Song of the Day: Public Service Broadcasting - Go!

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song is “Go!” by Public Service Broadcasting from the 2015 album The Race For Space on Test Card Recordings.

Public Service Broadcasting - Go! (MP3)

Perhaps the only band to have the British Film Institute on speed dial, the London duo Public Service Broadcasting take clips of public service films and lay them over soaring electronic rock. Comprised of guitarist/keyboardist J. Wilgoose, Esq. and drummer Wrigglesworth, the group opted to eschew vocals entirely when Wilgoose decided that he would never be satisfied with any performance. However, this decision pushed them to work within unique constraints with equally as singular results. Their 2013 debut Inform-Educate-Entertain lived up to its title, combining samples from news broadcasts with dramatic, shifting instrumentals that reflected the spirit of the era they were sampling. The album was an unlikely hit, and their sophomore album, this year's The Race For Space, debuted in the top 20 of the UK Albums Chart. The Race For Space documents the tension between the United States' and Russia's space programs in the '60s, and accordingly, the vocal samples on "Go!" are all based on recordings of spacecraft launches. Once the song starts, there's no lack of propulsion, riding a crisp drum beat and dramatic synths before climaxing in the choruses with slicing guitars and a back-and-forth set of the titular proclamation. "Go!", and The Race For Space as a whole, is everything you wanted educational films to be, but never were, when you were in elementary school: interesting, attention-grabbing, and surprisingly fun.

After making an appearance at SXSW this week, Public Service Broadcasting will bring The Race For Space to Barboza in Seattle on March 28th. Get tickets and more info on that 21+ show here, keep up with the band at their website and Facebook, and watch the video for "Go!"