Radio Milwaukee hearts Kings Go Forth

Milwaukee’s Kings Go Forth so far has only released a couple of singles, which is good news for the rest of the local music scene because Radio Milwaukee handed the old school soul band five Milwaukee Music Awards yesterday. Kings Go Forth won for best new artist, the TNT award for artist most likely to blow up, most memorable concert, song of the year, and artist of the year. That’s practically an award per song Kings Go Forth has released so far. If these guys ever put out an album, everybody else in town might as well give up. (See a full list of winners here.)

Decider already whined about all the great Milwaukee bands that weren’t even nominated. (Complaining about awards shows being our favorite thing about award shows and all.) While we like Kings Go Forth, the concept of the band is better than the execution. (We like our soul music to have finger-poppin’ arrangements and heart-melting vocals, and KGF ain’t quite there on either count just yet.) And, considering all the other worthy choices in town, it might have been nice to spread the hardware around a little more to bands that have put out more music.

Evan Rytlewski of The Shepherd Express raises another valid point about the awards, writing that Radio Milwaukee “seldom plays a track loud, edgy or abrasive enough to cause the average John Mayer/A Tribe Called Quest fan’s parents to change the station,” and this is reflected in the local music it plays. That’s a notable oversight for a station committed to diversity, especially in a city with such sizeable punk and metal scenes. But enough quibbles: As far as local music award shows go, Radio Milwaukee is far better than the notoriously narrow-focused WAMIs, and it’s great to see another prominent station in town celebrating local music.