England has a long, checkered history of meta-acts: When the results don't live up to the ideals behind them, the bands in question typically don't last much longer than their NME single-of-the-week status. When they do, they're David Bowie. With its cartoon image, willfully bubblegum tunes, and reliance on childlike voices, the Go! Team practically beg to be filed with the former. Male, female, white, black and Asian, the Team's multiculturalism is put into practice on songs so overloaded with references and disparate styles, all delivered with such enthusiastic cuteness that the end product nearly defies intellectual response. How does a band expect to be taken seriously when it comes on like that YouTube'd pug that whines, "I wov woo"?

Bandleader Ian Parton doesn't back away from a challenge. What began with sampling and overdubbing is now nearly orchestral on the Go! Team's third — and by far most ambitious — album. When Parton nails a Burt Bacharach/Jimmy Webb-type easy listening melody on "Yosemite Theme," he employs what sounds like a small army of musicians on banjo, pedal steel, harmonica and French horns while maintaining a distinctly Public Enemy approach to production. His affinity for girlish expression… read more »