Caspa I Hate Caspa cassette
Finding the right words for a review can be tricky when you don’t want to lean on quick subgenre labels. CASPA is a San Antonio synth punk band, in that they are a punk band with a synth player. What I hear in them isn’t a standard breakdown of a synth punk band or the modern-day simple equivalent of egg-punk, and requires separate assessments. The guitars, bass, and drums sit in mid-tempo punk/pop punk territory. The synth, sounding like a Fisher Price keyboard with only the highest octave working, plink-plunks catchy lines over the pop-laden songs. The final layer, the vocals, swing between sing-songy hooks and high-pitched squeals, sitting roughly three times louder than the instruments. While I know everyone doesn’t share my mindset that vocals should be treated as just another instrument, the idea that the vocals are somehow three times as important as anything else is confusing to me. So much of this cassette is very high-pitched, and I’m relieved that my advanced tinnitus from years of loud gig attendance hasn’t deprived me of the ability to hear the frequencies on this CASPA cassette. CASPA exists on a frequency all its own, above 3,000 Hz. It’s clear that the label releasing this cassette and the one that has already done a vinyl version are both incredibly excited about the band, and there are surely reasons for that. Based on this cassette alone, however, I feel nothing but exhaustion after just one listen. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to check on the dog, who bolted as soon as the tape started. Perhaps there are even higher CASPA frequencies not perceptible to the human ear equally prevalent on this release.