Order of the Underground

Those who have witnessed the Wood Chickens perform their craft knows duly well that these boys are at the ever-ready to raise some good old fashioned Hell. From humble beginnings tearing apart Mickey’s Tavern, Wood Chickens have advanced their home-brewed western-style skater punk, fused with a bluesy, gritty dirt ‘n roll. Mall Cop , the newest single release from Madison’s rambunctious renegades, is nothing short of pure vitriol—and supplies ample evidence of their evolution. At the onset of Mall Cop , it is apparent from the thick, funky bass grooves that stylishly ripe new directions are in bloom, all at the mastery of Griffin Pett (Dumb Vision). Everything clicks into high gear when the rockabilly guitar, delivered by guitarist Alex Wiley (The Minotaurs, Alex Wiley Coyote) begins to coalesce into a high-octane, vintage punk frenzy. Intense rhythm is brought forth with thunderous glory. What follows the steady, succinct vocals of the verse is a completely unpredicta...

     For those who wonder if it is fully possible to have a spiritual experience through music, Milwaukee's budding heavy psychedelic wizards, Shogun, seek to thoroughly disprove the skeptic throughout the course of their first full-length installment, Infinitet. The band then gracefully carry thoughtful-minded listeners to the promised lands of infinite peace. At the heart of Shogun's trance-inducing heaviness is the ancient premise of using repeated segments of music—or riff s—and creating the sense of a mantra , or 'a word or sound repeated to aid concentration in meditation,' by focusing on a pattern (riff) and allowing this awareness of focus to become mindfulness (also used visually with mandalas —see cover art). Infinitet is a concept album—but it is also an experiment in composing evolving music that unfolds prismatically. "Riffs upon riffs, upon more riffs, straight from the cosmic cloud" is the maxim the band uses to describe their sound: and it ...

Laying down a series of in-your-face, blistering trash-punk riffs and no-holds-barred garage rock, Dumb Vision use their vinyl debut to literally tear it up as they do best. One scorching passage leads to the next, chock full of that vintage-crackling grunge we've come to prize. At first glance, the three songs that comprise the Dumb Vision side created the impression of a Seattle, 1988 Jack Endino Nirvana recording, especially the gritty, lo-fi build-up starting the second track, Creepy Crawler. However, Nirvana is hardly the only wellspring the band draws from: the old-school approach of these songs are also reminiscent of the budding 80s garage-punk scene, more often than not creating a seething, explosive frenzy that simultaneously tips its denim cap to the all-out speedpunk of GG Allin and the bluesy, bass-driven swagger of The Stooges. Also conveniently reflecting its lo-fi approach, the split was recorded in a basement studio in St. Paul, Minnesota by Matt Castore, at ...