ALBUM REVIEW: Cosmic Joke – Cosmic Joke
The ‘Cosmic Joke’ is a tenet of numerous spiritual and philosophical beliefs, centred on the inherent absurdity of life and the universe itself. This concept speaks to the irony of everyday life – that humans seek fulfilment and joy outside of themselves, when in fact those things we seek were within us all along. The great ‘Cosmic Joke’ is the true sense of enlightenment; the realisation that ‘you are what you are seeking’.
So, you have to wonder what a skate punk band from Los Angeles, California has to say on the matter of spirituality and enlightenment. The debut offering from LA’s COSMIC JOKE is unrelenting in pace, each track except the opener clocking in at under two minutes, and deals throughout with themes of consumerism, highlighting the absurdities of modern life through nihilism and incredulity. Despite its dour mood, this is a no-nonsense joyride, barrelling through the best of skate punk and effortlessly fusing these influences with a hardcore sensibility to achieve something that is a total joy.
Opening track Kamikaze bursts into action with stompy drums ushering in a melee of layered guitars and Mac Miller’s (not that one) signature gravelly tones. Cosmic Joke harks back to early skate-punk legends BAD RELIGION and DESCENDENTS, bringing that sound right up to date in a way that is reminiscent of early ANGEL DU$T and recent scene faves KOYO. But what makes this so appealing is that Miller discards the vocal melodies in favour of more grit, in the hardcore tradition.
Miller is self-aware throughout and rarely pauses to catch his breath, clearly with much more to say than this 15-minute romp allows. You’ll hardly believe you’ve listened to a full-length LP by the time the final track Morphine closes it out; Miller is verbose to the extreme but is careful to carve out space for sing-along moments. This album does the sing-along moment superbly and is practically begging to be played live.
The production deserves a huge shout-out – this record sounds fantastic thanks to the team of Taylor Young (whose work can be heard on recent LPs from MILITARIE GUN, SUNAMI, DRAIN and VAMACHARA) and Jon Markson (who also masterminded standout releases in recent times by DRUG CHURCH, KOYO, SOUL BLIND, ONE STEP CLOSER and NO PRESSURE). COSMIC JOKE were in safe hands recording both halves of this record; Young and Markson’s presence on this record is evident as the LP oozes confidence, never once allowing your attention to be lost. Often, records with this much ferocity and speed are raw and blemished, yet this record is full of character – particularly with the guitar parts split out as they are, building a sonic experience that is both bold and brawny.
Leave it Alone is a particular highlight, with its huge, angst-ridden chorus – Miller proclaiming: “Say what you wanna say, but there’s no fucking way I’ll ever back down!“, giving us the album’s most chant-worthy moment. This track is truly an anthem for disaffected youth – leaning shamelessly into discontent, urging a response as it explodes into action. Miller is very much the mouthpiece of a generation as he proclaims, “We make our jokes to hide from the truth“. COSMIC JOKE’s expert blend of hardcore and skate punk anchored in nihilism and angst is impossible to resist.
Rating: 8/10
Cosmic Joke is out now via HardLore Records/Triple B Records.
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