard to pick up a drum stick or two and play along on cowbell or to pick up a guitar. It’s just music.

PW: So with your new album, you’re front and center with this tour, does your attitude with that also just go along with “it’s just music” or is it nerve-racking?
BC: It’s different in the sense that now instead of me just doing it for one or two songs in the set, now it’s like four or five. I’m a comfortable front man.

PW: What songs are you most excited about audiences hearing on this tour?
BC: I don’t know. I never really think about that. I’m just happy to be out there, playing music for people. I hope that there’s not just one song in particular that’s going to wow them and that’s it. I hope we get a good two hour show running from top to bottom.
PW: I think the Omaha one was kind of pushing three hours.
BC: Ha, yeah, I know. That was awfully long. We were just talking about that tonight and being like, “Ok, that’s it. We can’t be playing that long every night.” Unless, maybe we will start doing that, but take a little break in between.
PW: It was really impressive, but I think everybody was a little confused when there were like eight endings.
BC: Oh right, that’s good. Confusion is good. We don’t want to sound like something ordinary or give something that everybody’s seen before.

PW: Were you guys operating off of a set list for that show?
BC: Probably the first half. Then it kind of, well, like most of our shows, we sort of have a set list, but then about halfway through the band just kind goes and throws that out the door. We go wherever the moment seems to be taking us.

PW: At the show, you guys also brought up politics. Are you guys concerned with United States and the presidential election being Canadian?
BC: We’re so closely linked to American politics. We’ll have to witness it everyday of our lives. We’re all tuned into anything. It is going to affect our livelihood in the end because we spend so much time in the US working. We spend time working here in the US like we do in Canada, so we’re very concerned about the future of the US, the American economy and the people who live in this country who are very concerned with how it’s going to move forward. We can’t not be concerned.
PW: Now Canada just had an election as well.
BC: Yeah, it was kind of a joke. The Prime Minister called for the election thinking that he could get a majority government. It all happened very fast, but all it did was waste tons and tons and tons of money on “Oh, thank you.” It was a stupid idea and it wasted tons of money on advertising without out really solving anything. The most it did was give was give a little face time to the green party, Elizabeth May, so that’s a good thing. Another political party that has a voice outside of the common politics of a running candidate.

PW: Ok, let’s talk about your album a little bit. Your recent album was a solo album, but you still collaborated with your Broken Social Scene chums and then it got the title of Broken Social Scene Presents: slapped onto it as well. How do you keep a solo album separate from BSS when it is still that closely connected?
BC: In this instance, it was just me in the driver seat the whole time, having the ability to make the final decision on the tunes. That’s where it becomes different.
PW: Do you think you’ll do more solo albums?
BC: I think so. I got a long career ahead of me as a musician and the world’s my oyster. At the same time, I think BSS is cooking something and plans on making a full band record before another Brendan Canning solo album comes out.

PW: Will there be another BSS record before another BSS Presents?
BC: I think so. That’s the plan, but I can’t really say for sure.
PW: Because Justin [Peroff] is working on something solo isn’t he?
BC: We’ve all got lots of ideas up our sleeves, but yeah. Justin’s got a bunch of ideas, too. Probably a bunch of those will go to a BSS record. It’s really kind of an unwritten chapter that we haven’t read through yet. We’ll just take the time here and there and piece it all together, map it out.
We’ve put a lot of time on the road this year, so I know next year will be less time on the road and more focused on recording and whatever becomes of those recordings.

PW: Do you guys think you’d ever want to try to get some of the original collaborators of BSS back together in sort of a massive reunion sort of show or is that impossible since Leslie Feist and the members of Stars and all those other groups are pretty busy with their own projects.
BC: Nobody’s really thinking about a reunion because this band has never broken up and members are always coming in and out and we’ve always made records. The core that is touring right now, this is essentially BSS. Myself, Charles, Kevin [Drew], Justin and Andrew [Whiteman], we’ve been sort of the five core for the career of the touring band.
A couple of people have sort of dropped in and out, the Stars gang have come in and out, the Metric gang have come in and out an another hundred or two hundred or so players. The idea of a reunion, there is no reunion to be had, since nothing’s been disbanded. It’s more just whomever is going to be around when it comes time to make the record.

PW: Bruce McDonald is making a documentary about your life.
BC: Yeah, it’s for the Independent Film Channel. It’s sort of a little postcard of my finishing my record. It’s not my life story.
PW: So it’s about the album making process?
BC: Yeah, a little bit of that. It’s just a snap shot. There are some nice vignette moments.
PW: Did he ask to do that because you had worked together in the past?
BC: Yeah, he had the project with the Independent Film Channel and was looking for something to film, so it sort of came about that way.
PW: There’s not going to be like a DVD release?
BC: Not at this point and I don’t officially own the rights to it.
PW: Is there anything surprising for fans in it that they might not know about?
BC: I’m pretty handy in the kitchen, I suppose. There’s a little cooking moment. It’s not like I’m cooking something and then serving it to Bruce.
Is there anything surprising? I don’t know. I don’t really know what people know about. Maybe they might be, but it’s tough to say. I like, I can say that much. Some of it is mildly embarrassing, but I think that’s just because it is me watching myself. I think they did a good job. Nothing’s grossly out of proportion in it.

PW: What type of stuff do you like to cook?
BC: I can cook anything. You name it. Whatever you want, I’ll make it for you. I’m pretty handy in the kitchen.
PW: Alright, next tour, I’ll take you up on that.
BC: Yeah, sure. As long as there’s nice pans. I like nice pans.
PW: Of course, those are very important.
BC: Yeah. Pans and good knives. Oh and fresh herbs, lots of fresh herbs.
PW: Do you get to cook on the tour bus at all?
BC: No and we had a shit meal today, so I guess I should have known better.
PW: Too bad, there are some good places to eat in Kansas City.
BC: What’s that?
PW: You’re in KC, right?
BC: Yeah, KC, MO.
PW: There are lots of good places to eat there. You got to try to find good food.
BC: I did yesterday.
PW: Where’d you go?
BC: An unnamable diner.

PW: Ok. So, I saw on some sites that you’re nicknamed “The Champ.” What’s the story on that?
BC: It’s just a nickname I have sort of had since my old band hHead.
PW: How’d you get it?
BC: I used to pretend that I was a drunk prize fighter and I’d take swings at my drummer. And he’d say, “Hey Champ, Champ. It’s me, Champ,” and then I’d sort of come to. That was the game and for some reason people seemed to really gravitate toward the nickname. Then DJing, it just became a sort of DJ handle.
PW: Do you have any other nicknames?
BC: Only little funny ones that my girlfriend calls me, nothing I want to share.
PW: Alright, we can keep those private.

PW: My last question for you is: BSS did a Guided by Voices cover and I think I’ve heard you guys do that in the past, so if you could personally cover anything, what would you want to cover?
BC: Maybe “Goodbye, Pork Pie Hat” by Charles Mingus. It is a really great ballad. You should check it out, it’s one of the all-time classics.
PW: Will do. That’s all I have, thank you for talking with me.
BC: You’re welcome. Thank you, Bethany.
PW: Good luck with your show and find some better food. Eat some KC BBQ, you’re not vegetarians are you?
BC: No, there’s a few in our crew that are, but yeah, I’m sure we’ll find something.
PW: Good. Take it easy.
BC: Bye.

Broken Social Scene: website | myspace | photos
Brendan Canning: website | myspace

Photos by: Nick Davis

Legendary. That’s the only way to describe the last time Canadian collective Broken Social Scene‘s last show in Omaha, Nebraska. Last year the guys were just chilling at a local coffee shop without a booked show, when a native recognized the boys and insisted they play. Broken Social Scene agreed and quickly set up over at the Slowdown Jr. stage. There was no announcement or promotion, but word quickly spread and a decent sized crowd gathered in front of the stage for a free, intimate set by BSS. They closed down the bar and went on their merry way leaving those in attendance feeling blessed to have bragging rights that they were at this special show.

Cut to 2008 and the band’s current tour in support of Brendan Canning‘s solo album. Tickets cost a hefty $20 and the band had moved up onto Slowdown’s bigger stage. The ticket price, which the band joked about and said their agent made them charge to make up for last year’s free show, did not seem to hold back people from coming.

Not everybody was there for BSS. Many Omahaians (if that isn’t a word, I’m making it one) were curious to check out the band’s tour mates and Land of Talk who recently signed to Omaha label Saddle Creek Records. However, Land of Talk’s singer Lizzie Powell was a little ill (I think bronchitis might be the culprit, but don’t quote me on that) and had to pull out. To make up for their absence, Canning saved the day by playing a special DJ set, borrowing vinyl from one of the venue’s bartenders. It wasn’t your usual oomp-oomp-oomp, let’s go clubbing DJ mix. It was a more chill, oldies blend that allowed people the chance to just drink and talk, but they could still have danced if they had wanted.

After listening to Canning DJ for a good hour, he put on a final tune and jumped up on stage where he joined the rest of his BSS chums to seamlessly begin their set. They began with some mostly instrumental tracks, which sounded great, but didn’t immediately grab the audience’s attention. It wasn’t until about the third number that the crowd broke loose and started jumping and moving along.

Canning istarted off lead vocals, which isn’t that surprising considering his album was the focus of this tour. However, in true BSS fashion, front man duties were constantly shuffled around and Kevin Drew was soon back at the helm.

The set list was a great mix of old and new BSS material. However, with Powell out of commission, many were curious what would happen to the band’s numbers that feature female vocals. These, fortunately, were not cut from the set and Omaha’s very own Orenda Fink stepped up and saved the day, joining the group for numbers like “7/4 (Shoreline).” Never struggling to obtain guest musicians, not only was Fink present, but BSS was also joined on trumpet by Nate Walcott, whom you may better know from one of Omaha’s biggest exports, Bright Eyes. Nothing like a brass section to make a show better.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjQB1JKLQD4]

About midway through the show, the kick drum pedal gave out and as most of the band left to deal with the problem, Charles Spearin remained out on stage to entertain by presenting his “science experiment” as Drew referred to it. Basically, he played a sample of his neighbor speaking then had a sax imitate the cadences of her voice. It was like the woman was right there on stage speaking back to us, the mimicry was that good. The audience was quite amused. The kick drum problem not immediately resolved, Spearin started in on another voice sample, which the saxophonist tried to mimic by ear. He was shortly joined by Canning on cowbell and the rest of the band trickled back in.

It was kind of an intermission to the set and many more hits followed. My favorite number was when Drew had the audience scream their guts out on “Ibi Dreams of Pavement.” It was a nice catharsis after a long day.

An epic performance of “It’s All Gonna Break” seemed to end out the set, but Drew was not ready to quit. He looked around at the other guys and started talking to the crowd. As he talked, drummer Justin Peroff started to lay down a beat, which Canning quickly picked up on bass. The rest of the crew joined in and Drew sat down and let the boys just jam for a good 7 minutes.

Not being able to end on a freestyle, the band played another raucous tune that seemed to have eight endings. Seriously. It would start to end and Drew would get behind the mic where he’d say a rather circular speech that always ended, “And it goes/sounds like this” and the band would repeat the tune.

This seemed to complete the set, but Drew was still not done. Everybody walked off and the crowd started to leave. Drew and Peroff came back out to play a Guided By Voices cover before finally calling it a night.

Total set time: 2 hours, 45 minutes. It might not have been secret and free, but this show was legendary in its own right. BSS might argubably be Omaha’s favorite live band.

Broken Social Scene: website | myspace

Written by: Bethany
Photos by: Nick Davis