Games of the XXI Olympiad is the fourth album by Melbourne electronica band Black Cab. It was released in 2014.

The album continues the theme of their 2009 Call Signs album, which was inspired by Cold War-era East Germany, with the new album themed on the 1976 Montreal Olympics, where a state-sanctioned regimen of performance-enhancing drugs produced a generation of chemically superhuman East German athletes. A version of the album was prepared for release in 2012 but was abandoned when the band decided it was neither complete nor very good. Songs were stripped down and extended, in the process transforming "Supermädchen" from four minutes to almost 10.

Games of the XXI Olympiad (album)

The album, far more electronica-based than its predecessors, was produced in multiple sessions with different producers and mixers, including Woody Annison, Simon Polinski and former Death in Vegas member Tim Holmes. Two earlier singles, "Combat Boots" (2011) and "Sexy Polizei" (2010) were also included.

Games of the XXI Olympiad (album)

Track listing

(all songs by Black Cab) "Opening Ceremony" — 2:32 "Supermädchen" — 9:49 "Victorious" — 6:34 "Performance Center Obertauern" — 3:19 "Kornelia Ender" — 4:48 "Go Slow" — 6:07 "Problem Child" — 4:13 "Combat Boots" — 4:41 "Little Blue Ones" — 5:56 "My War" — 5:42 "Sexy Polizei" — 4:07 "State Plan 14.25" — 5:07 "Closing Ceremony" — 4:27

Games of the XXI Olympiad (album)

Personnel

James Lee — guitar, keyboards

Andrew Coates — vocals, programming, keyboards

Wes Holland — live drums

Additional musicians

Steve Law — sequences, drones

Shags Chamberlain — bass, moog

Richard Andrew — juno, guitar, drums

Anthony Paine — bass

Alex Jarvis — guitar

Dyko — electronic percussion

Lucy Buckeridge — backing vocals

Monique Brumby — backing vocals

Raffaela Jungbauer — spoken word

References

2014 albums

Black Cab (band) albums

Concept albums