Cosmic Halitosis How Can I Help You? cassette
Ten-song cassette of slow-to-mid-tempo indie rock/’90s alt-rock worship. Noodly guitar leads and catchy sing-songy vocals over driving, repetitive riffs. Seems like the kinda project that people super into things like DINOSAUR JR. would be hyped on. It’s not bad by any means, but I am particularly confused by the band and the label each billing this as being “punk,” “hardcore,” and even “punk as fuck.” I find the usage of “punk” as a descriptive musical term as a catch-all for any guitar-driven band to be pretty obnoxious. It just makes the use of the term completely meaningless. I wouldn’t even refer to this music as being punk-adjacent. Guitar-driven jangly alt-rock. I guess there’s one song on the B-side entitled “Soggy Hotdog” that is in the modern pop punk realm, but it comes across as a bit of a novelty, as if it’s alt-rock kids being like “ooh, we gotta make a fast punk song.” Pet peeve ramble over, there’s some catchy and pretty songs on here, but even with the warbly, badly dubbed tape, I just don’t hear anything “punk” about it.