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Staff IconSafari So Good - Every Fight Is a Food Fight When You're a Cannibal (Cover Artwork)

Safari So Good

Every Fight Is a Food Fight When You're a
Cannibal
(2008)
Takeover Records

Reviewer Rating:


Contributed by: Brian
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Published on July 11th 2008


One look at the neon-colored promo pics for Safari So Good, who adorn themselves in `80s Cali surfer and skater gear, and you start to think you've fell into the lap of another of these bad joke pop-punk-quasi-hardcore bands. Questionable aesthetics aside, Safari So Good probably have befriended several of those acts, but on their own produce the kind of sunny, guilty pleasure new-school pop-punk that's written effectively enough to enjoy without much respite.

Ex-members of Breaking Pangaea and the Commercials are here, but Safari So Good hardly carry traces of either. Instead, Safari So Good rely on a heaping of `90s emo inspirations, in turn sounding somewhat like the more playful moments of Taking Back Sunday (hello "Dogs with Bees in Their Mouths Who When They Bark They Shoot Bees at You"), Silverstrand-era Over It or later Jimmy Eat World. After all, with an EP title seemingly cribbed from a Demetri Martin one-liner, you know that at least they're taking from fairly respectable modern influences.

Every Fight Is a Food Fight When You're a Cannibal starts off with its best number: "A Pirate's Life for Me," with great changes in vocal delivery and snappy harmonies. Safari So Good are at their best here, hands down, even though the rest of the EP isn't bad at all. And their closing cover of Smashing Pumpkins' "Perfect"? It's surprisingly decent and pulled off with a believably moody and downbeat flair, and it's probably better than 95% of the songs that you'll find on Punk Goes `90s Alt-Rock or whatever.

Safari So Good's Every Fight Is a Food Fight When You're a Cannibal isn't a mind-blowing venture, but the band sure have some hooks. This is one of Takeover's better releases of the last few years, and if the band can capitalize on all the good things here (and maybe strip away their overly-cheeky-song-title-pop-culture-reference excess), good things are definitely on the way. So far, so good.

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Every Fight Is a Food Fight When You're a Cannibal




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    wentz_equals_death (July 14, 2008)

    "i think demeitri martin is just a younger, shittier, more alive version of mitch hedberg"

    shanholtzer (July 13, 2008)

    this band loves to name drop breaking pangaea. like some dude spent a hot second filling in for someone and they put on their "resume"

    miniblindbandit (July 13, 2008)

    "I think hair gel was invented to make it easier to identify assholes from a distance."

    schrutebucks (July 13, 2008)

    If I owned a bookstore, I'd make the mystery section really hard to find.
    "Excuse me, do you have any mystery novels?"
    "Well that's a damn good question"

    damnitsderek (July 12, 2008)

    Next album title: A drunk driver is dangerous, but so is a drunk backseat driver...if he's persuasive.

    polaris (July 12, 2008)

    I can't get over the singers lisp.

    TheMike (July 11, 2008)

    I adore that album cover. Score is for that.

    SloaneDaley (July 11, 2008)

    gosh golly that i one of the worst band names I've seen.

    GlassPipeMurder (July 11, 2008)

    Diggin' it. I like most of the stuff Takeover has put out.

    ForgetThisPlace (July 11, 2008)

    Album title... Demetri Martin reference?

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