6 MUSIC
REVIEWS
The Go! Team cheers By CHRISTINA SCHROETER Daily Titan Staff
Combining 1970s style with filth and cheerleaders may create a mildly sinful image in some minds, but The Go! Team manages to smoothly mix these ingredients into a G-rated album. “Panther Dash,” the first song on the band’s new album, Thunder, Lighting, Strike, combines surf guitar and harmonica with short samples of ambulance sirens and cheerleading chants into a theme-song melody, reminiscent of the popular ‘70s T.V. show, “Hawaii Five-O.” The majority of the album sounds tarnished and fuzzy, giving an imperfectly vintage feel to the modern album. The Go! Team blends funky melodies with modern manipulation. “The Power is On” is a mix of raps and chants thrown into a complex background of keyboard, drums and claps, creating a catchy and funky hip-hop tune with a suspenseful 1970s style. The band sticks with its cheerleading and ‘70s themes throughout the album. Imagine junior high cheerleaders chanting along the sidelines of a football field on a sunny afternoon. Their team is
down by six points. The lanky B-team nerd inadvertently intercepts the ball and, with all his strength, runs for a touchdown. This is the triumphant sound of “We Just Won’t Be Defeated.” While the song leaves the listener with a victorious sentiment, “Junior Kickstart” sounds like the closing credits to a crimesolving 1980s T.V. show like “Magnum, P.I.” Just imagine Tom Selleck’s character gloriously hopping into a helicopter after fighting crime in Hawaii. The camera smoothly pans back, showing a wide-screen view of the helicopter taking off and flying above the vast ocean against the sunset. This had to be what they were watching when they wrote the song. “Hold Yr Terror Close,” a new addition to the U.S. release of Thunder, Lighting, Strike, pulls away from its typical ‘70s cheerleader elements with a much softer sound. Although many of The Go! Teams songs consist of the same three components each maintains its uniqueness. How The Go! Team does it cannot be put into words, but be prepared to let your imagination run wild, because each song is a theme song for your own visions, sensations and experiences.
Doom defies status quo By ERIC SANDERS Daily Titan Staff
Question: What do you get when you mix a rapper with a metal face, a producer in a mouse suit and the characters from Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim? Answer: One of the most artistic and creative hip-hop albums ever made. The notorious hip-hop super villain MF Doom has returned, and he’s brought a few friends with him in his latest morbid masterpiece, Dangerdoom: The Mouse and the Mask. In this cartoon inspired album, Metal Face has joined forces with DJ Danger Mouse (most noted for his Jay-Z/Beatles remix, The Grey Album) and Adult Swim to produce one of his most diabolical albums yet. A bold statement considering the list of accomplishments and collaborations by Doom, but believe me, this one will knock your socks off. Not since Jack Tripper, Janet Wood and Chrissy Snow shared a quaint little beach apartment, has a trio produced so much magic and comic relief together. It must be the spicy ingredients of samples in Danger Mouse’s unconventional beats or the sarcastic quips by the degenerates from Adult Swim that lit a fire under Doom’s ass, because in Dangerdoom he
takes his mad-cap-rap lyrics to a whole new dimension. Never has a rapper been so gifted in the unusual art of off-the-wall a cappella, as MF Doom is. Allies of Doom’s who’ve come
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MF Doom and Danger Mouse come together in Dangerdoom. to fight the forces of crap-rap along side him include Cee-Lo, Talib Kweli and Ghostface Killah. The Doom and Ghostface collaboration titled “The Mask,” is a rare audio experience, with two of hip-hop’s most visual slang-spitting lyricists teaming up in true super villain fashion. The track also scratches at the
surface as to what might be the apocalyptic rumor of an album in the works between the two: Metal Face and Ironman together! The hip-hop world will never be the same after that one. “Crosshairs” begins with a funky bass line and a guitar riff reminiscent of Bradley Knowell, making one think he’s listening to the return of Sublime. That is until the sounds of beautiful violins kick in and Doom introduces himself as he eerily glides over the beat. In the bass bumping and keyboard pounding song “Benzie Box,” Danger Mouse created a beat that will make fans want to blow their speakers out with this one. The song features Cee-Lo, who sings the chorus and lets the world know about the masked rapper MF Doom. The album is a reminder to true believers that the essence of hiphop isn’t about shameless materialism or record sales, but resides in the creative experiments of DJs and the imaginative verbal expression of emcees. For those who fear change, turn your radio back on and continue to listen to the same loops over and over again until your ears bleed. But for the brave souls who yearn for a taste of something new – something unfamiliar – get this album. Your ears will thank you.
