Order of the Underground

        The luminous haze of the desert horizon's sun-drenched dawn swells. A shimmering wave of hallucinatory colors begin to ebb like a refractive jewel. Soon, a strange, panoramic sea of kaleidoscopic patterns accumulates across the rising expanse. Chapel Perilous is born. These mind-expanding forces collide in the form of a symphonic shamanic ritual by Milwaukee's own Calliope . The vision quest begins with Victor Buell IV's lucid, lysergic guitar tones woven throughout Al Kraemer's vintage Farfisa combo organ, heavily reminiscent of Syd Barret-era Floyd at its trance-inducing roots. The opener even picks up where the Barret-era left off: in a further-down-the-rabbit-hole force, channeling a slower, heavier Astronomy Domine . Chapel Perilous carefully expands its songs until their "peak," with the raw, fuzz-pedal-driven energies once pioneered by space rock godfathers Hawkwind, and continue to mount in a culmination of otherworldly, anti-matte...

    Photo Credit: Waldo Oswaldo, taken at Two-Til Club, San Diego 2017 Tour.    Some bands wear their influences on their sleeves, as the saying goes—but when a band has so many influences and each members' songwriting eclectic inspirations take a life of their own, it takes a keen ear to dissect each style. Music aficionados will have more than enough fillets-of-fuzz stacked on their palettes in a single sitting with the endless helpings offered on this next installment: Madcity Meltdown is the latest installment from Madison, WI underground rock pioneers, Clean Room. Delving into familiar lo-fi rock ‘n roll territory while bringing unexpected, fast-paced psychedelic ingenuity into the carefully-selected mix, Clean Room hearkens back to the heavy-yet-melodic prowess of early-era Alice Cooper—notably on “Way Long Gone.” Rest assured, Thin Lizzy's skillful, metal swagger is not absent. Passages of garage rock-infused skate punk seamlessly permeate throug...

Delivering an arsenal of high-speed, heavy-octane punk and rock 'n roll riffs, Madison's own iconic Fire Heads manage to capture the sheer intensity of their exhilarating live performance into a fresh, beautiful slice of wax. Over the last few years, underground venues across the nation have been eagerly awaiting this installment throughout their numerous regional tours, acclimating the world to the relentless barrage of psych-rock riffery known as Fire Heads. Every track on the album unfailingly evolves into a cornucopia of psychrock fills, Motörhead-style momentum, and unexpected directions of creativity that provide ample supplies of devilish speed with incendiary fuzz. The production quality undoubtedly triumphs in the garage rock paradigm while continuing to cultivate the gritty lo-fi approach of seasoned punk musicians before them: Jay Reatard, whom the band's original moniker paid tribute to, is a top pool of inspiration drawn from to help execute their own...

  "Old-School” can barely attempt to scratch the surface when describing the thunderous accumulation of blues, space rock and psychobilly caught in a torrential, funneling maelstrom known as Thin Veil , Royal Station’s first full-length album. Hailing from Madison, WI, Royal Station demonstrates a keen ear for eerie soundscapes and lush, powerfully-packed rhythms. While many influences are prevalent throughout the colorful amalgamation, the quality of crushing, wall-of-sound chugging bass from 70’s era bands like Hawkwind and early noise-punk outfits like Black Flag permeate the oncoming tidal waves of hypnotic, thought-provoking directions in songwriting with a smooth, energetic foundation. Though the vintage-style rock ‘n roll sound is never completely abandoned, a sonic palette of sweeping flourishes and psychedelic styles are executed tastefully and with appropriately-respectable reservation. While some songs, such as the opener “ Suffer or Fly ” take a bare-bones...