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Monday, October 22, 2007
The Go! Team at The Mezzanine 10/19/07
When you walk into The Mezzanine you automatically feel like a beautiful person. The ground floor has all the space for standing, a bar but then you notice there's another bar inside a little room off to the side. It's when you get to the second floor and see the little rooms with couches on them perfect for beautiful people to make out on (as well as the third bar in the building) you begin to think to yourself "by simply being here I have become awesome." Even if you're at the show alone and know you are going to write about the show for a blog maybe ten people read you feel cool.
I was there to see a proper show from The Go! Team. I had seen them the night before at Amoeba Records but as energetic as the band was the mix for that show was horrible. As on their records, the band has a lot going on and the vocal get buried under the sound (think of the sound of singing on My Bloody Valentine's Loveless). I have seen The Bell-Rays and The Raconteurs at Amoeba (I'm probably going to see Thurston Moore there Oct. 28th) and knew that the mixes could be bad. Still, what do you want for nothing, a rubber biscuit? I had gotten just enough of a taste of this group that knocked me out with their charisma, frontwoman Ninja's charisma really, and their catchy mix of rock 'n' roll and hip-hop. I remember reading a an article where a woman predicted, after listening to Chuck D guest on Sonic Youth's Goo, that when Sonic Youth and Public Enemy mix everything will change for the better. She was disappointed to see that the mix between hip-hop and rock resulted in Limp Bizkit and Korn, band's that combined the worst in hip-hop and rock 'n' roll. The Go! Team takes the best of the two worlds with bubblegum melodies, avant-guitar and Ninja's part raps, which could come straight from the era of Kurtis Blow and Afrika Bambaataa. They even got the esteemed Mr. D for their new record.
After a strong DJ set the opening band Bodies of Water took the stage. At their best they sounded like a New Wave opera. The harmonies of the two male/two female line up provided much of the hooks, backed up by some driving music. Soon it was easy to notice that most of the vocal melodies came from chants of "ah-aaah!" I started to wish the band changed up their approach to instrumentation and let the keyboards or guitar carry the melody for once. Even more lyrics in the chants would be welcome, as it was in their best song of the night "I Guess I'll Forget the Sound, I Guess, I Guess" (they have a link to the song on their site but unfortunately it doesn't work). Their commitment to create a choral sound based on the personnel of a typical rock band impressed me and I would like to see what they come up with in a few years.
When The Go! Team hits the stage they immediately have the crowd in the palm of their hand. Ninja tells the audience that they're beautiful and that San Francisco reminds here of the hippest parts of London. As soon as the bands rips into "Grip Like a Vice," also the opener of their latest record Proof of Youth, the energy and fun that the band was feeling bled into the people on the floor. The band sounded great. This mix was pretty even in the fact that everything was in the red, accurately reflecting how The Go! Team sounds on record. As the band went through most of Proof of Youth as well as favorite from Thunder, Lighting, Stike, "Ladyflash," "Junior Kickstart" and most approvingly "Huddle Formation," it became impossible not to dance. Everyone in the audience in the stage felt euphoric joy being part of this mass of ass-shakers. At the encore Ninja asked us to shout along to the chorus of "Doing It Right" ("Do it! Do it! Alright!") but she didn't have to. The woman had us in her control. It felt damn good.
The next day I compared The Go! Team's first album to their latest. I had never really investigated the matter. I had only heard a few songs from the band, preferring to really get a sense of the band live. That's probably why I'm biased towards Proof of Youth over i>Thunder, Lightning Strike. Most of the first album was recorded in the kitchen of band leader Ian Parton. His approach to mixing samples and live instruments is innovative but the album has just as much slow instrumentals as it does fist-pumping numbers like "Huddle Formation." Proof of Youth really benefits from Parton forming a band for his ideas. It feels more alive and is dominated by songs with big exclamations and loud hooks. I've been playing it like crazy since seeing the show. I suggest you sample it as well.
Permanent Link: 6:47 PM |
2 comments
Comments:
That's an interesting point, Ian.
When I saw them, they were opening for Sonic Youth (how's that for coincidence) and they were only performing material from TLS.
Although I loved the show, I was a little underwhelmed.
I think you might have a point about POY 's songs sounding better live.
# posted by AaronM : 7:54 PM
i actually just started listening to them two days ago, I forget at who's suggestion. And it's funny that you said their latest album was recorded in a kitchen because I thought it sounded like quite a bit of it the tracks on that album sounded like they were bouncing off the kitchen sink and various other things. Fun music though, I enjoyed it.
# posted by DavePress : 6:23 AM
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