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What Made Milwaukee Famous - What Doesn't Kill Us

What Made Milwaukee Famous may unashamedly wear their pop on their sleeves, but that new-wave sheen is stretched taut over a muscular frame of solidweaty rock. Milwaukee's energetic, forceful, and impassioned music feels immediately familiar. Michael Kingcaid's laid back vocals swoon and swagger in and out of the bands rolling melodies, and although sonically polished, the music maintains just enough rough edges to keep things interesting.

Barsuk re-released their debut album Trying To Never Catch Up in 2006. Kingcaid (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Drew Patrizi (keyboards, vocals, guitar), John Farmer (bass, vocals), Jeremy Bruch (drums, vocals), and new addition Jason Davis (guitar, vocals) have done their time, playing over 100 tour dates since that release. They've gelled as a unit, and it shows.

They've also earned it honest in their local Austin, TX music scene. Since forming, What Made Milwaukee Famous have done their time at the South by Southwest music festival. They've played packed-to-the-rafters free local shows. They've been featured on Andy Langer's Next Big Thing on 101X, been celebrated by spots on Billboard and Rolling Stone bands-to-watch lists, appeared on WXPN's World Café, KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic, and Steve Lamacq's Music Show on the BBC, opened for the Arcade Fire, the Black Keys, and Snow Patrol, and played the ACL Festival and Lollapalooza. They've even played famed Austin City Limits TV Show (PBS), with Franz Ferdinand no less, as one of few unsigned bands in the show's 32 year history to ever take the stage.

When the time came to cut this record, Milwaukee holed up in an Austin studio with producer and Sparklehorse member Chris Michaels (Chris plays in Sparklehorse, Mark rotates members all the time, but Chris has been a constant with him for the last year and 1/2, just FYIAmerican Analog Set). Having an objective, outside set of ears paid off, and with What Doesn't Kill Us they've managed to make a record that from start to finish stands as a singular piece of art. What Made Milwaukee Famous trade in a genre full of archetypes, and with a practiced hand, they deftly sentimentally weave sentimentality, a reflective, wry wit, and an ear for the timeless into a sonic basket carrying the best of indie rock, 70's power pop, and modern rock radio.