Get Up Sequences Part One＜Torquoise Vinyl＞

Since they first fired up their sampler in the early 2000s, the Go! Team have built up quite a legacy of breathlessly exciting, empowering, and fun music. 2021s Get Up Sequences, Pt. 1 is another fine addition to their CV. With a similar feel to their previous release -- 2018s Semi-Circle -- the album makes use of the bands time-tested template of marching band funk, loud guitars, sparkling keys and flutes, and beats tight enough to bounce a quarter on. While it was being recorded, the groups main sonic architect Ian Parton went through some devastating hearing loss issues, but one would never guess it from the sheer joy that bursts out of the songs. Long-time vocalist/rapper Ninja is back again and she gives her all to the punchy Pow, which sounds like a baby Bomb Squad production and provides fine rapping and vocals to many more tracks. Also on board is young Detroit rapper Indigo Yaj, who radiates her way through the Jackson 5-styled romp Cookie Scene, as well as vocalists from the Detroit Academy of Arts and Sciences and Kansas City Girls Choir. Detroit teenager Jessie Millers charming vocals on the albums sweetest song. A Bee Without Its Sting. is a definite highlight as well as a heartwarming example of the way Partons idea to pair innocent vocals with sunny hooks and breezy melodies works so well and never seems to get old. Along with these quintessential Go! Team songs are a few that balance all the glee with some melancholy. New bandmember Niadzi Muziras softly intoned vocals on the gentle indie pop with sad flutes and moody horns track We Do It But Never Know Why are a tender diversion; World Remember Me Now slows the tempo just a touch, adds some wistfulness to the vocals (as sung by Ninja and the KC Choir), and comes out sounding perfect. Add in a couple of fun instrumentals -- most notably Tame the Great Plains, a slice of the Wild West with John Wayne looking out over a black-and-white sunset as he lopes along -- and its yet another classic Go! Team album. No surprises, no alterations, no problem. Its reassuringly great music made by a group who know exactly what they are doing and arent afraid to keep doing it and doing it well. ~ Tim Sendra

3年ぶり通算6枚目となる新作が到着。前作は賑やかで遊び心たっぷりの彼ららしいサウンドが炸裂した作品だったが、今回はそれらに加え、モリコーネのサントラやオールド・スクール、70年代ソウルの要素も感じ取れ、どことなく郷愁が漂っているのも良い。音数も少なめで、アナログの質感たっぷりの音像も非常に心地良く、勢いのなかにも温もりのある、少し〈大人びた〉ゴー!チームが楽しめます。
bounce (C)赤瀧洋二