OK Go - Oh No (Japan Edition) (2005)

Review by Johnny Loftus
The anxious and modern children of indie rock and new wave, OK Go will always have something you can love. In 2002, it was a squelchy, three-minute summation of what made the Pixies great called "Get Over It." Three years later, it's a savvy batch of songs that are as perfectly arranged as those natty suits the quartet wears in Oh No's photos; perhaps a little calculated, but too prickly with excitement to really ignore. As tense and bursting as it is hooky and efficient, "Do What You Want" sounds a lot like the Hives. But it could also be a sly and modern Escape Club. This continues with "Here It Goes Again" and "Good Idea at the Time," songs that cut too jaggedly to be opportunistic revivalism but still whir with new wave's wiggy energy. Fans of OK Go's first album will love "No Sign of Life" and the weirder "Oh Lately It's So Quiet," while "Crash the Party"'s 1000-watt tingle is more the speed of Oh No. OK Go has written an album that coats its incredibly accessible nuts and bolts with an effervescent rocket sauce. It's got that unique zing, the one that says "modern rock sensation!" on the label.