Milwaukee

Notes from the Underground VOL. 1

Dawn breaks on another gray Milwaukee day. Gull song mocks the unremarkable skyline of this frequently frozen city. The second greatest lake stretches on for what seems like forever and the smell of last night’s bar towel floats through Eastside streets.

Looking for obvious beauty? You came to the wrong place.

Yet, despite the moribund majesty of this subarctic breakwater (or, more accurately, because of it), Milwaukee is a city that punches well above its middle-western weight class. You don’t need the Greek Freak or Harley Davidson to tell you that, though. You just need a chorus of Milwaukee’s finest flame-touched storytellers, like this underground collection’s cast, to make a strong case.

Less a greatest hits collection than a “fevered dreams” one, this reliquary holds twelve little bolts of lightning bottled right before daydreams turn into desk jobs. Our scene opens on Trolley’s “Record Store” and Diet Lite’s “Stuck Again,” two rock nuggets so revved-up and riff-licious, there’s not a garage in Milwaukee that can hold ‘em. These two punch-drunk pals swagger into the barroom drawl of “I Don’t Drink Much (About That),” Certain Stars’ 100-proof shot of liquid courage wrapped in chicken wire.

But the true innerspace beauty of Milwaukee’s overlooked oeuvre lies in the fact that the city is not a one sound town. Multiple dreamscapes call the 414 home. The empty warehouse backbeat of Operations’ “Fog Museum” crests its wave straight to the Isle of Wight, while the lonely bedroom baroque of The Quiet Canon’s “My Love Will Shine On You (Radio Edit)” and the gorgeous whisper of Apollo Vermouth’s “After School” prescribe the soothing medicine of melancholy. Combine this trio with the twin-V of fully-realized melodic manna—Testa Rosa’s “Alice Anything” and Elephonic’s “Wonderin’”—and you can’t help but be buoyed by this collection’s remarkable second act.

And how fuckin’ rad is the 8-bit hustle of Immortal Girlfriend’s “Hourglass”? Answer: “Pretty fuckin’ rad!” The song cycle’s subsequent downshift into the synthesized sensuality of “Laguna” by Lauryl Sulfate & Her Ladies of Leisure finds us wishing this night wouldn’t end. Alas, the party fades and our pillow beckons. The sweet dreams of “House for Two” built by Nick Maas is heartachingly out of time, while our long player’s curtain call is Dead Horses’ reverential “Brady Street,” an homage to Milwaukee’s Haight and a fitting monument to memory’s long reach.

So, take a long walk (or a short spin) with your twelve new best friends on this Brew City “best of.” If this is your first visit, you will understand why there’s a lot to love about Milwaukee, a city whose vinyl grooves and avenues are haunted by the rugged, the ragged, the wistful, and the romantic. When you’re done listening, why don’t you send your own transmission from the underground? Plot your own escape from a place that most dreams call home.

– Eric White
Milwaukee’s Eastside
St. Patrick’s Day, 2024

TRACK LISTING: 

Side A

  • Trolley – “Record Store”
  • Diet Lite – “Stuck Again”
  • Certain Stars – I Don’t Drink Much (About That)”
  • Operations – “Fog Museum”
  • The Quiet Canon – “My Love Will Shine on You” (Radio Edit)
  • Apollo Vermouth – “After School”

Side B

  • Testa Rosa – “Alice Anything”
  • Elephonic – “Wonderin’”
  • Immortal Girlfriend – “Hourglass”
  • Lauryl Sulfate & Her Ladies of Leisure – “Laguna”
  • Nick Maas – “House For Two”
  • Dead Horses – “Brady Street”

Milwaukee