the go! team - thunder lightning strike
at last its here. after the release of 2 rip roaring genre busting singles we get the album from the mysterious go! team. anyone who has heard last years 'junior kickstart' will know that to describe the sound here is not easy. sonic youth guitars, 60's theme tunes, happy horns, harmonica solo's and a school yard innocence is thrown together through the lowest quality production possible all in 2.5 minutes of chaos - and that's just the one track ! naturally the folks behind this creation decided that if it aint broke .. dont fix it. so the album has many more tracks of the same funk. with some subtle left hand turns en route throughout.
kicking things off in a mad vibrant style is 'panther dash' an instrumental that crying out for a dayglo 60's party to soundtrack, its a whirlwind of a track with its 'everything but the kitchen sink' groove (trumpets/harmonicas/guitars etc etc) leaving the listener breathless and relieved when we hit the old school blockparty groove of 'ladyflash' with its vocal loops (sampled from an old school hip hop jams ?) and fun funk, scratches and electro slammed up against the addictive female vocals of 'yeah yeah yeah's. has someone been listening to old rock steady crew classics recently ? next comes my fave track - 'feelgood by numbers', 2 minutes of a wonderfully happy clappy vibes piano riff, in which you can see snoopy and woodstock rocking out, on top of which is another harmonica solo adding a degree of melancholy, which is no bad thing considering the overall mood of the album is party party party, that is, until the parents return from the school pta meeting.
other highlights include the recorder solo in 'get it together' ( the recorder ! ferrchrissakes .. i hate that instrument .. but in this setting they rock ..), the scratched up extras at the end of the track, showing the gang know how to dip their collective toes into the old 60's tv theme tune cliches as well as knowing all about the modern world of cut-n-paste. somebody is far too talented methinks. there is a plan, a schemer behind this album, or just a sonic prankster ?
ahh .. who cares .. just get 'bottle rocket' on loop and i challenge you to stop the smiles from breaking out, featuring another female rap that betty boo would be proud of, set to more mad splattering of horns, clatterfunk drums, and harmonica solos - hurray!
i should also tell you about 'friendship update', and 'huddle formation' where the sonic ingredients are the same as the rest of the album, girls shout happy phrases, horns are blasted and guitars are ripped up, as is the school rule book, making it sound like the beginning of the summer holidays has started and the carefree world is all theirs, lucky monkeys. and then not forgetting the closer 'everyones a vip to someone' which finishes things off in the most wonderful rosy warm glow, orchestrated strings, 'midnight cowboy'-esque moodswing fashion. wonderful stuff.
to summarise, there is no-one else that sounds like the go! team. there is no other album like this album. a genuinely perfect 35 minutes in all its phil spector, wall of sound, sunshine soundtrack glory.
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