Getting a handle on exactly what Austins What Made Milwaukee Famous sounds like is a little challenging the first time you hear them. Spread across the bands 2004 debut, Trying to Never Catch Up (which was re-released, with a slightly different track list and a few new tunes, on Barsuk Records in 2006), were songs that invited comparison to everyone from Spoon to the Strokes to Franz Ferdinand (with whom WMMF shared an episode of Austin City Limits in 2005). This years What Doesnt Kill Us adds the mellower likes of Keane and Travis to that sounds like pool. But as Filter aptly observed, Thing is, they do it as well as if not at times better all of the bands listed above. Thats because theyre not mimicking their peers so much as drinking from the same deep pool of influences. What Made Milwaukee Famous may have lifted their name from a Jerry Lee Lewis song, but their sound be it indie rock, power pop or stadium-ready modern rock is their own creation, and its a guaranteed to give you a giddy buzz. Positively exuberant, teeming with squiggly keys, extroverted hooks and brightly anthemic guitar, raved Spin about Trying to Never Catch Up, while the Los Angeles Times singled out singer/guitarist Michael Kingcaid as one of rocks overlooked vocal commandos.