The Go! Team

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For the 1980s American indie rock band, see The Go Team.
The Go! Team
The Go! Team playing in Stockholm, 2004
The Go! Team playing in Stockholm, 2004
Background information
OriginBrighton, East Sussex, England
GenresIndie rock, indie pop, alternative hip hop, alternative dance, instrumental, plunderphonics
Years active2000–present
Labelscurrent: Memphis Industries, , Shock, ; previous: Columbia Records, Pickled Egg Records, V:Room/Stubbie, Cooperative, Sub Pop, Secret City
Associated actsCUZ
Websitethegoteam.co.uk
MembersIan Parton
Ninja
Sam Dook
Niadzi Muzira
Simone Odaranile
Adam Znaidi
Past membersJamie Bell
Chi Fukami Taylor
Kaori Tsuchida
Angela "Maki" Won-Yin Mak
Cheryl Pinero
Silke Steidinger

The Go! Team are an English six-piece band from Brighton, England. They combine indie rock and garage rock with a mixture of funk and Bollywood soundtracks, double Dutch chants, old school hip hop and distorted guitars. Their songs are a mix of live instrumentation and samples from various sources. The band's vocals vary between performances: while live vocals are handled mostly by Ninja, vocals on record also feature sampled and guest voices.

History[]

Ian Parton conceived the project after wanting to create music incorporating Sonic Youth-style guitars, double Dutch chants, Bollywood soundtracks, old school hip hop and electro.[1] These ideas led towards the recording of Thunder, Lightning, Strike in his parents' kitchen.[2]

Thunder, Lightning, Strike[]

Main article: Thunder, Lightning, Strike

The Go! Team's first album, Thunder, Lightning, Strike, was released in the UK and Europe on the Memphis Industries label in September 2004, to widespread critical acclaim.[3] The album was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2005.

The album was recorded at Parton's parents' house and co-produced and mixed by Ian's brother Gareth Parton at The Fortress Studios, London.[4]

In June 2004, Ian Parton recruited a band to play the Accelerator Festival in Sweden after having been asked to play when no band existed. The live band is a "separate entity" to the original studio vision, as the performances became radically different from the recordings, particularly due to vocalist Ninja's freestyled vocals over what had been instrumental studio tracks.

Ian Parton failed to clear any of the samples used in the album, believing it would not sell and nobody would notice. He and his brother later had to work with a musicologist to write around or recreate samples they could not use.[5] The album was reissued with the reworked tracks in the United Kingdom and the United States the following year.[6]

The band's popularity increased with the re-issue of "Ladyflash" in the UK, resulting in national primetime airplay on radio stations such as BBC Radio 1, Xfm and the Atlanta, US based 99X. The song "Get It Together" from Thunder, Lightning, Strike was featured in trailers for the video game LittleBigPlanet.[7]

The track "The Power Is On" from Thunder, Lightning, Strike was included in "The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to Present."[8] This song was also used in the Atlanta Falcons' NFL Play60 commercial.[9]

Proof of Youth[]

Main article: Proof of Youth

On 13 May 2007, The Go! Team announced the release of their new single and subsequent album on their website.[10] Shortly following this, the band travelled to Shanghai, China, playing a show organised by Split Works.[11]

The single, "Grip Like a Vice", was released on 2 July 2007, and the new album, called Proof of Youth, was released on 10 September in the UK and a day later in the US. It featured samples and live band recordings, as well as special guests such as Chuck D, Solex, and ex-Bonde do Rolê singer Marina Ribatski.[12] The second single from Proof of Youth, "Doing It Right", was released on 3 September 2007 and received daytime radio play from BBC Radio 1 and soundtracked the BBC's launch of the iPlayer.

A stand-alone single "Milk Crisis" was released via free download on 21 July 2008. They later released a 2-disc limited edition of the record with b-sides of the album including "Milk Crisis", "Phantom Broadcast", "A Version of Myself", and a remix of "Grip Like a Vice" by Black Affair.

In 2008 The Go! Team contributed the song "Templates from Home" to Bruce Parry's Survival International charity album, Songs for Survival.

Rolling Blackouts[]

Main article: Rolling Blackouts

In an interview with Stereogum in August 2008,[13] songwriter Ian Parton spoke about recording The Go! Team's third album and the direction he was going in for this project. He wanted to make music that "flips fidelity within the same song, and make it flow like a song should", his idea of "schizo music".[14]

On 5 August 2010, the band announced a collaboration with Satomi Matsuzaki of Deerhoof, entitled 'Secretary Song'.[15]

On 28 October 2010, the track listing for The Go! Team's forthcoming album Rolling Blackouts was confirmed. The album's first single, 'Buy Nothing Day', was released on 24 January 2011 in both the UK and US on 7" vinyl. The track, which features vocals by Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast, is backed with a cover version of Betty and Karen's 'I'm Not Satisfied' sung by French singer Soko. The single was A-listed for five consecutive weeks on BBC 6 Music in the UK as well as picking up 'most requested' status on Triple J Radio in Australia.

The album was released on 31 January 2011. The album received 4/5 reviews in a number of UK publications including Q magazine, Uncut, The Times and The Fly.[16]

The second single to be released from the album was a collection of Apollo Throwdown/Voice Yr Choice remixes released as a limited edition of 500 12" singles on blue vinyl as part of Record Store Day (16 April 2011). The record included remixes of Apollo Throwdown by Star Slinger and D/R/U/G/S, alongside remixes of Voice Yr Choice by The Ruby Suns and Tobacco. A promo CD single of the regular version of Apollo Throwdown was released in late March followed by a 4-track digital download-only EP on iTunes, released on 24 April, which contained the album version, Star Slinger and D/R/U/G/S remixes, and an exclusive instrumental version of the track.

On 11 February 2014, a fourteen-second-long video was uploaded to The Go! Team's website and YouTube, Facebook and Twitter accounts showing a montage of images with new music playing in the background.[17] A similar promo had been uploaded on 15 September 2014.[18]

The Scene Between[]

Main article: The Scene Between

On 18 December 2014, The Go! Team announced their return by uploading a trailer for their new album.[19] The trailer features the songs from the short promos that were uploaded earlier in 2014, as well as other new material. On 6 January 2015, the title and track list were announced. The Scene Between was released on 25 March 2015.

Semicircle[]

Main article: Semicircle (album)

On 11 October 2017, The Go! team announced the release of Semicircle, their fifth full-length LP. Semicircle was released on 19 January 2018.[20] Exclaim! scored the album a 7 out of 10, stating that the album "is a team effort, and all the better for it."[21]

Get Up Sequences Part One[]

On 18 March 2021, The Go! Team announced their sixth album, Get Up Sequences Part One, which was subsequently released on 2 July 2021.[22]

Band members[]

The Go! Team playing at the Big Day Out in Melbourne, Australia

Current members[]

  • Ian Parton: vocals, guitars, harmonica, piano, drums, triangle, glockenspiel, tambourine
  • Ninja: vocals, drums, tambourine, recorder
  • Sam Dook: guitars, banjo, drums, tambourine
  • Niadzi Muzira: drums
  • Simone Odaranile: drums, percussion
  • Adam Znaidi: bass

Former members[]

  • Jamie Bell: bass, piano, glockenspiel
  • Chi Fukami Taylor: drums, percussion, vocals
  • Kaori Tscuhida: guitars, vocals, keyboards, tambourine
  • Angela "Maki" Won-Yin Mak: vocals, guitars, melodica, recorder, tambourine
  • Cheryl Pinero: bass guitar
  • Silke Steidinger

Discography[]

Main article: The Go! Team discography

Studio albums[]

References[]

  1. ^ "4Play – The Go! Team". 4Play. Psychedelic-concentration-camp.com. October 2005. Channel 4.
  2. ^ Serck, Linda (8 June 2007). "Ready, steady...GO!". BBC.co.uk. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  3. ^ "Critic Reviews for Thunder, Lightning, Strike". Metacritic.com. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  4. ^ Doyle, Tom. "The Go! Team: Recording Thunder, Lightning, Strike". Soundonsound.com. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
  5. ^ "The Go! Team: Recording Thunder, Lightning, Strike". www.soundonsound.com. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  6. ^ "The Go! Team Signs With Columbia". Billboard. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  7. ^ "LittleBigLetters – the letters! – Media Molecule – We make games". Media Molecule. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
  8. ^ Plagenhoef, Scott; Schreiber, Ryan, eds. (November 2008). The Pitchfork 500. Simon & Schuster. pp. 190–191. ISBN 978-1-4165-6202-3.
  9. ^ Wilkening, Matthew (27 October 2010). "NFL Play 60 'Bus' Commercial – What's the Song?". AOL Radio Blog. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
  10. ^ "News". Thegoteam.co.uk. 13 May 2007. Archived from the original on 8 September 2007. Retrieved 10 September 2007.
  11. ^ [1] Archived 17 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Siddiqui, Tabassum (14 September 2007). "There's an "I" in The Go! Team". AOL Music Canada. AOL. Archived from the original on 21 October 2007. Retrieved 22 February 2021.
  13. ^ "Progress Report: The Go! Team". Stereogum.com. 11 August 2009. Retrieved 16 August 2009.
  14. ^ "Interview With Ian Parton". Titanicfandalism.co.uk. 26 January 2009. Retrieved 16 August 2009.
  15. ^ "Secretary Song Announcement Update". Facebook.com. 26 January 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2010.
  16. ^ "The Go! Team: Rolling Blackouts' could be our last album'". NME. 2 February 2011. Retrieved 8 February 2011.
  17. ^ "YouTube". YouTube.com. 11 February 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  18. ^ "The Scene Between - album trailer". YouTube.com. 15 September 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  19. ^ "The Scene Between album trailer". YouTube.com. 18 December 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  20. ^ "The Go! Team Announce New Album Semicircle, Share New Song: Listen | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  21. ^ "The Go! Team Semicircle". exclaim.ca. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  22. ^ Bloom, Madison. "The Go! Team Announce New Album, Share Song". Pitchfork. Retrieved 19 March 2021.

External links[]

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