Radical Fun Time

Reviews

Grip Bite / Mindrott / Radical Fun Time / Self Abuse Four Way Split, Vol. 2 split CD

Fun little split between four bands that sound different enough to keep things interesting. I’m sure that what I’m about to say sounds like the “Country/Western” bit from Blues Brothers, but there’s something here for anyone who likes punk-adjacent music. GRIP BITE plays the classic “your favorite local band” brand of street punk, MINDROTT has a late-era PANTERA/HATEBREED vibe going on, RADICAL FUN TIME plays lo-fi crust, and SELF ABUSE rounds it out with their flavor of crossover thrash punk. Really solid disc here; I had it on while I was doing yard work and it helped me forget I’m an old man now. This is well worth a spin.

Radical Fun Time There Is Only One Race The Human Race EP

I’m not ashamed to admit that I, in fact, did more or less have a fun time on my first encounter with this environmentalist / human-rights-themed band. Through the art and message, they emit a “punx as hippies living in the woods” vibe, which is sort of corroborated by their bio on the internet. Song titles like “What Is the Correct Way to Live? What Is the Best Way of Life?,” “Chemtrails—Aluminum Barium Dust A Synthetic DNA In a Toxic Aerial Spray,” and “What Is the Current Administration Covering Up?” all read like potentially quasi-wingnut headlines from various lefty or conspiracy theorist publications. Their sound is demented and fuzzy and cacophonous and so screamy (in a good way). Go back in time and put ’em on a bill with FLEAS AND LICE, CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, and CHOKING VICTIM, and RADICAL FUN TIME would surely be the spectacle of the night.