What Made Milwaukee Famous...

...is an assload of talent and enthusiasm. After watching them play a couple of songs on Austin City Limits, I went to check out this band at a tiny Denver venue, the Larmer Lounge. Although the place smelled of urine, it made up for it with a very cool open-air patio area around the back. The second band to play, "All Capitals", a Denver-based group was surprisingly good. I might have to check them out another time.

Despite the appearance that the band knew a few people there, the turnout for the show was smaller than I expected, somewhere on the order of 40 people. After having beers with friends on the aforementioned patio, the band took the stage. It was probably around 12:30 at this point, but the crowd let the band know that this performance is what they had been waiting for. WMMF started out with one of their top songs, "I Decide", available on their MySpace site. Right off the bat I was happily surprised that they sounded much better than the clips I had seen on YouTube, and perhaps even better than on their CD, "Trying Not To Catch Up". The band, most notably the amazing drummer, showed a ton of energy, especially when you consider the small and muted nature of the crowd as they played. When you check out this band, what you'll notice first is that their lead singer is in fact...a singer. You're not going to get some passable rock-n-roll shouting here. Instead, Michael Kingcaid offered an impressive range of vocals throughout the performance that left me feeling that this band is possibly a can't-miss talent. However, the variety doesn't stop with just the vocals. WMMF varies their sound from song to song, at times sampling Postal Service like synthesizer effects, and at others playing what they described as "a song for all those prom queens...and kings out there". Regardless of the sound they're going for, they always sound good, a result of solid talent througout the band, a heck of a lot of enthusiasm for what they do, and obviously a ton of hard work.

Now signed, I anticipate a lot of buzz around this band in the coming months. Their re-released album, "Trying Not to Catch Up" will be out August 22nd, and include four new tracks.