2005’s debut album from The Go! Team — Thunder, Lighting, Strike — was a revelation. It sounded like nothing else on the planet. Reviewers fumbled for descriptions: late-’70s-cop-show-theme-song funk meets late-’80s girl rap meets sample-heavy electronica meets low-fi DIY garage production. Imagine walking down an urban street, with different music jamming out of different windows, and for a brief moment it all meshes together, like a glorious, exuberant bit of serendipity.
I suppose, given the happy-accident quality of the first album, the follow-up was destined to disappoint. Making this kind of sound again, self-consciously, just doesn’t quite work as well. Sure enough, Proof of Youth doesn’t provide quite the same thrill. It’s not bad, but it does lead one to suspect that the band will never recapture the magic.
Still, there are some good cuts, and if this catches your ear at all you really should go dig up the first album.
