September 21, 2004 | Posted by Blair at 6:48 PM

go go go go go go Go! Team

go go gadget go! team
"Huddle Formation" and "Junior Kickstart" by The Go! Team -- Holy crap, these songs, quite seriously, are the best things I have heard all year. Period. Turn your stereo way way way up and let em just blast out of your speakers. These songs make me want to run around in circles till I fall down dizzy, or bounce on my bed till I crash straight up through the ceiling and into outer space, or ride my BMX down a hill and off a cliff into a lake.

Basically, to me, the Go! Team sound like childhood in all the best ways. The team is an international 50/50 girl/boy-split effort, Sam Dook on geetars, Chi on drums, Jamie Bell on bass, Ninja on vox, multi-instrumentalist Silke, and band leader/producer Ian P on guitar and (according to their press release) "fucked up harmonica." What this gang of malcontents, who live in Brighton and London, amount to is the best super-sample-tastic-sounding record, like the Avalanches with the joy-juice and amplifiers turned up three hundred percent. Their amazing album, Thunder, Lightning, Strike came out last week (to rediculously good reviews) on the fantastic Memphis Industries label, and it is available to buy direct from the label (support indie music!) here.

For those of you readers lucky enough to reside in Ol Blighty, the Go! Team is playing at The Barfly in London on the 30th of September, at The Spitz on the 7th of October in London, and at Fibbers in York on the 23rd of October.

Comments

The Go! Team record is definitely one of the very best things of the year so far. And gadzooks! I may even be in London in time to see them!

Posted by: Sean at September 22, 2004 12:42 AM

Wow, that's pretty awesome. I think I like "Huddle Formation" the best, especially since that's the best song name I've heard of in a long time.

Posted by: David at September 22, 2004 10:28 AM

I just can't get over how these guys are just one punctuation mark away from having the same name as one of my favorite bands ever, the Go Team. It's just kind of uncool. It's like if I started a band called Guided! by Voices or the Sex! Pistols or Godspeed! You! Black Emperor or something. I know the Go Team aren't all that famous, but they were very influential in their way, and featured some pretty famous members (Calvin Johnson, Tobi Vail, etc.) and even more famous guest players (e.g. Kurt Cobain). And everyone knows you at least do a quick google search before you decide on a band name. What ev.

Posted by: susan at September 22, 2004 11:07 AM

my copy of this disc finally arrived on monday here in the states, and i'm loving it. the go! team may be the best thing i've discovered via blog in the 04. believe the hype. personally, i think "bottle rocket" (posted while back by TTIKTDA i think) is my fav thus far.

Posted by: mr g at September 22, 2004 11:26 AM

re: susan's critique, i do agree - i myself looked up "the go team" when i'd first heard about "the go! team," and found the original band first... they were quite the north-western supergroup! then again, when an American band breaks up in 1989, it seems like the statute of limitations has probably passed by 2003 for a UK freak-rock group to take over the name, no?

then again, there's also the Go-Team, at the University of Maryland Medicine school's Trauma Center Advanced Resuscitative Surgical Team For Providing On-Scene Care (GO-TEAM), so there's bound to be some other Go Teams out there...

Posted by: robot blair at September 22, 2004 11:42 AM

i found the junior kickstart track a week ago and it's become my soundtrack for champions (i.e. when i'm being a champion, i hear it in my head). thank you very much.

Posted by: su at September 22, 2004 12:55 PM

My word, these tracks just blew my ass out.

Posted by: DeSandro at September 22, 2004 8:06 PM

hot damn, these guys own.

Posted by: kaoru at September 23, 2004 5:26 PM

Oooh, repeat, repeat, more, more, more.

Posted by: Manda at September 23, 2004 6:10 PM

Unbelievable. I just giggled until I hurt than went out in search of the record. If this can make a cynical jaded music critic like me happy, they're doing something right (or wrong). Interesting interview here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A2989588

Posted by: P Funk at September 24, 2004 2:02 AM

Got the CD today!!!!! oh geez...hoping that they swing by Los Angeles.......oh please!!!!

Posted by: Claudia at September 27, 2004 4:02 PM

no one is talking about the samples! Quincy Jones 'Ironside' was used for one of the best go! team songs.............

Posted by: michael! jackson at September 28, 2004 1:04 PM

Wow! Two great songs. Nice to hear a band that sounds like they're having fun making music. "Huddle Formation" borrows heavily from "The Skateboard Song," an obscure song from the 60s by Norma Tracy and the Cinderella Kids. You can find it on Girls in the Garage Vol. 8

Posted by: Ion at September 28, 2004 6:49 PM

Fundictive!

Posted by: JJ at September 28, 2004 9:04 PM

months later...

for the record, there's a great band called girlsareshort that put out similarly optimistic-sounding nostalgia party tracks (no, they're not friends of mine). Granted, nothing tops skip-rope raps, but these kids deserve a listen too, especially the track "chase that rainbow."

Posted by: spublik at December 21, 2004 4:16 PM

Please can you put me on your mailing list and can you tell me your next couple of gigs wheather it's london or brighton. Thank you yas.

Posted by: yasmin at January 21, 2005 5:45 AM

I always thought they took the name Go! Team from Speed Racer.

Posted by: mike at June 13, 2005 11:28 AM
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