A word of warning. Don’t approach the new album by The Go! Team if you have any concerns about tinnitus in your old age. If you are quite content to settle in a Sidmouth retirement home bathchair, ears ringing like a Sunday morning churchyard, then feel free to play the second release from the Brighton collective as loud as you can stand. As I sit at my keyboard my own ears are merrily chiming away like a doorbell factory, even though I stopped listening to Proof of Youth a good hour ago. The music is brash, thunderously raucous, unsubtle production where every fader is pushed to the top and super-glued there for good measure.

For all its blaring power, there is good music here, in an album that requires repeated listening. The Go! Team mix, to fine effect, sandblasting guitar sounds with hip hop loops and old fashioned kitsch. The first three tracks sum up this sound. From the cop-show antics of Grip Like a Vice, to Doing it Right, where you can shut your eyes and imagine Animal Kwackers performing it in your head (younger readers might like to head to Google at this point). And then there’s the schools telly track My World, a glorious piece of music, purloined from nostalgia site TV Cream’s lamented collection of TV theme tunes, in possibly the most baffling and wonderful cover version I have heard since Carter performed Rent.

Other highlights include Titanic Vandalism, with its flashy stabs of rhythm and pulsating beats, and Fake ID with its Teenage Kicks riff. Chuck D makes a welcome contribution on Flashlight Fight, a strong contender for a single, whilst Patricia’s Moving Picture is a tuneful end, cutting out some of the noise revealing the melody they are capable of. Early copies of this album also contain a bonus CD, featuring a cover version of Bull in the Heather which is destined to appear on every mix tape I put together from now until forever. This album throbs with vitality and energy, possessing a get-up-and-go lacking in much modern music. Just go easy on that volume button.
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Links
The Go! Team [official site] [myspace] [buy it]