Album Review: !!! - Strange Weather, Isn't It?

To properly listen to the NYC band !!!, it may be helpful to perform a bit of research. Of course, there is the requisite knowledge needed to say the name: !!! is said as "chkchkchk", like the sound of a typewriter pounding out each punctuation with authority. To wholly listen to the !!!'s catalog, you need to trace the chronologic steps that made the band's singular sound. An obvious starting place is the era of early disco when the necessary components were a bouncing bass and R & B guitar riffs over a perfect 120 beats per minute. Also, one must concern themselves with post-punk influences of Wire and Gang Of Four that spills into the drawn out dub expressions of Public Image Limited. Of course, the Manchester scene impressions cannot be ignored from the angles on Joy Division to the house-tinged Brit-club of Happy Mondays. Today's nouveau live band dance crusade led by artists such as LCD Soundsystem and The Juan Maclean march arm in arm with !!!, giving us a history lesson in each recording tied up in a package of pulsing strobe lights.

And what a fun bundle of music Strange Weather, Isn't It? actually is. Released on Warp, !!!'s fourth LP is heavy with lighthearted indie dance anthems that draw readily from the band's disco prerogative. The employment of the soulful backup singer works as frontman Nic Offer runs along side with his husky, lounging croon. The old school feel is most apparent on the their ode to simpler times "AM/FM" flaunting Gap Band bassline, Blondie swirling keyboard, bongo fills and signature dub guitar bridges that weave together into a cheerful kickoff. The jubilant mood hits the loftiest of heights for the next track "The Most Certain Sure" where !!! possibly craft the best singalong chorus of the year. The constant genre exploring of !!! actually break into less utilized influence on "The Hammer" where Krautrock pushes its way into the dance party and, while being short on lyrical content, makes for a furious concoction ripe for a extended free-for-all jam session encore.

This leads into the glaring omission on Strange Weather, Isn't It?. Where their past albums sported incredible lengthy exercises in disco-dub extensions, there are no 7+ minute tracks that always made !!! albums such prodigious creations and worthy reminders of those great moments in history. Certain tracks such as "Even Judas Gave Jesus A Kiss" begin to head in that direction, then simply fade into the distance. Instead, there are intriguing beginnings like "Jump Back" that could do with some more time in the studio for exploration. Still, there is plenty here to get sweaty over as !!! make another well blended album of present day indie club constructed on the cherrypicked past.

!!! play in Chicago Wednesday, September 29 at the Bottom Lounge. 

Purchase !!! Strange Weather, Isn't It? here.

!!! - AMFM


!!! - The Most Certain Sure


!!! - Even Judas Gave Jesus A Kiss