Milwaukee’s Celebrated Workingman is quickly becoming one of the most…err…celebrated bands from that other fine lakeside city. You may have already enjoyed a soulful indie popgasm at their High Noon Saloon show with The Rural Alberta Advantage last month (see video below). Want more? You got it. The band’s own Mark Waldoch will be opening up this Saturday’s Black Francis show. Read on to find out why you won’t want to miss this one!
“Putting a sparkling veneer on struggles and giving them buoyancy takes chutzpah. Adversity in music has mostly been relegated to the sad, dark corners of the mope-ish and the forlorn, with abundant minor chords and enough terrible renditions of proverbs to make even a schoolteacher blush.
The Celebrated Workingman’s Herald The Dickens is a joyful example that ups and downs can be positively high-spirited. The almost non-existent minor chord, exuberant use of slide-guitar and glockenspiel, shared vocal duties and driving percussion contradict the words prominently and emotively displayed by front man Mark Waldoch.
‘Now, I’m no bird who’s battered …you’ll get better offers / I’m your worst, and I’m rehearsed,’ Waldoch announces on ‘Islands,’ his Morrissey-on-steroids vocals displaying no signs of cracking or caving, but retaining the hope that propels each song on the album forward at industrious speeds.
Rough times are a powerful catalyst for the driven and triumphant displays of musicians, yet taking those rough times and creating some of the most sparkling indie-pop to grace the Milwaukee musical landscape since the recent likes of Maritime and Testa Rosa is admirable. Not only does it contain the same sparkle, but also it manages to have a bit of brawn behind all the pretty bells and whistles. The band that’s six people strong sounds like it, and then some.”
— Erin Wolf, Third Coast Digest
Check out The Celebrated Workingman on MySpace.
Like what you hear? Check out Mark Waldoch when he opens for Black Francis at the High Noon Saloon this Saturday. Get tickets here.
Special thanks to Justin Kibbel for the snazzy Local Spotlight image used above.
Filed under: Music Shows This Week in Madison, Sounding Board Blog | Tagged: Artists You Should Know, black francis, Concert, erin wolf, frank black, High Noon Saloon, Madison WI concerts, Madison WI live music, madison wi music, Madison WI Music Scene, Madison WI shows, mark waldoch, Milwaukee, the celebrated workingman, the rural alberta advantage, third coast digest
