Thunder, Lightning, Strike (The Go! Team)
Having a rubbish day? Need something to lift your spirits during the long hard months of winter? Then look no further than The Go! Team’s long player, Thunder, Lightning, Strike.
Described on the blurb in Probe Records as their album of the year, after a few short listens I find it difficult to disagree.
I can’t quite put my finger on what Thunder, Lightning, Strike reminds me of, though the nearest musical reference points would probably be the Avalanches or LemonJelly.
The Go! Team employ a mixture of samples, scratches and an accompanying wide range of instruments, including strings, horns, a harmonica and even on ‘Get it Together’ what sounds like a recorder, to create a largely instrumental sound that strolls along. The vast majority of tracks are driven by crashing live drums rather than drum loops or sampled beats, and this combined with rousing horns and plinky-plonky pianos contrives to give a resolutely uplifting feel to the album. Tracks like ‘Junior Kickstart’ and ‘Bottle Rock’, which features a sampled Sugarhil style rap, rattle along, while the more mellow LemonJelly-esque ‘Everyone’s a VIP to Someone’, concludes the album in a thoroughly chilled-out fashion. ‘Huddle Formation’ sounds like a slice of summery indie-pop which could have been culled from some early 90s B-side.
Throughout the album there is general feeling that the basis for The Go! Team’s tunes are some half-remembered 70s and 80s TV themes. Elements of ‘Bottle Rock’ in particular remind me of the theme from some sports show like Superstars or World of Sport. There are also moments when I could picture their music accompanying the cheesy interludes on Sesame Street when some suitably multi-cultural group of kids cruise around their neighbourhood on bikes. This is all held together however by the way the drums, samples and instrumentals are laid over the top.
Thunder, Lightning, Strike is a fantastic little collection of cheering tunes which would probably be great to drive along to on a warm summer’s day in your classic soft-top Beetle. In the meantime though, close the curtains, turn the heating up, and pretend that you’re on the beach.
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Posted by Shikibu