For the uninitiated, Good Co consists of a substantial number of musicians performing electro-swing. If the term “electro-swing” isn’t sufficiently self-explanatory, our run-down for the last record should bring you up to snuff. Genre labels are functional in both directions; bands and artists can manifest their craft with more clarity of vision and audiences can connect to creative works which check all the right boxes (for them). Good Co still firmly operates within the electro-swing genre, but inhabit it more naturally while remaining free to even dabble in a bit of soul and samba. “Holding On” sways right into some some spooky, lounge music territory. Arpeggiated synths sweep up and down the track and combine with some excellent trombone work—an interesting detour from the more typical, jittery types of dance songs.

The modern touches mesh progressively better with each track. “Set Me Free” springs straight out of the 30’s. The modern mastering and thumping bass are its only giveaway. Crisp production serves to sufficiently ground the record as a modern work without alienating its more antique flourishes. The more subtle the electronic influence, the more malleable and easily interpreted the track. That said, I expect to spot a few remixes from this record.

Having lauded Good Co’s ability to thread the needle of old and new, it must be said how treacherous the path can become. Good Co operate in a weird space. No, I don’t mean Seattle (though similarities can be drawn). To be clear, Good Co is, quite simply, a good band. That’s more important than any genre labels with which they might associate. For all its usefulness, the Electro Swing genre seems to be a polarizing element. Anything that offers an easy shortcut to judgement of a work without ever actually interacting with the work in question is a persistent danger. Case in point, this asshole. I mean, damn. What did fun, dance-y, horn driven music ever do to that fella? Nothing that warrants that many words in protest of people trying to have a good time. Legendary curmudgeon Patton Oswalt got over himself as regards to detesting music that doesn’t suit his tastes. Let any bloggers with an axe to grind follow his example.

The only frustrations I suffer are inconsistent vocals and lyrics. Otherwise stellar instrumentation gets dragged down by lifeless or stilted vocal performances. It’s frustrating to really dig into a fantastic sax solo only to be brought up short by a clunky vocal melody or awkward verse. Those issues aside, there’s a lot to enjoy. Listen to “Ride With Me” on a roadtrip and try to tell me a good time won’t be had for the duration. Those shuffling beats and muted horns insist on joy. “Breaking Out” toys with gospel conceits so playfully I can’t help but smile.

…Damn, now I want a Highball.

You can find out more about Good Co by visiting their website. They can also be found on Facebook and Soundcloud.

When Cory isn’t being tied to a chair and forced to write reviews for our site, he can be found all around Houston playing music for one of the several bands he is in, like Golden City Music. You can also stalk him on Twitter, here. Look forward to more reviews from him in the future. 

Good Co touts themselves as the one and only Electro Swing band in the United States. This might very well be the case, but the tracks on their new album “The Kicker” are a distillation of many different threads that weave in and out of other popular genres. This is, unequivocally, a good thing.

So, “What is Electro Swing?” you may be asking yourself, much like I did when my Surly Nerd pals asked me to review this album. To answer this query, it seemed the logical first step was to give the record itself a first listen. The “swing” half of the genre is heavily apparent. Sassy jazz vocals, lots of brass and big band arrangements have been lovingly sampled. On the other side of the coin is the “electro” half, wherein the very swingin’ 1940s big band instrumentation gets chopped and rearranged with a healthy dose of synths and electronic percussion layered throughout. And sure enough, with a quick look at good ‘ol Wikipedia, it seems like Good Co is successfully articulating the genre:

Electro swing is a musical genre fusing swing styles with contemporary production techniques including house, hip hop, EDM and more. Contemporary artists of the genre incorporate loops, samples, melodies and styles from the swing, jazz and big band era (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electro_swing).

What you hear is usually dancy and impressively high energy, given that swing music is hardly sedate to begin with. On “The Kicker”, the samples are well chosen and the digital production is deftly executed. It may not be “new”-new, but it’s new in the way our generation strives for novelty, and it’s certainly fun.

A little taste of Electro Swing at its finest

“Through the Door”, the first track, hooks you into the sound and introduces the varied elements that form the core of the album. A jittery horn intro drops you right into a thumping, two-step swing beat that would feel at home on any dance track. When the vocals command you to “swing, swing”, one is happy to oblige.

Skewing toward nostalgia-drenched while remaining modern enough to be novel is no small feat.

For me, the two aspects that mark Good Co as exceptional within this fairly narrow genre are the live horn players and original vocals. Slipping back and forth between the very timeworn sound of old swing records and crisp new horn sections helps stitch together a convincing connection between disparate elements.

“Lou’s New Suit” has some impressive horn work. It is refreshing to hear a clarinet solo–and it’s quite a good one, at that. Too much material from the 30’s and your record begins to simply sound like a dj’s remix project, not so much a band with its own members and ideas. Good Co cleverly avoids this pitfall. The sonic digital collages that DJs create are amazing in their own right, but even Daft Punk reached a point–leading up to the production of “Random Access Memories”–where they wanted to mix in plenty of flesh and blood musicians.

The mash-up culture that has flourished in the last few decades is an inevitable reaction to so much accumulated history of art and music. The 90’s swing revival leaned more heavily toward homage than evolution, but the legacy that movement left persists. Entirely unique elements of music remain elusive, but the right approach, with a clever mix of otherwise unrelated styles, synthesizes a new material that transcends its original components. Dubstep is a kind of remix logical extremity that I’m surprised artists were able to follow and still be successful. But it’s a solid formula. You’re on the right path when the sum is greater than the parts.

Given how much I enjoyed this record, my only reservations arise when the preciousness of the swing era pastiche overreach and turn things a bit too twee. For instance, “Paper Tiger” is a fun exercise in cheeky storytelling, but I doubt I’ll be eager to hear it again outside of a live show. That said, it’s a minor bump in an otherwise remarkably smooth and entertaining ride.

I can’t sign off without mentioning that I played this record over my bar’s sound system afterhours. Though the choice was, ostensibly, so that I could listen to it a few times in different settings, it won my co-workers over quite thoroughly. Not a bad sign for a record, I have to say.

You can find out more about Good Co by visiting their website. They can also be found on Facebook and Soundcloud.  When Cory isn’t being tied to a chair and forced to write reviews for our site, he can be found all around Houston playing music for one of the several bands he is in. Look forward to more reviews from him in the future.