With the release of their debut album Thunder, Lightning, Strike, The Go! Team created a unique, high-energy sound that featured everything from cheerleader chants and hip-hop to banjos and harmonicas. The group keeps that sound and tweaks it a bit for Proof Of Youth, their sophomore release. While the freshness of their sound has worn off a little bit, this album is just as creative and just as fun as their last one.
The album gets going with the one-two punch of “Grip Like A Vice” and “Doing It Right.” “Grip Like A Vice” is a signature Go! Team dance track filled with guitars, horns, and hard-hitting drums. The whole thing is then given an old-school hip-hop vibe from member Ninja's raps (“So what you gonna do / Wanna rock the house / And turn this mutha out / Fly girls are you with us”). “Doing It Right” has an infectious beat and features those cheerleader-style chants put to great use. You can't help but sing along to lyrics like “Do it! Do it! All right!”
The energy of those two songs is firmly intact on most of the album. There are indie-rock elements running through “Fake ID” while the Double Dutch Divas lend their vocals (sampled from a documentary called I Was Made To Love Her) to “Keys To The City.” Chuck D sounds right at home on the stellar “Flashlight Fight,” a track that sounds like what would happen if the Bomb Squad produced a Go! Team song.
There are a couple of quieter moments on the album that surprise. “My World” is a simple, instrumental piece that's mostly acoustic. “I Never Needed It Now So Much” is a straightforward pop song devoid of wild horns or frenetic drums with Solex on vocals. It feels kind of like a funky Vince Guaraldi song. Both of these songs are quite good and I hope that the group explores this type of sound on a future album.
Article comments
1 - The Boy Flood
Great Review Sterfish dude. I have their first album which I found instantly accessible. I'm glad that it's more of the same in the new album. They sound and feel fresh enough to get away with it, and I quite like a bit of continuity in a band. Your point is well made though as other bands will surely imitate them, and this is why ultimately they may need to change the formula.
I hope they manage to get away with it in the next album ;)