by
The Go! Team
- Record Label: Memphis Industries
- Release Date: Oct 4, 2005
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Cinematic, fantastic, and essential to all who want their music larger than life and rambunctious, Thunder, Lightning, Strike is the kind of record that makes you glad to be alive.
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Though they certainly do their fair share of sampling, they tend to use fragments as a means of fleshing out the battling, overdriven guitars, triumphant trumpet lines, and drum assaults that seem to break through walls with the barreling force of a thousand Kool-Aid men.
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Ridiculously innovative.
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New Musical Express (NME)The Go! Team's eclectic soundclash makes us feel deliriously dizzy. [11 Sep 2004, p.53]
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Thunder, Lightning, Strike was hailed as a pop masterpiece when it came out in the U.K. late last year, but clearing all the samples held up its U.S. release until now. Wait no longer.
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It is, quite simply, one of the essential albums of the year.
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Under The RadarThey're like a five-member Polyphonic Spree wearing Urban Outfitters, jacked up on Jolt cola, and rocking out in their garage with a bunch of instruments bought from a pawn shop. [#7]
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A challenge to even the most hardened depressive, Thunder, Lightning, Strike finds one way after another to shake new pleasures out of old material.
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Paste MagazineSounds like a mostly live interpretation of... The Avalanches' intricate party collages doubling as three-minute music history lessons. [#13, p.118]
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Entertainment WeeklyFull of exuberant, childlike pastiche pop. [7 Oct 2005, p.76]
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It's so overwhelmingly happy and thrilling a musical statement that it would justify even a few more exclamation points.
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They cram in so many styles it could easily come across too clever, like a band that claims to be equally inspired by Wu Tang, Cheap Trick and Cher. It doesn't happen. The tracks have a life apart from the name-that-tune layering that drives their sound.
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Although by the record's second half the brassy, treble-kicked sound wears a little thin, there are enough gems to keep the release fresh through the end of its 35 minutes.
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It’s all tons of fun, and is almost guaranteed to cheer you up with its overwhelming chirpiness.
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Thunder, Lightning, Strike is for people who love music that hits them over the head with the sheer enjoyment of the human ability to rock.
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By the time "Everyone's a V.I.P. to Someone" brings Thunder, Lightning, Strike to cinematic closure, you're all out of breath and wanting to ride again.
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BlenderIt sounds so damn joyous. [Nov 2005, p.134]
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Think of it as a party invitation: it is as thrilling and original a debut as has come out this year, and one that leaves an ingenious sonic blueprint to build upon.
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"Thunder, Lightning, Strike" is an immensely derivative album, but one which cuts and pastes its influences in a strikingly original way. Chiefly, by piling them all on at once.
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I’d imagine Thunder Lightning Strike will not age well nor reward a thousand listens, but for what it attempts to do, and succeeds, it’s worthy of attention.
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I defy anyone not to seep happiness through the pores of their skin once in possession of this record.
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This is one of those rare albums where every single track is a keeper and killer hooks abound.
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Thunder, Lightning, Strike is simply amazing. It is filled with boundless, glorious noise, sewing together flamboyance, quirkiness, sturdy sampling, and a well-traveled feel that can take you anywhere you want to go.
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Like a deliriously evanescent pep rally from the Outer Limits.
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What makes Thunder... such an easy-to-love affair is the schoolyard exuberance they ply their tunes with.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 65 out of 74
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Mixed: 6 out of 74
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Negative: 3 out of 74
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Jul 31, 2011
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BamApr 8, 2007Huddle Formation's awesome.
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gavinjDec 23, 2006