Parallel lives
Is it wrong to consider Cursive to be Omaha’s version of Local H? Obviously the setups don’t match, but there’s more in common than what Lasers And Fast And Shit, 3 Inches Of Blood, The Wedding Present, Oberhofer, and Fanfarlo offer to them, though they’re also in town this week.
Both Tim Kasher and Scott Lucas have done concept albums. And solo albums. And side-projects. Both have remained edgy, and that edginess has followed a path from 20something restiveness to pushing-40 jadedness. Lucas prefers a drummer who has no regard for his kit, while Kasher likes one who’s always subconsciously thinking of “Sing, Sing, Sing.” Beyond that? They’re twins. What you’ll have to resolve: how does Cursive‘s new I Am Gemini stack up to the forthcoming Hallelujah! I’m A Bum!? (Sunday@Lincoln Hall with Cymbals Eat Guitars and Conduits.) (Local H play the 30th at Chord On Blues in St. Charles.)
Though indisputably with an identity all his own, David Gedge‘s The Wedding Present carry the distinct flavor of a pair of Chicago-based outfits on the recently released Valentina (Scopitones). Whether Rick Rizzo or Jon Langford, the veteran outfit rubs sonic elbows with Eleventh Dream Day and the Mekons — tried-n-true indie rock played by men old enough to know better, but with a grit younger bands take for granted. (Tuesday@Double Door with The Jet Age and Pinky Piglets.)
Lasers And Fast And Shit don’t appear to have had many doubts about what they wanted to do on the Second: Cat Fight EP. Five songs in 10 minutes — or is it seconds? — put them on a path paved by Naked Raygun but not unlike the melodic exploits of Popes-bred contemporaries Even Bigger. (Sunday@The Burlington with Child Bite.)
The line between homage and parody goes out the window on 3 Inches Of Blood‘s Long Live Heavy Metal (Century). Co-captaining this spring’s Metal Alliance tour, the quintet will be championing a record that could very easily be confused for Judas Priest. “Leather Lord” follows the NWOBHM heavyweights all the way to 1990, challenging the speed riffage of “Painkiller” nearly into mimickry. (Monday@Mojoes with Devildriver, The Faceless, Job For A Cowboy, and Dying Fetus.)
The phrase “landfill indie” doesn’t denote garbage, but it’s not complimentary, either. Oberhofer and Fanfarlo each represent perfectly competent, psychedelic indie pop played with precision and a non-chalant musicality — yet each is entirely without personality and totally replaceable. The principle of substitution threatens them both, even though the former records for Glassnote (Phoenix) and the latter for Canvasback (Joy Formidable). You’re unlikely to hate either — if you could actually tell them apart, that is. That they play the same venue on abutting evenings is just too coincidental. (Tuesday (Oberhofer)@Lincoln Hall and Wednesday (Fanfarlo) at Lincoln Hall.)
— Steve Forstneger
Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly
