Audiologue

“Grip Like a Vice” by the Go! Team

Following a rather dismal year in music, DC looks like it will be firing up the summer with worthy lineups all over. And joining in the kick-off to the concert season, the kids from Brighton who returned on Wednesday to the 9:30 Club after a four year absence.

It’s hard to pinpoint the Go! Team, exactly. To me, they are simply an array of sound experimentation awash in fluorescent. The whole persona is a little spastic. A little childish. And, a little tough. Naturally, I expected a much different crowd than the dumpy, black-clad indie devotees that seemed to dominate Wednesday night’s audience (I was expecting it to be less male, less white, and a hell of a lot more stylish).

Frontwoman Ninja takes the stage.

Ninja, giving language lessons for the equivalent of “booty” while the band tunes up.

Ian Parton rocking out somewhat awkwardly on the harmonica.

The show was part of their brief U.S. Tour before they embark for summer dates overseas to promote their recently-released third album, Rolling Blackouts. The album that a review in a recent issue of Under the Radar criticized for being little more than a noisy circus, as though a tried and true sound had no way of being improved upon except to be amped up and sped up to an unpleasant degree. I’ve only heard the album in as much as they performed it at the show, though I wondered whether two full drum kits was part of the change.

The co-ed six piece can be a dizzying spectacle, that’s for sure. The line-up constantly changes from one song to the next as band members switch to one of a dozen other instruments. And, even the lead singer occasionally changes. It sounds exhausting, but the initial vision for the band was to incorporate a lot of vibrant sound from a variety of oddball genres like Bollywood soundtracks and Double-Dutch raps. And it’s the sound that earned them a reputation for being the cool kids on the indie rock block.

If you’re not too familiar with the Go! Team, I’d recommend putting down the recorded stuff and going to see them live (assuming you can, especially since US Tour dates are rare when SXSW isn’t going on). And, unless you’re the catatonic type at shows, get close to the stage. These kids obviously love what they’re doing and the energy is remarkably infectious. Frontwoman Ninja came to the stage dressed in aerobics’s gear — a sports bra, spandex capris, and fresh white L.A. Gears — as though she gets her best workout when she’s performing. The between-song banter is adorably British (she taught us what “step dancing”), although most was unfortunately lost to shitty mic levels, along with some of the better punctuating elements in songs like “Keys to the City” and “Ladyflash.” Still, you can’t help but play along, and by nights end, the whole first floor had their hands in the air, breaking a sweat.

Well done, kids.