Oh No

by

OK Go

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"You will go into a room together and you will rock."

So promises Tore Johansson, producer of OK Go's sophomore album, "Oh No." And despite their poppy but less than satisfying debut, the powerpop band actually manages to do just that: make people rock. If a few songs didn't strongly resemble other dancerock bands of the moment, it would be "invincible!"

The album kicks off with two of the best songs on it: the sinuous, muscular "Invincible" and energetic rock-stomp of "Do What You Want." These songs are catchy, rough and gloriously rock-y. Pretty good replay value too -- despite the oft-repeated phrase "come on come on!", vocalist Damian Kulash keeps the sound fresh.

Until about the halfway point of the album, OK Go continues this energetic dancerock sound, churning out one excellent song after another. But alas, their best material is used at the start, and is followed by some songs that sound a bit too like the Futureheads and Franz Ferdinand. Not surprising, when one considers that Johansson also produced Franz Ferdinand's debut.

The last half is not terrible by any stretch, merely not great; the second stretch of songs lack that explosive, muscular style in the first. And what is WITH that half-hour "bonus" track that has nothing except the odd rustle?

It's a credit to OK Go's dancerock capability that they can overcome the strong Franz Ferdinand vibes that permeate a few of the songs. They have actually become better since their debut album, downplaying the keyboard in favour of thick mats of guitar and bass. As a makeover, moving from powerpop to dancerock is a pretty inspired one.

Kulash has a rare kind of voice: He can change from a monotone to a howl as if a switch had been flipped, and has a pleasant purr when he's being quiet. He's joined by a quartet of capable musicians, whether it's twisting basslines or rapid-fire drums. And though guitarist/pianist/keyboardist Andrew Ross left during the recording of the album, the sound doesn't suffer.

Ok Go starts to shuck off their powerpop origins, in favour of an energetic dance sound. It has a few uninspired songs, but if they follow the blazing lead of "Invincible," they will only get better.

I was introduced to OK Go a couple years back when their song Get Over It was featured one of the Madden games. The song was a catchy power pop with a sing along chorus that gave me the impression that they were Midwest's version of Weezer. But like most songs that are featured in EA Sports games, the song got overplayed that's to my hours devoted to the game and would finding myself muting the game because each song sent me into instant spasms.

Getting back to present day, I was intrigued when I heard the band was releasing a new album, sans video game promotion, Oh No. In the first half of the album, they follow the formula of Get Over It with it fast, guitar heavy sound over bratty lyrics. The opening track, Invincible, explodes over the speakers. Then we get Do What You Want another fast one that sounds like a lost song from the Primal Scream's library.

Whenever the band tries to slow things down, the music really isn't as good. Songs like Let it Rain, Maybe This Time just don't stand up to their faster counterpoints. Oh Lately it's So Quiet is the only exception here with the singer trying his hand and falsetto and background singers repeating "Oh no," throughout the song.