CD of The Week

The Go! Team - Get Up Sequences Part Two (Memphis Industries)

No surprises here on The Go! Team’s latest record, Get Up Sequences Part Two, released just 16 months after Part One. Part Two is quite literally a continuation of ebullient and joyfully bombastic songs in both name and spirit. And, with the one exception of trying out a country-tinged slide guitar on “Train,” it is a continuation of the same Go! Team sound since day one, some 19+ years ago.

You want that Salt-N-Pepa 80’s hip-hop sound? Ninja is back in enthusiastic action on the upbeat steel drum and flute track “Gemini,” New York rapper Nitty Scott offers her free-flowing vocals to the 70’s cop drama theme song “Whammy-O” and there is absolutely no disappointment in the rhythmic spit rappin’ lead single “Divebomb.” On it, Detroit vocalist Indigoyaj sings of pro-choice activism with lyrics like “Cause to fight is a right, it's the right to choose” and “Keeping on, organizing, mobilizing.”

Speaking of Detroit, if you enjoyed their Youth Choir, who engaged with The Go! Team on 2018’s Semicircle, then West Africa’s all-girl Star Feminine Band will bring back the trademarked cheerleading chants and drumline percussion. They stand out on “Look Away, Look Away,” which kicks off the album in full force and is almost entirely sung in French, and on the jovial kettle drum and flute swagger of “The Me Frequency,” filled with enough synth fills, zips and zwaps to belong on a 90’s video game soundtrack.

The Go! Team has always been a melting pot of sounds, merging instruments and hooks to make their unique sound. “Going Nowhere” is a simple stripped-down and smiley synth track that sounds like an indie dance collaborative demo from Deerhoof and Pizzicato Five. And “Getting to Know (All the Ways We’re Wrong for Each other)” somehow blends sunny Belle and Sebastian melodies with the tempo and execution of The Jackson Five. While it sounds like it might be a sarcastic breakup song between intimate partners, it is actually a critique of changing politics within a country, where the hero central to the song recognizes she and her country don’t see eye to eye.

That country in question might just be England, as they’ve seen just about as much turmoil and changing attitudes in their country as we have in the U.S. In regard to the new record, Go! Team founder Ian Parton commented in the album’s announcement, “Maybe it's an anti-Brexit reflex; A rejection of flag-waving and inward-facing.” But before one fears that the album concentrates on serious activism or treads into dark, negative territory, Parton was quick to follow up that “The Go! Team has always been about knowing what’s happening but focusing on the good shit.” It is impossible to walk away from this record (and any Go! Team album, honestly) not infused with happy optimism and the urge to move. With this being album number seven, Parton shows that he is still well aware of the adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

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Review by Shepard Ritzen