Music Corner: What Would Jay-Z Do?
September 27, 2007 by Run Up The Score!
Unfortunately, I must report the apparent demise of The Go! Team. They didn’t break up or anything, but their new album sucks. This makes me sad. More on that in a moment. In the meantime, some things that don’t suck:
mp3:
Guilty Simpson — Man’s World
Ben Lee — What Would Jay-Z Do?
Evil Harrisons — Lion Salad
Blueprint — 1988 [HT: Hero Hill]
And an old favorite…
Beulah — Popular Mechanics For Lovers (live)
Finally, I’ve repeatedly extolled the virtues of The Go! Team’s first album, “Thunder, Lightning, Strike!” on this blog. We’re talking lovelovelove it to the point where I’d honestly consider it one of the best in my entire collection (and yes, we’re going to revisit that “best albums I own” feature sooner than later).
As it turns out, I may hate their followup album “Proof Of Youth” as much as I loved the first. You decide. I’m leaning toward “hate beyond belief”. I don’t even see it as having the potential to grow on me. It just sucks. Put another way, I’ve never been so disappointed in an album I’ve waited so long for. Three sample tracks:
The Go! Team — Doing It Right
The Go! Team — Milk Crisis
The Go! Team — Keys To The City [HT: Carl Sandberg Visits...]
In fact, this is only worthwhile track I’ve heard so far:
The Go! Team — The Wrath Of Marcie [HT: Red Blondehead]
Meanwhile, here are some tracks from the older, infinitely better album.
The Go! Team — Ladyflash
The Go! Team — Junior Kickstart
The Go! Team — Huddle Formation
What they apparently failed to remember is that the strength of the band is solid instrumentation and production with a sprinkling of The Cute. We don’t need to understand what Ninja is saying because she’s not saying anything particularly creative or important. That’s what good about the first album — we hear her voice, but it’s not loud or prominent enough to be distracting. Many of the TLS tracks were instrumentals, for God’s sake! And they were great! Exclamation point!
Stupid Go! Team. They’ve completely pissed on the formula. I mean, come on. This was fun:
Are you sure you don’t like the album just because it’s different and if you revisit it 6 months or a year down the road that you’ll dig it? I find that a recurring theme with new albums from bands I love - hate at first and then grow to really enjoy a lot.
Say it ain’t so, RUTSie! I loved Thunder Lightning Strike.
Nick — That was the way I approached Kid A and Amnesiac. Then I realized, “wait a second, I actually do really hate this stuff.”
Hey Man, I’m a first timer poster…PSU ‘90…been a steady reader for the last 4-5 months.
I share your displeasure with the new Go! Team…Huddle Formation is one my favorit tracks of all time. It’s a similar from the first Junior Senior to the second. Sometime that magic can’t be repeated.
But the record of the year, as near-cliche as it may be in some circles, is Kala by MIA.
If you did Brazilian sounds, the new disc by Maria Rita, Samba Meu, is extremely good…for those not familiar, I recommend the 2nd track as a starter.
I’m fairly sure when I’m confronted with an album that I don’t immediately like, but will probably grow on me. The last Wilco album was like that. Practically every Wilco album is that like, actually. With this new TG!T album, I feel like not a lot of thought went into it. Or maybe too much thought. The “noise” that was complimentary on the first album seems like it’s been pushed to the forefront now.
I’ll absolutely check out the MIA and Maria Rita — thanks for the recommendation, and keep the comments coming.
Nice post. Although I would appreciate it if when you link to mp3s (Keys to the City) hosted by my site, that you would have the courtesy to link to my actual site as well (http://carlsandburgvisits.com).
Thank you for your understanding,
Benji
Benji — No problem, thanks!