August Music Check-In

A concoction of male tears, delicate spells, and a surprising late summer jam

Male Tears - “Talk To Me”

I’ve had my eye on SoCal band Male Tears for a while. They have an 80s inspired New Romantic look and sound which combines well with the singer’s brooding voice. For their new album Paradisco, they pair that with the italo-disco sound that’s all the rage, and also add a female member to the group (and possibly another male? I’m not sure). It works out surprisingly well, with a number of excellent tracks I’ve been playing like “Leave It Alone”, “Regret 4 Nothing”, and debut track “Talk To Me” (which even opens with a woman’s laugh à la Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like The Wolf”). The white face paint slash clown makeup might throw you off, but the aesthetics of this video are practically mainstream compared to their earlier VHS-pastiche videos such as “Slay” or “Hit Me”.

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Glass Spells - “Without You”

This is a duo out of San Diego that Youtube recommended to me. It’s pretty good, even if the singer’s voice is a bit thin. They’re not on any record label I can find so I’m curious where they’re finding the means to produce and promote their work. Regardless, I do appreciate their hustle - they seem to be constantly touring and are heavy self-promoters on Instagram. They’re even going to be the opening act for the band Cannons soon, which is, like, an actual real band that gets played in Target and on the radio, so that’s a pretty big accomplishment for a goth-scene band that I have never seen or heard of before. Good job guys.

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Digital Love - “No Place 2 B”

I saw this act recommended on Twitter by Male Tears, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Turns out, it’s actually quite good. I believe this is all the work of a single individual, who I think is a trans woman which gives them a distinct voice both literally and figuratively (such as on the track “Gallows Girl”). Even though the sound is purely synthpop, the lyrics offer surprising commentary and reflection on the state of the world, such as in the anti-capitalist “Blood Money”, There’s a streak of tracks in the back half that are all just very good. “No Place 2 B” is one of those and is just a fun summer jam with a lot of “whoos” and “yeahs” from the singer thrown in offering a lot of great energy and enthusiasm. I was originally going to recommend “Act Surprised” with its catchy sing along chorus, and I would also recommend “Guillotines (No Promises)” (you can see the political commentary in the title right there).

I love coming across small, less discovered bands, and with this find I might have hit as undiscovered as you can get. As of this writing the Youtube video for this song only has four views, and I think two of those are from me. Maybe I’m in the wrong profession, maybe I should have been an A&R man instead.