Are you a Milwaukee musician/band? You can submit your music to be the Milwaukee Artist of the Week by emailing links to info@BreakingAndEntering.net. We’ll check out every submission we get!

This week’s Milwaukee Artist of the Week is Calliope, a four piece rock/blues/psychedelic band that comes screaming out of Riverwest. Formed in 2010, this quartet is intent on giving you a totally unique musical experience, and one listen to their self titled album provides just that. The group make no effort to hide where they’re from, with song titles like opener “Miller City Blues” and the hyper “Blue Ribbon Boogie”. This is a very Milwaukee album, if there is such a thing. This album could easily provide the soundtrack to a late night at your favorite dive bar (Riverwest, East Side, or Bay View. Your call). There’s also just the right amount of psychedelia to give this record a unique twist. Think The Doors, but with some beefed up sound, spurts of brilliant energy, and an occasional heavy left hook to the face. That’s honestly the best way to describe this sound. This is clearly not Plasticland, but it’s very much in spirit of them with an added kick. (Google that Milwaukee reference. I’ll wait.)

This is also not a psychedelic jam record, either. five songs come in at over four minutes in length, but at no point do they seem to drag on. Calliope do a great job of keeping the tempo changes up throughout the record, so there really aren’t any ruts where it loses your attention. Plain and simple, they make progressive rock tolerable to people who might not normally be into it. Anytime a band can open doors to a new genre, that’s a good thing. While it’s clear that this album isn’t one thing or another, it most definitely is Calliope, a sound almost all to its own. And it’s definitely worth a listen. Check out the video for “Miller City Blues” below:

For more Calliope, check them out on Facebook, Twitter, and at their website.

Share this post:

Related