Online only: Youth a bit old

It's hard to deny the power of a cheerleader chant -- at least it is when you're listening to The Go! Team. Indeed, as samples and instruments blast joyously around the chants in "Doing It Right" from GT's second album, Proof Of Youth, it makes you wonder why few (if any) acts employed this trick in the years between Toni Basil's "Mickey" and the present.\nThen again, as Proof progresses, this question is gradually answered: Cheerleaders, at least for GT, have diminishing returns. One track of cheerleader-esque vocals equals "woo-hoo!" But seven out of 11 tracks on an album? Uh … not so much. And given cheerleaders' prominence in their 2004 debut, Thunder, Lightning, Strike, the gimmick starts to wear thin, which brings us to the general problem with Proof: It feels rehashed. \nTLS was so singular and brilliant, its follow-up was virtually doomed to be disappointing. When you come out of left field with a sound that's like a cross between '80s hip-hop, '70s TV soundtracks and the local high school pom-pom squad, what do you do next? For Proof, The Team clearly decided to please the crowd by loading the album with songs like TLS' first single, "Ladyflash." The clearest evidence of this rests in "Fake ID" and GT's collaboration with Chuck D, "Flashlight Fight" -- both of which start off into promising new directions, only to have elements from "Ladyflash" (chants, runs, big swells) intrude like Miss Piggy in a "Muppet Show" duet.\nBut while it doesn't get high points for originality, this is hardly the worst direction that Proof could have gone -- after all, it's much more fun than if GT had tried to prove their status as "serious artistes." You'll want to get TLS first, but if your booty still needs shakin' -- give Proof a call.