WE DO THE MASHED POTATO AND THE FUNKY CHICKEN

The Go! Team

Thunder, Lightning, Strike

  • AMG Review of Thunder, Lightning, Strike

    Amg
    Tim Sendra
    All Music Guide

    The Go! Team earn their exclamation point. Their debut album, Thunder, Lightning, Strike, is a refreshing blast of Day-Glo ubble-dance-pop that could crack a smile on even the most frozen of faces. The sound of the record is a slap in the face to audio purists; it sounds like it was recorded on a truck stop-quality cassette in a very damp, crowded basement. The feel of the record is like a slap on the arse of complacent music-makers everywhere. A wake-up call to arms; a "can you top this?" The group whips up a clattering, exhilarating collage of Northern soul horns meshed with sampledelic beats, plangent harmonica, lyrical piano melodies that bring Martin Duffy's work with Felt to mind (especially on "Feelgood By Numbers"), hard-charging '70s police drama funk, old-school hip-hop, and sincere indie rock. Everyone from Marley Marl to Sonic Youth is roped in to be borrowed from. It's all thrown together with a glorious sense of what works and what doesn't. There isn't a single misstep on the record and it is hard to pick favorites because every song is so blindingly good. Still, if pressed, one might pick "Ladyflash" because it encapsulates everything that is brilliant about the band, from the "Tighten Up" samples to the wonderful vocals (by the one-woman wrecking crew Ninja) that are equal parts playground hip-hop crossed with a sassy girl group to the melody to the two drummers beating the holy crap out of their kits. Find a better song than this from 2004 and you are lying. Well, maybe "Huddle Formation," a more straightforward song with the same double dutch vocals, only this time married to bracing New Order playing the hits of Phil Spector in a wind tunnel musical backing. But again any song would do, the banjo-driven epic allad "Everyone's a V.I.P. to Someone," the funkier than Ike & Tina "Bottle Rocket," the theme to the best day of your life "Friendship Update." It's pin the tail on the donkey where everywhere you stick the pin gets you a prize. The Go! Team is widescreen in a pan-and-scan world, a sparkling rejoinder to purists and spoilsports everywhere and more fun than recess on the last day of school. Cinematic, fantastic, and essential to all who want their music larger than life and rambunctious, Thunder, Lightning, Strike is the kind of record that makes you glad to be alive. What could be better than that?

any sort of mostly spontaneous occurance
about 1 year ago
Blog post image preview

So, I wake up yesterday morning and I realize, almost immediately, that I needed a new cd to listen to on the drive to work. For a couple days I had been listening to R.L. Burnside's Come On In, which was great, but we were getting to the fifth or sixth play-through, and it was getting a little stale, you know.So, whatever, I need a new cd in order that I might be able to tolerate the ten minu...

More >
For All Fans of Arrested Development
over 2 years ago

Michael Cera and friend Clark Duke have created a show of sorts, to debut on the internet on May 26th. It has a lot of Arrested Development cameos. This is my favorite of the two previews because of the use of The Go! Team song Huddle Formation. I love when it starts up right with that freeze frame of them in mid-jump on the beach. And Mitch Hurwitz's first few lines are awesome.

More >
I know i know.
over 2 years ago

Its posted on the front page, but this video is so flipping freaking phantabulously awsome, and i love The Go! team that much, that i must repost it.

More >
Take me on a Miamiscapade
over 3 years ago
Blog post image preview

Here is the joyously fun group, The Go! Team, performing behind some hotel in Miami for the 2005 Winter Music Conference.They may have enough fingers on one hand to count how many recorded songs they've released, but The Go! Team are something fierce. I had no clue a polyphonic sound like The Go! Team could carry through live so well on stage.Everyone's Gotta 'Space

More >
over 3 years ago
Depression & how to counter it
over 3 years ago

Well, autumn is here. It's effing cold, the sky is grey and I feel like hibernating. At such times, I set my iTunes to Random and wait for some kind of inspiring, uplifting song to appear. This time, I got a result that I didn't expect - I only had The Go! Teams' "Thunder Lightning Strike" for a short time, and until yet didn't find the time to listen to it. Then "Bottle Rocket" came along, and...

More >
Simliar Artists?
about 1 year ago

I just found about The Avalanches and I'm really into this Sampling stuff like The Go! Team. Anyone know any similar artists? Similar Artist : Lady Flash by The Go! Team

More >
so close...yet so far.
over 3 years ago

My 21st b-day is on friday(7/7). I might be going bowling with my friend and then out to dinner with my mom, and after that i think i'm pretty much home, that is unless my friend isn't tired after working the late shift and we'll go after hours clubbing. But other than that, my 21st is gonna go by w/o much happening. Which is kinda sad. I mean i'm gonna have my first drink, but other than that,...

More >

Get Ringtones from Dada.net

Click to purchase…

Top Thunder, Lightning, Strike Listeners

© 2006-2009 Mog Inc. All Rights Reserved