Damn Teeth—Real Men (2019)

Details

All music by Damn Teeth; all lyrics by Paul McArthur. Produced by Niall Sinclair and Damn Teeth. Engineered by Niall Sinclair in Gorebridge and Glasgow, November 2017 to May 2018. Mixed by Niall Sinclair in Glasgow, May to June 2018. Drums recorded by Ross McGowan at Chime Studios in Renfrew and Glasgow, November 2016 and June 2017. Mastered by James Plotkin in Philadelphia, October to November 2018. Cover photograph by Sean Patrick Campbell. Sleeve design by Stewart Allan. Released on Buzzhowl Records on 12 July 2019.

Band

Seonaid Stevenson—Vocals
Kane Stonestreet—Vocals
Kim Miller—Vocals
Tom Irvine—Vocals
Jennifer Melville—Vocals
Paul McArthur—Voice, keyboards, guitar, percussion
Stewart Allan—Keyboards, guitar, programming, vocals
Niall Sinclair – Keyboards, percussion, programming, vocals
Sean Patrick Campbell—Drums, percussion, vocals

Tracks

You’ll only make it worse
MRA Soundsystem
Dominant muscle
Real control
Deserving pest
Cattle
Pink pitbull
Heavily telegraphed – correctly aligned
The people vs real men
Coasting on genetics

Review

Sometimes things fall through the cracks. This is an album that landed on my desk in 2019 and somehow got lost in my email and rattled around the bottom of a list in Trello. But I’m having a summer sale—everything must go!—and I’ve scheduled the remaining items in my backlog to be reviewed throughout June.

So, here we are, almost exactly four years late… Real Men (2019) is the second album from Glasgow-based ‘synth-heads’ Damn Teeth.

As a starter for ten, here’s the review that appeared in the original press release from Buzzhowl Records:

“Synths tear down from the ceiling, grinding away in circles while the beat lurches back and forth. It’s equal parts LCD Soundsystem and Queens of the Stone Age, delivered with a bored disdain that keeps it from falling too heavily into either camp.”
Matt Keim, Post Trash

“You’ll only make it worse” (track1) opens the album with a grinding, throbbing noise with a repeating spoken vocal sample, before a bouncing bass riff anchors an otherwise vulnerable-sounding synth-focused song. It’s like early Depeche Mode coupled with the fragility and accessibility of Wet Leg.

And that really sets the tone for the rest of the album. “MRA Soundsystem” (track 2) combines a lurching sawtooth riff with lo-fi vocals and the odd bit of shouting, “Dominant muscle” (track 3) opens with a simple synth melody with fuguing lo-fi vocals. “Real control” (tracks 4) builds on the same bouncing feel as the previous track, thickening the sound and littering it with electronic squeals and squeaks.

“Deserving pest” (track 5) opens with a subtle drum track, building to a fast-picked guitar tone, simple synth line and delicate vocals. The track swells and diminishes with simple accompanying melodies picked out on keyboard. It’s a steady-paced track that forms a spine down the centre of this album.

The experimental noise modules are employed to full effect on this, the shortest track on the album. Ghostly chords support vocal samples before what sounds like haunted pipes plays the track to completion.

The twisting synth riff madness of “Pink pitbull” (track 7) is quite punk in its delivery. Not the best track if you have a headache—today, I have a crushing headache!

“Heavily telegraphed – correctly aligned” (track 8) is perhaps one of the most representative tracks on this album. It is upbeat and perky, and those two words again—lo-fi and fragile melodies carry this song.

“The people vs real men” (track 9) opens with perhaps the most early-Depeche Mode-esque way, but shuffles off in its own quirky direction, reminding me evening in places of mid-career, off-the-wall Faith No More. This is probably my favourite track on the album.

The closer, “Coasting on genetics” (track 10) is a sparse—beep-beep—track that bounces along nicely, heavily drenched in synth and pleasing synth and vocal melodies, until it beeps like an 80s handheld video game into the distance.

Conclusion

It’s hard to define this album. It’s not metal, that’s for sure—either in substance or attitude. It’s more punk than rock. It has that homemade, ‘we can do anything we like’ attitude. There is a distinct echo of that new wave vibe that came in with the likes of Depeche Mode and Adam and the Ants in the early 80s. The synth-heavy simplicity leans into that.

As an album to listen to in the background while I was working, it was not distracting and in places provide an atmosphere conducive to getting into the zone. As an album to sit and listen to, it’s unsettling and provoking. It’s good. I like this kind of art, and that it’s Scottish… well, I am a little bit biased, perhaps.

Review score: 80%

Video

Disclosure

Buzzhowl Records contacted me (in 2019… ahem!) inviting me to preview Damn Teeth’s then forthcoming album, thank you. I have no connections to either Buzzhowl Records or Damn Teeth. I’m not being paid to review this. But I did get a free digital copy of the album to review which is pretty cool. Many thanks to Jase from Buzzhowl Records, and to Damn Teeth for continuing to create fresh, exciting new synth-tastic music.