Like the pet, shiny, fun and… flushable? Never…
[Video][Website]
[6.00]
Katherine St Asaph: The video. The fucking video. The blurts and bloops and whatever these guys are doing atop them are just bonus points with the video. Ask somebody else for critical objectivity and leave me my Rube Goldberg nerdgasm.
[7]
Iain Mew: I first came across Goldfish via a link on a video games community to “We Come Together” proclaiming it the greatest music video ever, which, with the way these things usually work had me assuming that it would be filled with obvious games references and not much else of worth. So I was pleasantly surprised when the video turned out to be very well made and fun its own right, and even more so when the song matched it. It owes a bit to “Dance Wiv Me” tunewise, but does squelchy bass much better than that, and does a great job of balancing forceful funk with a more easygoing charm.
[7]
Edward Okulicz: Goldfish use a number of musical tropes that border on overused but they do so with a playfulness that make the song worth a listen in isolation from that video. And jazz samples atop farting blasts of bass is at least not even close to overused as a combination. I’m thinking if it had been a tiny bit more Big Beat it would have been even better. If someone invents a time machine, can you send this back to either 1997 for a Norman Cook remix, or 1991 for a Betty Boo guest verse, please?
[7]
Ian Mathers: This is actually really reminding me of Sneaky Sound System, if you replace Australia with South Africa, bouncy electro with, err, a slightly more rockin’ take on St. Germain, and Connie Mitchell with Sakhile Moleshe. I guess the real reason that Goldfish seem similar to SSS is that neither act seems at first to be making anything wildly impressive, but both have charismatic enough singers, gummy enough hooks, and pleasurable enough production that I find myself playing their songs more than most of their ostensibly ‘better’ peers. It probably doesn’t hurt that “We Come Together” has the only video I’ve seen to reference “Jazz Police,” Bomberman, AND Kenny G’s brain exploding out of the back of his skull.
[7]
Hazel Robinson: There are a couple of seconds about two minutes through this where I thought it was going to break out the vworp, but otherwise, even the not-as-funny-as-it-thinks 16-bit video can’t disguise the repetitive boredom.
[5]
Zach Lyon: I’m a lot warmer to this after seeing the video: the 8-bit intro/outro made me hate the song, irrationally (it just sounds so self-assured in an obnoxious way, because the song does nothing worthwhile to warrant a cheeky self-reference)(of course, now I find that the mp3 I was listening to was an audio rip from the video… damage done, though!) but now I see it has some context. Still, now the song exists in service to the video, and on its own, it features about as much innovation as the video game community could appreciate in a song. Which is to say, stick to video games, guys. And Dragonforce, I guess.
[4]
Michaela Drapes: I believe I may have just traveled back in time to 1997. How curious! Charming and hooky enough (love the jazz samples, natch), but I can’t help feel I’m listening to a lost White Town song, or, like, 8-bit Gorillaz, y’know?
[6]
Alfred Soto: Never underestimate synth bass farts. Don’t overestimate their ability to anchor a track for four minutes.
[5]