If downloads were equivalent to album sales, OK Go's sophomore album, Oh No, would have already gone gold. The irreverent band's homemade, unofficial video for lead single \A Million Ways"" has earned the band the kind of attention that no publicist can create.
The video, shot on a single camera in a band member's backyard, features the four musicians in a highly choreographed dance routine set to their funk-driven single. The routine features them aping, among other things, old cop shows, ""The Matrix"" and ""West Side Story."" It was originally shot to convince a potential video director that OK Go was suitable for his dance-driven video concept. Somehow, the low budget but highly entertaining clip was leaked to the internet. It has since been downloaded 500,000 times and joined the somewhat dubious ranks of the Star Wars kid and Yatta.
Here's hoping that this notoriety is a blessing, because OK Go has delivered a stunner of a sophomore album. Three years ago, the Chicago-based group debuted with OK Go, a promising album full of power pop reminiscent of The Cars with the biting wit of Elvis Costello. Somehow, their excellent, sunshine-filled debut got lost amidst the garage band craze. OK Go seems determined not to let that happen again.
Under the direction of Tore Johannson, most famous for his work with Franz Ferdinand, OK Go has concocted a record that is more aggressive, but no less tuneful than their debut. The guitars are louder and more grinding. Lead singer Damien Kulash does a lot more screaming. For twelve tracks, he leads the band through one relentless barn-burner after another. And this is a great thing. ""I'm not so good with sublety,"" Kulash acknowledges over a thunderous kettle drum in the anthem ""Crash the Party."" The song's rollicking beat and gang vocal chant prove him right. This is fun, dumb rock, meant to be played at top volume at college keggers.
What makes the record even better (or more cloying, depending on your point of view) is the fact that OK Go delivers each song with tongue planted firmly in cheek. ""I'm not the only boy with sullied clothes and a sullen frown,"" Kulash shouts in the aforementioned ""Crash the Party"" with a knowing wink to the Killers and Hot Hot Heats of the world. From their throwaway band moniker to the album's paisley cover art, OK Go sets themselves apart by having more fun and taking things less seriously than their alt-rock brethren.
And appropriately, absurdist touches are strewn throughout the album. In the opener ""Invincible,"" Damien sneers at an ex, ""When they finally come to destroy the earth / they'll have to go through you first."" The lovely blue-eyed soul of ""Oh Lately It's So Quiet,"" the album's best song, is delivered in a falsetto just fey enough to sound slightly ridiculous. The gentle pop of ""Let It Rain"" explodes into a chorus of ""Hallelujah!"" that has to be ironic.
However, each track is delivered with so much melody, so much joie de vivre and so much noise that the majority of listeners will miss the wit buried between the handclaps and swooning New Wave vocals. Oh No is the kind of record Weezer used to make. Witty and cerebral, but coated in so much power-pop sugar that it will go down easy. And, as Damien sings in the closing moments, ""You might as well give in.""
