Ladyfinger (ne) is a four-piece musical outfit from

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

. The (ne) at the end of their name is a reference to the official abbreviation for their home state of

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

, as such the band's full name is typically pronounced as "Ladyfinger Nebraska". They were obligated to add it to their band name in order to avoid copyright issues.

Band members

History

The band formed in 2004, bringing together musicians from several other groups from the Omaha independent music scene. Since their formation, they have released three albums, all of which were released by

Saddle Creek Records Saddle Creek Records is an American record label based in Omaha, Nebraska. Started as a college class project on entrepreneurship, the label was founded by Mike Mogis and Justin Oberst in 1993 (as Lumberjack Records). Mogis soon turned over his ...

, famous for bands such as Bright Eyes,

The Faint The Faint is an American indie rock band. Formed in Omaha, Nebraska, the band consists of Todd Fink, Graham Ulicny, Dapose and Clark Baechle. The Faint was originally known as Norman Bailer and included Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes (band), Brig ...

and

Cursive Cursive (also known as joined-up writing) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionality and m ...

, and produced by

Matt Bayles Matt Bayles (; born October 19, 1972) is an American record producer, mixer, engineer, and musician, based in Seattle, Washington. Bayles is known for his work with bands such as The Classic Crime, Isis, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Botch, Mastodon, ...

, famous for his work with groups such as

Soundgarden Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Cornell switched to rhythm guitar in 1985, replaced on drums initially ...

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. One of the key bands in the grunge, grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries from the early 1990s, ...

, and

Minus the Bear Minus the Bear are an American indie rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 2001, and comprising members of Botch, Kill Sadie, and Sharks Keep Moving. Their sound has been described as " Pele-esque guitar-taps and electronics with sophi ...

. The group is known for playing a decidedly fast paced, forceful style of music, a departure from the folk inspired music that is traditionally associated with their label. The band members themselves list their greatest musical influences as 1970's

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

and

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

from the '80s and '90s. Their style has, however, changed slightly over time. This is most notable between the band's second and third albums, where the group took a brief hiatus before returning with slightly altered lineup, seeing bassist Ethan Jones replaced by Dan Brennan. Their newest album has been described by critics as being more precise, clearer, and even prettier than their previous albums, which were described as having a sense of "manic intensity." In addition to releasing albums, Ladyfinger (ne) has also toured extensively across

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. They have toured with bands such as

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

Little Brazil Little Brazil could refer to: * Little Brazil, Manhattan Little Brazil is a small neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the sou ...

, Landing on the Moon, and Noah's Ark was a Spaceship, as well as performing at the

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

music festival.

Discography

* Heavy Hands (9/26/2006) * Dusk (2/3/2009) * Record Store Day Picture Disk (Featuring

) (4/18/2009) * Errant Forms (2/5/2013)

Critical response

The band's first album, Heavy Hands, was ultimately not terribly successful critically or commercially. Its sales numbers were extremely disappointing and well below the typically results of

Saddle Creek Saddle Creek Records is an American record label based in Omaha, Nebraska. Started as a college class project on entrepreneurship, the label was founded by Mike Mogis and Justin Oberst in 1993 (as Lumberjack Records). Mogis soon turned over his ...

releases. Many attribute this to the fact that the post-hardcore rock music the band produced was so radically different from what is expected from the label known as world renown producers of lighter,

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

inspired music. Others attribute the albums poor sales to poorly targeted touring in support of it. Despite poor sales,

kept the band on to produce their second album, which was drastically more successful. In addition to a significant increase in sales numbers, the band's sophomore effort, Dusk, earned them a great deal of critical praise, and is clearly the band's most highly regarded album. Review collecting site Metacritic.com shows the album to have earned a score of 74 out of 100 when averaging major critics' opinions, which were unanimously in the "positive" range. The band continues to earn critical respect and audience attention with their third album, released in early 2013, which critics have noted for being a more precise, nuanced, and even mature album than their previous two releases. Popular internet radio site

last.fm Last.fm is a music website founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. Utilizing a music recommender system known as "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm creates a detailed profile of each user's musical preferences by recording the details of the tracks they ...

lists "Little Things," the single off of Dusk, as their most popular and listened to song.

References

{{reflist Musical groups from Omaha, Nebraska Musical groups established in 2004 Saddle Creek Records artists