I have a love-hate relationship with winter. In my closet you'll find an unhealthy amount of sweaters and scarves, I love the sound of walking on snow and, hey, peppermint schnapps and hot cocoa is pretty delicious. But what really gets me is the cold. Listening to The Go! Team in the frigid Wisconsin winter is quite difficult because their third album, Rolling Blackouts, only deserves to be blasted when the sun is in the sky past 4 p.m.
You normally can't expect much variety from The Go! Team. Rolling Blackouts, however, is all over the place. Listening to the album as a whole can give you a bit of a headache, but the unique sound of The Go! Team is almost impossible to ignore. ""T.O.R.N.A.D.O.,"" the appropriately named opening track, reflects the group's quintessential sound (i.e.—a storm). They have so much energy and are not afraid of being too loud. The track is a reminder of the group's spunky thrill. Vocalist Ninja's hysterical rapping on ""T.O.R.N.A.D.O."" sets the mood for the rest of Rolling Blackouts: messy and captivating.
""Secretary Song"" features Deerhoof's Satomi Matsuzaki. Don't let the sweet tone of this song swoon you, however. The Go! Team didn't leave their swagger behind; Rolling Blackouts transforms a diverse set of music into a fluid collection of work. ""Secretary Song"" is organized and gives the album a confident feel.
As the record progresses, there is no doubt Rolling Blackouts is catchy. ""Buy Nothing Day"" is undoubtedly the hit of the album. Featuring the melodic styling of Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino, this track is a light-hearted and familiar. Although I can imagine the Brady Bunch singing this song, the voice of Cosentino is what makes ""Buy Nothing Day"" as a blissful track.
""Yosemite Theme"" is a slower number featuring a bluegrass banjo. The Go! Team didn't leave out the brass, though, and this song eventually transforms into a soothing, standard track.
As the album dwindles, there is a short piano interlude called ""Lazy Poltergeist"" between ""Running Range"" and the title track. Now after listening to Rolling Blackouts for a good 40 minutes, I was severely confused as to why leading man Ian Parton didn't give anyone the chance to essentially come out of the blackout the album title speaks of. With such an intense album, my mind would have been much better satiated with a soothing conclusion.
The schizophrenia of Rolling Blackouts feels overwhelming. This album is undoubtedly the definition of a hot mess: It may be in pathetic disarray, but one can argue that there must have been some element of fun to reach this product.
Give this album a few months and you'll feel better listening to it. For those of us living in the heart of the Midwest, it is hard to be excited about listening to summer music when the season of summer sounds like a cruel joke. But really, Rolling Blackouts is nothing out of the ordinary for The Go! Team. Just as scatterbrained as their past two albums, it doesn't take any leaps of faith. But why mess with something that works?
