Teamwork – Play or Get Played
Often I find myself torn between two brands of powerpop, one that’s meaningful, and another that’s more for the fun of it all. Teamwork is definitely a fun, fast-paced, and creative powerpop band, but at the same time they are far from meaningless. I must say they do promote some of the major stereotypes out there associated with the genre. Songs about girls, love and lust definitely don’t help the cause, but I happen to like the trendiness. Their ability to easily brighten up the mood with colourful and vibrant sounds gives rise to an important feeling, a positive one, and that’s meaningful to me.
Right off the bat, I love the melody composition in Teamwork. The beats are just a crazy array of fun computerized sounds and action packed instruments. Teamwork does a great job of creating exciting beats, timely placed with multiple vocals. The vocal work is not quite the greatest, but the combination of numerous voices adds to the excitement and catchiness. One can always expect a ferocious pace from these guys, and they tend to deliver. Overall it’s their tenacious style and carefree attitude that appeals to the better side of listeners.
Taking a look at She’s Easy, But Hard to Forget, we right away get a feel for their upbeat style. The melody is ridiculously addictive, with a little bit of guitar, drums, bass, keys and synths. The most important thing is that neither sounds mask one another, so I can get a feel for all the elements alone or combined. The result is a tastefully made melody, that’s constantly producing a clean sound. Their melody is also well timed and composed, without overloading on certain parts of the song, and going all out for parts like the chorus. The vocals aren’t anything I haven’t heard before, but that isn’t to say they’re bad. I quite like their quick delivery and especially combined with the witty lyrics, it makes for a very fun listen. The back and forth between vocals reminds me of Forever The Sickest Kids.
Nice Guy Don’t Win Ball Games is more of the same, and I noticed they even synthesized parts of the vocals. I have to admit that the sequencing work in Teamwork is fantastic, and it’s so modestly done that it has a greater impact on the music than bands who overload on the effects. The sequencing is just enough to keep up the vibrant aspect, yet still leave a lot of the real instruments to provide that gritty sound. Again, this isn’t something that’s new, but I find the balance isn’t always there. FTSK is the one band who I always felt epitomized this brand of powerpop to its fullest potential, and I see much of the same in Teamwork.
One other thing that should be mentioned about Teamwork, is their ability to create simple but addictive chorus melodies. A Sunny State For Shady People is a great example of this. The chorus isn’t wildly dramatic, but the simple melody it’s sung in, is exactly what I’m looking for. She’s Easy, But Hard to Forget also has a great chorus structure.
Play or Get Played is a 6 track EP that is an honest attempt at some down right fun and exciting powerpop. Teamwork knows exactly how to balance out the wild synths, the action packed instruments and leave nothing but great upbeat music. While the content might be meaningless to some people, I think the positive sentiments left after hearing this album, is priceless. I’m a fan of music that can change my mood, and this is definitely one of them. The next great powerpop band? I’m not sure, but I think they have potential.
Check out their Myspace for more info about them.
Teamwork – She’s Easy But Hard to Forget
Teamwork – Sunny State For Shady People
Tags: album
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