1/25/11 - The Go! Team

I'm choosing a band that's been around for more than a minute for today's Daily Bomb, because their recently released third album "Rolling Blackouts" continues to evolve their incredibly unique sound into better and better sonic territory.

I first saw The Go! Team play live at South By Southwest 2006, just a few months after their first album, "Thunder, Lightning, Strike!" was released. I'd heard a few tracks from the album before I caught their live show at the Spin Magazine party, and had mixed feelings. I wasn't initially sure that I quite got their music. It felt like what could best be described as high-energy hip hop chanted by a squad of cheerleaders on a sugar high. Only after I saw the translation of that music to a mind-reelingly aerobic live show did I get just what an interesting and singular fusion this music really was. There were classic soul samples (Shirley Ellis seemed to be a favorite to borrow from on this album) mixed in with horns, beats, singing, chanting, rapping...and it all came together in a way that probably inspired a lot of people to rethink their aversion to running for exercise. I'm seriously not kidding. As someone who generally asserts that she is saving all her running for when the zombies start chasing her, I dusted off my trainers, put in my earbuds and attempted (and failed) to run around the block. Probably, there were fist pumps and impromptu jumping jacks involved.

Second album "Proof of Youth" increased the thickness of production, proving that the band was anything but a one-minute-man. There was a more indie-slant, with more sing-songy numbers that nonetheless never sacrificed any of the super-soul-party edginess of the first album. There's a lot to be said for a band that understands inherently all the qualities that makes them one-of-a-kind, valid and unique, and evolves around them rather than away from them.

With the release of "Rolling Blackouts" today, they do more of the same type of evolution, and this time they invite a couple of guests along for the ride. Adding elements of 60s West Coast twang, and throwback AM gold to the mix, the first song previewed a month or so ago was an offering called "Buy Nothing Day" which featured Bethany Cosentino from Best Coast on vocal duty. "Secretary Song," a slanted little popster, features Satomi Matsuzaki of Deerhoof. The other songs alternate between lush,pastoral instrumentals and floorshaking sing-alongs that combine the chant-worthy choruses of classic Go! Team cuts with a surprisingly rich, layered vocal harmony.

Below is the video for "Secretary Song." The band promises a new video each day this week. Most excellent!