MP3 The Go! Team - "Bottle Rocket"
Boy, am I looking forward to the day when this group gets its ass stateside so I can see them in person. Fluxblog was probably the first to feature UK's The Go! Team back in July, before others like TTIKTDA and Spoilt Victorian Child weighed in with their raves for these genre-hopping, remix-aping, party-popsters about a month later. But, it was Sean from Said The Gramophone that first posted this track, and he had this to say:

This is a one-of-a-kind act, flashy fun and fresh, their bodacious spirit matched only by their musical panache. It's like Belle and Sebastian jamming with the Furious Five, recorders and melodica that bump like toy boats against sample-flush tunes and double-dutch raps. "Bottle Rocket" is an effervescent single that high-kicks to the sky, marching down the street with floating balloons and spinning batons. There's energy to spare, a generous joy, just the right traces of melancholy - it's a triumphant back-to-school return, dancing to your own song on the abandoned beach. One of the year's best!

And this descriptive blurb from Pitchfork (best new music, natch):

Debut album from this Brighton-based six-piece rolls early-80s action theme songs, early hip-hop, Saturday morning cartoons and cheerleading squads into one sick party record bursting with surly, overdriven guitars, triumphant trumpet lines, and battling drum assaults that seem to break through walls with the barreling force of a thousand Kool-Aid men. The Go! Team could potentially be shelved alongside The Avalanches and Rjd2, for the simple fact that all three share a common party aesthetic whose reflection of bygone eras is just slightly wistful. But The Go! Team's reliance on live instrumentation is stunning: This music sounds vintage enough to have come straight off prime-time CBS in 1982, but it's all written and performed by the band themselves.

Being slightly behind the curve (as-per-usual), I didn't get around to writing about the Go! Team until September, and I finally posted a track in October after ordering their outstanding debut album Thunder, Lightning, Strike from the band's label, Memphis Industries. The disc still hasn't received US release, but all of their music can be downloaded via iTunes.

It was a tough choice picking which Go! Team song to include in Mix '04, but I decided to go with "Bottle Rocket" because it just hit me harder on a gut-level. Beyond the old school rapping, the soaring horn arrangement, and the groovy guitar licks, it's the out-of-nowhere, cheer-filled, lose-your-sh** section that explodes out of the bridge & doesn't let up through outro that truly elevates this track to another level. How much fun is this?

Track 01: The Arcade Fire - "Wake Up"
Track 02: Frou Frou - "Let Go"
Track 03: The Walkmen - "The Rat"
Track 04: Interpol - "C'mere"
Track 05: Franz Ferdinand - "Jacqueline"
Track 06: The Killers - "Somebody Told Me"
Track 07: Junior Boys - "Bellona"
Track 08: Kings of Convenience - "I'd Rather Dance With You"


If I joined the Go! Team, could I wear the exclaimation mark? Pretty please?

This entry was posted by mr gilbert at 12/12/2004 01:15:00 PM.