The Mike Benign Compulsion

Check out “Haley Daley,” the first single from The Mike Benign Compulsion’s latest release, and it’s immediately apparent this Milwaukee-based quartet still enjoys setting unusual tales to fetching power pop arrangements. The guitar-driven song taps into mid-1960s music while describing a young woman whose destructive behavior leads to her parents’ demise and doesn’t bode well for her own future either. It’s part of a stream of social satire that flows throughout Here’s How It Works.

Singer-guitarist Mike Benign, who consistently combines with drummer-vocalist Michael Koch and guitarist-vocalist Joe Vent for gorgeous and inventive harmonies, is also capable of bringing a snide attitude to his delivery. The three musicians, along with bassist Brian Wooldridge, were veterans of other area bands before joining forces in The Mike Benign Compulsion. The high-speed “Boyhood Idol” and “Rubbing Off On Me,” a quick jab at corporate morality, feature the ringing guitars of Benign and Vent, while the slower “Bay Window” has a bit of a Kinks feel.

On “Martha, We” and “You Say It’s Over” the band uses melodic mid-tempo arrangements to describe crumbling relationships, and “Sleep” is a short acoustic number augmented with three-part harmonies. Those well-crafted vocals have a more ironic purpose on “Professional Jealousy/Saw Your Post,” as the energetic song shifts into a slow coda with the repeated line, “Saw your post, it was clear for the umpteenth time your life is better than mine.” The Mike Benign Compulsion has a release party for Here’s How It Works scheduled at Shank Hall in Milwaukee on March 8th, with guest Testa Rosa. - Broken Hearted Toy

Pop-rock is a meat-and-potatoes kind of subgenre, and Milwaukee is a meat-and-potatoes kind of town. Being a local band, the Mike Benign Compulsion therefore provides a crisp confluence of style and residence, and its latest album, "Martha," provides unpretentious pleasures.

But those pleasures are not without art. Although Benign's songwriting influences (the Beatles, R.E.M.) are almost as evident as his singing influences (John Lennon, mainly), he can't be pinned down as a mere emulator or interpreter. And the production, given clarity by Joe Vent and former dB's leader Chris Stamey, never submerges Benign or his band in winking references.

This light touch works whether the Compulsion is sinking its teeth into the classic crunch of "My Michelle" or getting reflectively mellow on "Sing It." There's a difference between a decent plate of meat and potatoes and a really good plate of meat and potatoes, and "Martha" shows how it's all in the seasoning.

- Jon M.Gilbertson - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Mike Benign's a smart guy. And he's an ace songwriter with an almost sardonic snarl of a voice. That's why he's been such a long fixture on the local scene via his bands Umbrella Man, Arms & Legs & Feet and Blue In the Face.

He's always been wise in picking his bandmates. His latest amalgam – The Mike Benign Compulsion – bears his name, but owes much to its quality support staff of bassist Brian Wooldridge, drummer Mike Koch and guitarist Joe Vent.

On the band's second disc, "Martha," the whole package comes together quite nicely once again. Benign's melodic, jangly, never-wilting guitar pop is rendered in taut arrangements that get a further boost from the mix by power pop legend Chris Stamey (he of The dB's).

The disc is officially released with an 8 p.m. performance Saturday, Feb. 25 at Tonic Tavern in Bay View, with Slo-Fi following at 9:30 p.m.

Check it out and you'll see that TMBC sounds as tight onstage as it does on "Martha." - OnMilwaukee.com

These Milwaukee power poppers are back with the followup to 2010's excellent Rollicking Musical, and the results are once again...compelling. In fact, this time around legendary dB Chris Stamey is on hand to mix, and he lends the proceedings a timeless sheen that places the sound of this disc comfortably in any recent decade. Whether it's the stomping opener "Chemicals to Candy" or the Shoes-like pop of "My Michelle" or the jangly "Valentines and Honeybees", the MBC delivers the pop goods here. And they really hit their stride on "I Won't Let You Down", which wouldn't have sounded out of place on one of Stamey's releases. Album closers "Feed the Family" and "Tattoos of Bruises" find the subject matter getting serious, but without a loss of melodic focus. There's something for every power pop fan here. - Absolutepowerpop.com

Rollicking Musical is a minor masterpiece of rock production recorded by Milwaukee music veterans Mike Benign and Joe Vent. The debut album by this new lineup of old friends is a carefully layered effort that never loses the organic sound of a rock band, a tip of the hat on many tracks to the influence of George Martin and kindred spirits from the late ‘60s. “So Easily Sold,” for example, sounds a little like a deep cut from Bad Finger.

The songs themselves are entirely the work of Benign, a writer of elliptical vignettes grounded in the ‘80s style of Squeeze and Crowded House with many wry wrinkles in the lyrics. And yet the production and arrangements continually allude to an earlier period, complete with Beatlesque harmonies and the icy whisper of Tyler Traband’s melotron.

Perhaps the album’s most brilliant track, “The Soothing Sounds of Seals and Crofts,” is an insomniac’s nightmare at the edge of fuzzy psychedelia, an insistent beat drumming home the anxiety of sleeplessness.
- Milwaukee Shepherd-Express, 5/10/10

Starting with Umbrella Man, Benign's sharp, sardonic, intelligent pop songs have made him a beloved -- and more importantly, respected -- part of the local scene. A lot of folks expected his next band, Arms and Legs and Feet, was destined to break big outside of Milwaukee.

When they didn't happen, Benign built an even better model in Blue in the Face that, for much of the '90s, was the premier soul-tinged power pop band in town.

Benign is eager to point out that the Compulsion is a "full-fledged band" -- but after a decade away from music, Milwaukee is most eager to get reacquainted with the cutting pop -- a la Elvis Costello, Semisonic, Crowded House and Squeeze -- that made Benign famous.

Brew City music fans can breathe easily. "Rollicking Musical" is laced with top talent like guitarist Joe Vent, bassists Brian Wooldridge and Paul Biemann, keyboardists Tyler Traband and Dan Type, and drummer Mike Koch. But also with the kind of slice of life tunes like "All the Married People," "She Believes It" that have been Benign's bread and butter.

The result is a straightforward, tuneful, smart debut that says Benign is back and, oh yes, he's got a band with him. - OnMilwaukee.com, 5/10/10

"’Rollicking Musical’ has great songwriting and production…The sound is a pretty good mix of influences from Elvis Costello, The Byrds, Guided By Voices, Crowded House and Squeeze with Benign's working class vocals leading the way." - Powerpopaholic, 6/18/10

"''All The Married People' features an irresistible guitar hook, and 'She Believes It' sounds like Crowded House if Neil Finn grew up in Milwaukee and had a smartass streak. Other highlights include the garage sound of 'What a Way to Go' and 'Hotel Bar,' the best song about a bar since 'Here Comes a Regular.'" - Absolute Powerpop, 6/1/10

After years of silence, songwriter and vocalist Mike Benign is back to making music. A dominant figure in Milwaukee's alt scene in the late '80s and early '90s with bands such as Umbrella Man, Arms & Legs & Feet and Blue in the Face, Benign returned last year with a new group and a CD of new songs. His next album, Martha, is scheduled for fall. Meanwhile, he's blessed us with one of the most marvelous singles in years, “My Michelle.” Lyrically intriguing and powered by a surging rhythm and bursting-at-the-seams guitar, “My Michelle” is a blast of Big Star for the new century—pop rock perfection clocking in at 1:48! - Milwaukee Shepherd Express, 7/22/11

"Mike Benign writes thoughtful lyrics about human relations and sanity in a media-saturated age, using concise but vivid language and drop-dead melodies reminiscent of Squeeze." - Billboard

"The killer track, however, is the insomniac's nightmare, 'The Soothing Sounds of Seals & Crofts,' with an indelible chorus that fastens to memory like the jaws of a piranha." - Milwaukee Shepherd-Express