The Go! Team - Rolling Blackouts
- Written by Patrick Whyte
There is something incongruous about The Go! Team releasing their new album in the middle of winter. It doesn't feel right listening to such a relentlessly upbeat record in such a bitterly cold period.
Rolling Blackouts picks up from where second album Proof Of Youth left off. Eschewing any kind of instrumental fade in, 'T.O.R.N.A.D.O.' assaults the ears as soon as you press play. Ninja's distinctive vocals compete for attention with drums and guitars in a breathless two-minute stampede. The song's apparent similarity with previous efforts doesn't mean the band haven't changed - their distinctive sound remains familiar but there has been a slight change in method. Gone is the extensive use of samples, with Ian Parton the band's leader and founder member, instead using instruments - and even a gospel choir on 'The Running Range' - to flesh out the album.
The band have also enlisted a number of guest artists to help out on some tracks. And rather than crowbaring in Rhianna or Kanye they have gone for smaller names, who (in most cases) suit the song they appear on. Yet, it is difficult to judge how successful they are because when the tracks are strong they tend to be strong because of the tracks themselves and not the guest vocalist. The real exception is 'Buy Nothing Day' where Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino lends her voice to a swirling mix of instruments - it's the sound of The Go! Team with twist of surf-pop. Elsewhere, Dominique Young Unique takes centre stage on 'Voice Yr Choice', rapping over a raucous brass band and Deerhoof's Satomi Matsuzaki adds her vocals to the sweet 'Secretary Song'.
In a recent interview Parton listed his musical influences. Often when musicians wax lyrical about their key reference points it is difficult to pick them up in their songs. Not, however, with The Go! Team. Parton cited Public Enemy ('Apollo Throwdown'), 60s girl groups (Ready To Go Steady'), B-movies ('Super Triangle') and My Bloody Valentine ('Rolling Blackouts'), all of whom can be heard in individual songs.
When Parton started out making the music for what eventually became Thunder, Lightning, Strike, The Go! Team hadn't even been properly formed. After the album took-off he had hurriedly put together a band in order to go on tour. Listening back to their debut it does sound very much like the work of one man. Rolling Blackouts, however, is a group effort and all the better for it. So it's a case of business as usual with a difference or, in the Go! Team's case - evolution rather than revolution.
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