Blogstar Memoirs

Review – The Go! Team’s new album – Rolling Blackouts

Today I thought I’d write about something we don’t normally focus on – music!

Our team at Rockstar have an eclectic taste in music – with die-hard fans of everything from Lady Gaga, to David Bowie, to Michael Buble, to Mozart. Me I’m a die-hard fan of an indie-pop garage-rock band, The Go! Team.

And finally after a long and painful 4 year wait, they’ve released a new album Rolling Blackouts!

And it’s the best thing ever!

Attempted description of The Go! Team…

The Go! Team are like nothing you’ve heard before. Their music can be described as an addictive up-beat sugar-hit melody trip of dandy, that beamingly awakens the fun-loving kid inside everyone! And that kid still is inside everyone.

The Go Team! is pop without the lame. Pop-rock without the “same old” vibe. It’s not for everyone, but everyone gets it. It’s flutes, trumpets, chants, hip-hop and cute-as-hell vocals that make so much sense! There are cherries there too. Yes. cherries.

The Album…

Rolling Blackouts is The Go! Team’s third gear. And while you don’t have to have heard their first 2 albums, you have to know that gear 3 is so much more smoother, faster, and slicker than the first 2.

Individually, almost every track has an original soul of it’s own, and when heard together back-to-back on the album, every track in their entirety and order makes so much sense. Unlike albums 1 and 2, nothing feels out of place, lost or boring. When the energy gets too much, in slows down. Not to a crawl, but a melodic peace that soothes your sense for your next joy-powered overload.

If I had to make a complaint about Rolling Blackouts, it would be the vocals. After all, with a lead vocalist called Ninja – you have to hear them right? Yes and no.

I’ve heard the album quite a few times now, and sometimes I wonder what the hell I’m tripping out to. Am I zinging along to a chant about doing big poos? Does it really matter? Not really… It just would have been nice to have a vocal anthem track on there like “Doing it Right“. But that’s not to say there are no athems.

If I had to pick a favourite, I’d say Tracks 2 (Secretary Song), 3 (Apollo Throwdown), 4 (Ready to Go Steady), 5 (Bust out Brigade), 6 (Buy Nothing Day), 8 (Voice Yr Choice), 9 (Yosemite Theme), 1o (Running Range), and 13 (Back Like 8 Track) are all tied as the favourite.

haha. seriously – they’re all that good! If I had to pick an absolute absolute, it would have to be 10 (Running Range), and 13 (Back Like 8 Track). Again – I can’t split them.

A few months ago, The Go! Team released track 1 on the net (T.O.R.N.A.D.O.). It’s probably the least representative track on there, so don’t pay too much attention when you first get started.

By now, you would have worked out that I’m pretty fanatical about this album. It’s the first time I’ve ever written an album review. On my business website. That creates yearbooks. Yeah.

So go buy it kids.

Finally, the bestest bestest thing about the album are the trumpets on the last track. If there was a theme for “winner!”, as in “WINNER!!! – I told you so!“, and “WINNER = the good guy wins the heart of the pretty girl“, – it’s that track. It’s triumph at it’s best. It’s The Go! Team saying “we’ve been away for 4 years, and now we’re back”. And it was certainly worth the wait.