Track Listing

1. Grip Like a Vice
2. Doing It Right
3. My World
4. Titanic Vandalism
5. Fake ID
6. Universal Speech
7. Keys to the City
8. The Wrath of Marcie
9. I Never Needed It Now So Much
10. Flashlight Fight (Featuring Chuck D)
11. Patricia's Moving Picture

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15496 in Music
• Released on: 2007-09-10
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Is it possible to sound like you’re having more fun than The Go! Team? Probably not, going on Proof of Youth, the second album from Brighton’s brightest pop experimentalists. As on its predecessor, 2004’s Thunder, Lightning, Strike, the eleven songs of Proof of Youth burst out your speakers like tangy pop bubblegum, but on closer inspection, suggest a broader, braver web of influences; many bands can remind you of the chirpy soul singalongs of The Jackson 5, the metallic guitar clang of Sonic Youth, or the cut-and-paste sonic collages of Public Enemy’s The Bomb Squad, but only one can do it in a single song. "Grip Like a Vice" and "Titanic Vandalism" prove The Go! Team template is present and correct, joyful melanges of car-chase horns, double dutch vocals, melodic guitar, and crowd-hyping rapping from MC/cheerleader Ninja. But there’s more here than formula. "My World" is a simple, pretty interlude of acoustic guitar, shaker, and synthesiser straight from some Look Around You-style 1980s science show, "I Never Needed It Now So Much" is a naïve pop song featuring vocals from Solex, and the glorious "Flashlight Fight" is a Public Enemy pastiche that actually features Chuck D. Skill. --Louis Pattison

CD Description
'Proof Of Youth' is the second album from the Go Team, who succeed in blending a variety of genres to create a sound that uplifts and reminds the listener how fun music can be. The sextet from Brighton made a name for themselves mixing early hip-hop beats, 1970's funk and art-noise guitars on theirdebut 'Thunder, Lightning, Strike' in 2004 and have built on that mixture for this follow up, without losing their trademark retro sound. Singles include 'Grip Like A Vice' and 'Doing It Right'.

Customer Reviews

Unbelievably, better than the first!
While The Go! Team released their debut album, Thunder Lightning Strike on tiny indie Memphis Industries back in 2004 it wasn't until the single Ladyflash was everwhere in 2005/6 that i finally took the opportunity to check them out, and boy was i glad i did. This was the band of my dreams, mixing old school electro, cheerleading chants, Sonic Youth discordance, C86 cutie and tv cop show soundtracks, it was the kind of record you actually listened to whilst you danced.

Baring in mind how much i loved the record, it was still a huge suprise when i finally saw them live, this was the album to the power of ten, the guitars were ear shredding, the beats in yer face (two drummers!)and it was all topped off with front-woman Ninja who's old-skool call and response was so out of place at an 'indie' gig it couldn't help make you grin from ear to ear. Leaving the gig i couldn't help but imagine how great the next album could sound.

And here it is, and i have to say it's surpassed my wildest expectations. First single, 'Grip Like A Vice' is the most punk rock 'comeback' single i've heard for ages, 'Doing it Right' is already a live favourite and they've nailed it here, Fake ID reminds me of The Pastels, but The Pastels never sounded this melodic or urgent. The Wrath Of Marcie is the most joyful track The Go! Team have done yet while Keys To City is the best track they've done period (can't wait to hear this one live...)

With Proof Of Youth, The Go! Team have walked back into the stadium and knocked the ball clean out of the ground, god i love this band.

All right, do it right!
If the Go! Team's debut "Thunder Lightning Strike!" was a cheerleading squad on acid, then their second is the same squad taking over a club.

And "Proof of Youth" features this deliciously raucous, wild-sounding Brighton band splashing new sounds over their music. The quieter songs don't quite fit their sound as well, but fortunately most of the album is rollicking colourful rock'n'roll and quirky rap-pop, still fresh and fun.

"The blast from the past, superb in every word/Soupest female rapper, yes the best you heard... To you!/So what you wanna do?" It's a bit self-absorbed, but who cares? The first song -- and lead single -- is a frenetically-drummed, funky dance tune with their trademarked acid-funk-cheerleading-rock style. It'll make you dance, whether you like it or not.

It also sets the tone for the album, with loads of rollicking indiepop full of emphatic raps you can barely make out. Lots of blaring horns, schizophrenic synth, shimmering melodica, tinkly edges, wild riffs and bouncy, expansive melodies that are dizzying to listen to. The driving rock and powerpop hurtle you toward the finish line, the quirky, playful "Patricia's Moving Picture."

But the Go! Team also tries out some quieter songs -- "I Never Needed It Now So Much" is a straightforward indiepop tune with some wonky keyboard. And "My World" is a bit of a shock, with just a layer of keyboard over an acoustic instrumental. It's a letdown when it starts, and a shock when it switches over to the jumbled festival sound of "Titanic Vandalism."

Basically the Go! Team have much the same sound as before -- rap-funk-psychrock-pop as played by alien cheerleaders, and played with the same kind of wild enthusiasm. And to keep listeners astounded, "Proof of Life" just tries a few new things, polishes the edges, and tries for a more organic sound with fewer samples.

Okay, I didn't really like the quiet songs -- they didn't sound like the Go! Team, and didn't possess that volcanic energy. But all the other songs show why I adore this band: playfully colourful funky-pop, or wild, driving indie-rock/rap. The instrumentation is a dense tangle of roiling electric guitars, gentle acoustics, crazy smashing drums, xylophone chimes, a brassy array of trumpets, and waves and swooshes of colourful synth. Occasionally you can even hear a harmonica in there.

And the samples? They're still there, but they're more interwoven into the melodies -- you can hear some sirens somewhere in the mix, alongside Ninja's powerful raps, Solex's pop tune, Kaori Tsuchida's girlish chants ("DO it! DO it! ALL RIGHT!") and Chuck D in the penultimate track. Bless him, his raps blend seamlessly into the storm of crazy brass'n'riffs.

"Proof of Life" could have benefited by snipping a couple of songs, but the resulting sophomore album is still a gloriously energetic, joyous mishmash of styles and sounds. All right, do it all right!

doitalrightht
do it!

do it!

alright!

why this album works: it's like eating sugar when you were 7. a huge rush flows through your body until you fall over, frothing at the mouth and crying. being a dumb kid, of course, you keep coming back, eating more and more sugar until your teeth turn to dust. imagine that scenario without the negative bits. that's this album, and that's why it's so great.

sugarsgeateateatme.!!.,1