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While listening to the excellent Okmanix album “Party Fever!!!,” a wonderful thing happened: I felt the urge to fance like nobody was watching. Luckily, that was the case — I was at my radio show. As I cued up an old Neu! LP, I was moved to highlight somoe of my favorite exclamatory works.
One group I love to death is The Go! Team (of no relation to the Calvin Johnson/Tobi Vail project.) The Go! Team is from Brighton, England. Its music is a beautiful, ebullient mix of cheerleaderism, hip-hop and samples. It has two albums out so far: last year’s “Proof of Youth” and the band’s 2004 debut “Thunder, Lightning, Strike.” Both are great, though I’d confess I’m more partial to the debut. Nearly every song is pleasant, from “We Just Won’t Be Defeated” to “Bottle Rocket.”
!!!, based in Brooklyn, has been perfectly described by the Onion AV Club as “an evil Go! Team.” !!! is dancey, punkish, electronic-type music. Because !!! seems prima facie unpronounceable, they suggest to pronounce it as any three repeated monosyllabic sound – chiefly “chk chk chk,” but claps or anything else works too. “Pardon My Freedom” is one notable track from the group.
Along the same lines as !!! and Go! Team is Snakes Say Hisss!, a three-piece electropop group from Philadelphia. According to its MySpace profile the band is working on a second album. Its 2006 debut, “I’ll Be Lovin’ You,” came across the music director desk at KUOI while I was a music librarian, and I took up the charge of its review. From its first track, “Talk,” onward, I was hooked. Hisss! is recommended for fans of Hot Chip, Crystal Castles and of Pullman’s Yoghurt.
Los Campesinos! is a newer band from Wales. Its first full-length, “Hold On Now, Youngster …” was released stateside by Arts & Crafts to critical acclaim from Pitchfork Media, All Music Guide and yours truly. The album features their notable single “You! Me! Dancing!” which is exactly what it sounds like: beautiful, exhilarating dance music. Contrary to a group like — say — the former Panic! At the Disco, their song titles are as good as the songs (see “This Is How You Spell ‘HAHAHA, We Destroyed the Hopes and Dreams of a Generation of Faux-Romantics,’” and “... And We Exhale and Roll Our Eyes In Unison”).
Furthermore I should certainly mention the Quebecois post-rockers Godspeed You! Black Emperor, formerly known as Godspeed You Black Emperor! Squares might remember the name being dropped in this summer’s film “Pineapple Express.” Its albums don’t have many songs, and the songs are all long and without sung words. Succinctly, it’s art music. My favorite work and album title of the band is “Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven.” “Sleep,” track three from the album, opens with a strange monologue from an old-timer about Coney Island before getting down to business. It is among the most well-known of post-rock groups, but if you happen to know Maserati or Broken Social Scene and not Godspeed You! — check them out.
There are some songs I’d like to endorse: first, “It’S!” from Australia’s Architecture in Helsinki. It’s got everything a song needs — handclaps, backing vocalizations and a beat you can wig out to. Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes has a solo album out now, and I think the album highlight is “Souled Out!!!,” returning to the country-rock style featured on the last BE album “Cassadaga.” The Cure has a stellar 1988 single, “Hot Hot Hot!!!,” of no relation to the wedding/karaoke standard. From David Bowie’s superlative album “Hunky Dory” comes “Oh! You Pretty Things.”
I’ll conclude with two songs from two of my favorite bands: “July, July!” by the Decemberists and “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’” by the Velvet Underground.
The Decemberists’ track is a rare cheery song from the group’s early period, though beneath the surface the lyrics describe a comically sad nostalgia for a life not that great (“…and I’ll say your camisole was a sprightly light magenta, when in fact it was a nappy bluish-grey”). Totally killer organ on that number, too.
“Oh! Sweet Nuthin’,” though, is a seven-and-a-half-minute stoner groove which you could maybe think of as what would happen if “Hey Jude” got high and didn’t know what to do with its life.
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