OK Go - Oh No

Wed 25th Oct, 2006 in Music Reviews

Unless you’ve been trapped under the proverbial rock for the past month or so, OK Go are the band with that dancing on treadmills / cult you-tube favourite / cause of drunk boys bringing themselves self-harm in gyms everywhere / video. Another release from Oh No, the track A Million Ways,  is also accompanied by an amusing YouTube video, complete with synchronised and ridiculous dance moves. Although this YouTube business is indeed good publicity for OK Go, the fact that some people refer to them as ‘the treadmill band’, or the ‘band with those dance moves on YouTube’ suggests that OK Go had better have a dynamite album to redeem them from the inevitable muddle that might soon be the fading of their four-minutes-of-YouTube-fame. Do you know anyone that watches those ‘popular’ YouTube videos from last month? I didn’t think so.

This album was moulded from the hands of producer Tore Johansson, the man behind The Cardigans and Franz Ferdinand -and rightly so, as the opening strains of the second track on Oh No –  Do You Want, sounded entirely like the Franz that it almost shocked me a little. Other outstanding tracks on this are Invincible- a showcase of vocalist Damian Kulash’s fantastical vocal range and the urge for making squealing sound like the most addictive, uplifting noise you will ever hear. Then yes, there is that song A Million Ways - a jazzy little number, with an eclectic 70s sounding psychedelic feel to it. OK Go are also very good at playing the catchy word game – their lyrics are all intermixed with rhymes and quick and witty phrases and patterns. It does help the listener digest them a bit easier. I’m also not surprised that twelve out of the thirteen songs on this album don’t overshoot the three minute and thirty second mark.

There is a lot of ‘experimentation’ on this album, where they dip into several different genres and style. No harm ever came from experimentation…but then again, there is such a thing as ‘trying far too hard’ – which is present on songs such as Crash the Party – a mix of too many college-radio-quirky-folk-indie-rock bands doing a bad Ben Folds Five impression. Nonetheless, there is enough material on this album too keep the listener entertained, providing they keep in mind that ‘fun’ and lyrics that go along the lines of ‘oh, oh, oh, yeahhhhhh!’ mean talent.

This album is catchy, a bit of fun and it won’t give you any deep and meaningfuls. It manages to just save OK Go from the danger that could soon be the over-saturation of their four-minutes-of-YouTube fame. But only just.