Telethon has the unique ability to craft interesting, fun, and palatable material that touches on decidedly less enjoyable aspects of life. The Milwaukee- and Chicago-based “Hard Pop” band came out of relative obscurity in 2017 to take listeners on a 90-minute ride to the edge of existence on its weighty (and legitimately kind of heavy) breakout album, The Grand Spontanean: A Tale Told In Five Acts. Telethon quickly followed that ambitious release by shining more light on the strange and arduous times we’re living through with its Modern Abrasive EP in 2018 and 2019’s excellent Hard Pop full-length (which we named one of that year’s best albums).

Sadly, last year came and went without anything new from Telethon. Between their impressive output—in terms of both its volume and caliber—in previous years along with, you know, a worldwide pandemic happening, that relatively quiet 2020 is totally understandable. Thankfully, the band did hint at there being new material in the works and an album on the way soon. Today, Telethon made good on that promise with a brand new single.

According to the band’s description of the song, “Selfstarter A.E.” is:

“A nice little ditty about the world’s cold indifference to you, me, and everyone! And about how if you think hard enough about it that can either deeply upset you OR bliss you out! Ya know?”

Yeah…we know. In true Telethon fashion, the bleak assessment of our ever-worsening society sounds disproportionately lively and upbeat. In addition to this satisfying single, the band promised “more music (lots of it)” will be coming soon. As you wait for more from Telethon, you can stream “Selfstarter A.E.” below.

About The Author

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Co-Founder and Editor

Before co-founding Milwaukee Record, Tyler Maas wrote for virtually every Milwaukee publication (except Wassup! Magazine). He lives in Bay View and enjoys both stuff and things.