Terry Hackbarth’s love of music and the scene in Milwaukee started an exciting new chapter when he took over the East Side storefront now known as Irving Place Records. This week, he added a couple lines to the story by releasing the first two songs from an upcoming all-Milwaukee compilation album.
Irving Place Records partnered with Label 51 Recordings on the project, which is exclusive to the record store and is the first in the label’s series of city-based compilations. Titled Notes from the Underground Vol. 1: Milwaukee, the track listing is as follows:
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”
- Laurel Sulfate & Her Ladies of Leisure, “Laguna”
- Nick Maas, “House For Two”
- Dead Horses, “Brady Street”
The liner notes are quite the literary work and outline the “rock nuggets,” “gorgeous whisper” and “soothing medicine of melancholy” you’ll find on the album. The capper to those eloquent descriptions invites you to:
… 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.
Two 88Nine favorites — Diet Lite and Immortal Girlfriend — get the honor of serving as the lead singles, both of which are out now. The album in its entirety will be available as a digital edition Dec. 6, with physical versions on vinyl and compact disc coming to Irving Place Records a week later on Dec. 13. You can pre-order both of those physical options now on the store’s website.
