Album Review: 2 Cute 2 Die

Ah, I so needed this today.

Jetlagged, having just returned from the US of A, where I was lucky enough to see Amyl and the Sniffers supporting Turnstile, I arrived into a cold and dreary UK that really has turned to shite as the country follows the Trump playbook into right-wing fake news and division. God I miss NZ.

An opening sigh and we are screaming into the pop punk overdrive of Breakdown Hair Dye Party, a breath of heated fresh air as the sound permeates my frazzled eardrums.

Just 4 mins and 3 tracks in and I am lost as the Cootie Cuties grab me, shaking and screaming in my face. This is fun though. The influences are clear and when a band chooses a genre, especially punk (don’t even get me started on pop-punk) there is a danger that they fall into an over saturated formula and get lost in the mix of poor imitators. Cootie Cuties though have avoided that with their energy, attitude and more importantly, Kiwi twist on 2 Cute 2 Die. The Dunedin sound through to NZ’s take on Hardcore can all be felt here but put through a blender of pop sensibility.

There is no filler, no time to drift. I have listened to the album 5 times non-stop without even realising. The production is raw sounding, like this was recorded straight through the desk at a live gig and all the better for it.

Red Flag checks all the Amyl and the Sniffers vibes but Cootie Cuties aren’t jumping on anyone’s bandwagon here. A few of the songs on 2 Cute 2 Die are taken from their early EPs released back in 2020. This is a band that seems to feel comfortable in its sound and wants to scream it to the world.

Johnny and the final track ,Girls Helping Girls, would sit great on the soundtrack of a punk rock remake of Grease should anyone ever have the genius idea to make that movie. They also show that this is a band that isn’t scared to push the boundaries.

30 mins and 10 songs later, it is all over. I am feeling alive. Ready to go again…and again….and again