The Go! Team Focus on 'Coherent' Lyrics for 'Rolling Blackouts'

Coherency in pop music -- it's a sought-after quality, yet so hard to obtain at times. Such was a goal for the Go! Team on their third album, 'Rolling Blackouts,' at least in the lyrical content.

"I definitely think it's not issue-based, in a wordy style," the Go! Team's Ian Parton tells Spinner. "But it's definitely more coherent and deliberate in the lyric writing. It's taking a theme and going with it."

Issues they tackle on 'Rolling Blackouts' range from consumerism in 'Buy Nothing Day' -- which features Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino on vocals -- to first loves during 'Ready to Go Steady.' This time around they're pursuing the moment more than on their prior efforts. "[On] the previous records, the lyrics might have been a bit more throwaway, more collage-y in imagery," Parton says.


This fall, there's been a surge of Go! Team interest after the NFL licensed 'The Power Is On' for their Play 60 campaign. The song comes from their 2004 debut, 'Thunder, Lightning, Strike,' and while it certainly brings the Go! Team flair to millions of NFL fans each week, 'Rolling Blackouts' mostly drifts away from those early days of ramshackle cheerleader music.

One of the more exciting songs from 'Rolling Blackouts' features Deerhoof vocalist Satomi Matsuzuki and exemplifies what Parton's suggesting the Go! Team are doing this time around: Getting down to business in creating specific moods.

"With 'The Secretary Song,' it puts images in your mind, in that office, in the '60s, like you're in an episode of 'Mad Men,'" he says. "It had a melody in it that I'd written that reminded me of a Deerhoof melody but without it being anything like a Deerhoof song."

"We've actually made a video for every song on the record. That will surface at some point," Parton adds. "Apparently, [Matsuzuki] did the filming of it in Tokyo as a secretary girl on the subway and stuff."

For Parton, 'Rolling Blackouts' drew from hours upon hours of listening to samples and "hoarding ideas." It's something he's done in the past, as he says assembling a Go! Team record is a rather "drawn-out process."

"Lots of things have happened in the last few years. I've had a kid, we've done lots of touring and the songwriting process is pretty intense," he says. "It's not like picking up an acoustic. It's a long, drawn-out affair."

Those that fear change shouldn't worry. Tracks like opener 'T.O.R.N.A.D.O.S.' and 'Apollo Throwdown' sound like vintage Go! Team, focusing on vocalist Ninja's hip-hop delivery. But those are few and far between -- they even throw in some slower instrumentals this time, like the '60s-mod inspired 'Super Triangle' and the piano-driven 'Lazy Poltergeist.' Remember -- it's coherency, not redundancy, these days for the Go! Team.

'Rolling Blackouts' is due out Feb. 1 on Memphis Industries.