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For close to a decade now, this Brighton (UK) band have gleefully championed going all in. Their kitchen-sink sound is the mischievous offspring of '60s pop, old-school hip-hop, weirdo indie rock, cheerleader chants, and an assload of other concepts. Done right, the mix is exhilaratingly youthful and original; when things go awry, it ODs on adrenaline and unevenness. The Go! Team's third record carries on the same sort of entertaining erraticism. "T.O.R.N.A.D.O." is a sassy rave-up built on aggressive horn stabs, the dolled-up "Buy Nothing Day" was made to soundtrack a teen rom-com trailer, the title track gets moody like '90s alt-rock, and "Lazy Poltergeist" is a gorgeous, thoughtful little piano piece. Elsewhere, however, experiments falter and cohesion dwindles. Compare "Ready To Go Steady" with "Voice Yr Choice": one is sweetly naive - practically a torch song for playground infatuation - whereas the other has vocalist Ninja rapping about, among other things, Grey Goose and having money on her mind. That jarring tonal shift attests to how the group often stretch their net too wide for their own good. Rolling Blackouts is more indecisive mixtape than flowing album.
