Probably... except that we try to review the typical and not-so-typical (and just about anything else you can think of). The emphasis is on Indie, but who knows what will pass through this page? I sure don't...

The rating system is irresistibly simple. Recordings will be rated with a simple yes or no. You be the judge of what it means.

Watch this page for new reviews. Most have appeared in The Omaha Reader.

Keep up with received, reviewed and not-reviewed CDs at the Review Matrix -- all received CDs are checked-in and checked out.

Attn.: bands, labels, promoters: Send promotional materials (CDs, one-sheets, demos, etc.) to:

Tim McMahan
www.lazy-i.com

	The Break / Let It Burn split EP
	Big Collapse Prototype
	The Karl Hendricks Trio The Jerks Win Again
	Arthurkill Addiction
	Calibretto Dead by Dawn
	Strawberry Burns self-titled
	Canoe I Give You Canoe!
	WInfred E. Eye The Dirt Tier
	Self-Evident Angular
	The Sister Maria Topekamericana
	John Larsen Kismet
	Poleposition XO EP
	Mogwai Happy Songs for Happy People
	Marianas Onward + Upward
	Lovetap There's This Girl
	Mayday I Know Your Troubles Been Long
	FCS North Vocabulary
	Alkaline Trio Good Mourning
	North Sea Story Rebuilding Season
	Cex Being Ridden
	Blue Shade Witness s/t ep
	Saddle Creek 50 various artists
	Atom and His Package Attention! Blah Blah Blah
	We Talked About Murder Expecting the Explosion
	Gatsbys American Dream Ribbons & Sugar
	The New Pornographers Electric Version
	Lanky Inner Onwriter
	No Escape A Tribute to Journey
	Head of Femur Ringodom Or Proctor demo
	Killian Ryan Words Never Said Again
	Citizen's Band s/t
	For Against Coalesced
	Two Guys Recorded
	Fairburn Royals From a Window Way Above
	Gary Numan I, Assassin / Warriors
	Lazy-i Best of 2002 Compilation
	Keleton DMD Body Double
	Madcap East to West
	Theselah Nice International
	Sprawl Sarah Veladora
	Halifax Pier Put Your Gloves on and Wave
	Lisboa / Kid Brother Collective split EP
	Rizzudo self-titled EP
	Matt Marka Repeat Pete Repete
	Gerty Sweets from the Minibar
	Heros Severum Wonderful Educated Bear
	The Jim Yoshii Pile-Up Homemade Drugs
	The Lepers The Love from Above
	Maybe This Christmas various artists

Two Gallants

Two Gallants

Rating: Yes

There's a knock on Two Gallants, it's that all their music sounds the same.

It's an easy, lazy statement to make. It's also easy to prove. Take someone who's never heard the band before and play a typical track from The Throes, their 2004 debut on Alive Records. Follow that with a song from Where the Toll Tells, their 2006 Saddle Creek Records debut, and one from this, their new eponymously titled follow-up. Now ask your test subject how the three vary musically and lyrically. First, they'll assume they all came from the same album; next they'll ask (eagerly) if all their songs sound like this. The answer, of course, is yes.

Like I said, it's an easy knock, and it's not fair, really. Two Gallants, the San Francisco duo of singer/guitarist Adam Stephens and drummer Tyson Vogel, have crafted a unique sound that feels like a cross between '60s blues-rock, "The House of the Rising Sun" and modern-day pirate songs. Stephens' craggy voice and rolling, picking' electric guitar bend the music over Vogel's bright, almost militaristic syncopated marching-band percussion. The result is a slice of turn-of-the-(20th)-Century Americana merged with Delta blues and indie rock.

(continued)

Haven't had enough?

Check out the Reviews Archive featuring reviews of releases by:

• Liar's Academy, Midwest Dilemma, The Lyndsay Diaries, Jim Jacobi, The Invisible Cities, Namelessnumberheadman, Imperial Teen, Saul Zonana, The Bruces, Gone Out Gone, Duke Fame, Hello from Waveland, The Wrens/Five Mod Four, The Ants, Zelienople, Ravine, Jack Hayter, The Jupiter Project, Roman Evening, The Flaming Lips, All-Time Quarterback, Pedro the Lion, The Movies, Faith Kleppinger, John DeGrazio, Man Will Destroy Himself, Automatic Slim, Seafood, The Gloria Record, Cricket Rumor Mill, Bob Segar Tribute, Aveo, Knodel, Stereolab, Weezer Tribute, The Starting Line, Dewey Defeats Truman, Aereogramme, Red Shirt Brigade, Cave In , Voltadomar, Milemarker, Alkaline Trio, Hotwater Music, Indian Burn Records, Sorry About Dresden, Neva Dinova, Shelter Belt, The New Year, Red Level Eleven, Books on Tape, The Reindeer Section, Son, Ambulance, Pioneer Disaster, Kill Your Idols, The Elevator Division, Cursive, Jimmy Eat World, Paula Frazer, Burning Airlines, Juno, Strike Anywhere, Nymb, Crap Circles, Alien Life, Dashboard Confessional, The Orange, Brando, Dallas Orbiter, Tony Baloney, The Shiv, The Mother Hips, The Living End. Miss Fortunie, Cave In, Fairgrove, Fire in the Radio, Joan of Arc, Tristeza, Chixdiggit, Libraness, m.i.j., Aerosmith Tribute, Josh Rouse, Jets to Brazil, Sergio Vega, Bluebird, Centro-matic, Starlight Mints, Elliott, Sean Na Na, Weakerthans, Jimmy Eat World, Sea of Green, Hot Little Number, John Denver Tribute, The Mercury Program, Durian, Looper, Mammoth Volume, The Promise Ring, Pookey Bleum, The Explosion, Enon, The Donner Party, Gimme Indie Rock, Death Cab for Cutie, Yo La Tengo, Pedro the Lion, Applesaucer, Furnace St., The Cure, Drive-by Honky, Nerf Herder, Semi-Gloss, The Hillary Step, Hot Snakes, The Statue Factor, Duochrome, Brando, Men of Porn, Charles Douglas, Simon Joyner, The Gadjits, June & the Exit Wounds, Caustic Resin, Outrageous Cherry, Saves the Day, NOFX, Moviegoer, Stone Temple Pilots, Morning Becomes Eclectic, 311, Tinsel, The Wobblies, Madder Rose. The Believe It or Nots, Those Bastard Souls, Supperbell Roundup, The Hellacopters, Hicky, The Evil Tambourines, Miles Hunt, Pavement, Duraluxe, Bad Luck Charm, Hell on Wheels, The Laces, Monostar, Ben Lee, Gardener, Nancy Wilson, Chuck Brodsky, Beth Orton, UNKLE, They Might Be Giants, Einsturzend Neubauten, Looper, Damien Jurado, Joe Henry, Knapsack, The Notwist, The Dismemberment Plan, Ultrababyfat, Splitsville, Love & Rockets, Gomez, Hooverphonic, Burger/Ink, Son Volt, Silkworm, Possum Dixon, Juliana Hatfield, Vitreous Humor, Catatonia, Getaway Cruiser, Pulp, Cornelius, This Perfect Day, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Clever, Bedhead, Shipping News, Muler, Liquor Giants, Tommy Keene, The Grifters, Tsunami, Chisel, Cobra Verde, Box, Modest Mouse, The Connells, more...

Also check out the Live Reviews Section, featuring reviews of Omaha appearances by:

• The Warlocks / Little Brazil, Cursive, Examination of the.. , The Carsinogents, Califone / Sea and Cake, Low, Simon Joyner / The Mariannes / The Golden Age, Landon Hedges, The Lepers, Mary Lou Lord, Interpol / Calla, Dave Dondero, Owen Mark Eitzel, Fizzle Like a Flood, Desaparacidos, Sorry About Dresden, Spoon, The Good Life, 754-HERO, Kinsgbury Manx, Azure Ray, The Jealous Sound, The Gloria Record, Sunshinte, The Carsinogents, The Sound of Rails, At the Drive In, Murder City Devils, Cursive, !!!, Tristeza, The Good Life, Bright Eyes, Her Space Holiday

Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Tim McMahan. All rights reserved.
Revised: April 27, 2008 .