Every scene has its lore. Sometimes it's a forgotten cassette buried in a basement for fifty years. Occasionally, it's two musicians speaking entirely different musical languages and finding common ground somewhere between the notes. Perhaps it's a Portland band nurturing an art-rock chaos odyssey. This week's Underground Rundown wanders through all three.

The Portland-based group, !mindparade, formulates elegantly distilled pieces that often cross the boundaries of psych-pop and...