 | !!! |
!!! is a band that is really synonomous with dance rock. I haven’t really listened to much of their prior catalog, but I have seen them live and they bring the dance rock jams to get the people sweatin’ like few others. They have great energy and fire in their live performance and they deliver some of the best get you moving jams out there. The band has just released their latest album, titled Strange Weather, Isn’t It?, which again brings some very groovy and very dance punk songs to the table once again. While the album maybe isn’t going to stick in your mind or wow you over the long term as an album itself, it very well respresents what makes this band great and will surely make for some killer live material.
The single off the album, “AM/FM”, is probably the album’s strongest track and also has the greatest sense of underground dance coolness to it. It has a steady driving beat and some cool off the cuff vocals surrounding the back beat to create not only a great danceable track but just a really well done song. There are a lot of other songs on the record that really deliver for me as well, from the terrific “The Most Certain Sure” to “Steady As The Sidewalk Cracks”. There is a lot of funky, disco guitar riffs throughout this record, but done in a very quick and choppy way, and it really works for the album. There are little riffs and hooks thrown in throughout that just bring that something else to the song. They have a great full band sound for most of the record which is a real plus and something you don’t see from every dance rock band out there.
They definitely trend more into the dirty, punk aspects of dance rock rather than the shimmering beats of a band like Cut Copy. These songs have some dark hooks and riffs in them, but they work very well and they will get the crowd moving. “Jamie, My Intentions Are Bass”, “Jump Back” and “Even Judas Gave Jesus A Kiss” are all very solidly moving tracks throughout the album. “Hollow” is kind of a bizarre left turn misstep on the album for me, a slow slacker electro-jam that doesn’t fit that well. They also take a bit of a side turn for the closer “The Hammer” which takes on a clubby feel, but it still works with the rest of the album.
These songs are not designed to be real think-pieces obviously, they are designed to get a crowd of people moving and for that purpose they deliver. Their brand of low-key, underground dance rock is some of the best out there and they can put together a killer hook and build a full band dance rock sound as well as anyone out there. There aren’t a lot of tricks and bells and whistles here really, and that is a big plus, and the album relies heavily on very strong hooks and rhythm lines that are always pretty much spot on. The album itself isn’t really a mind-blowing masterpiece beyond having some great driving tracks, but that is really what the album is trying to do, and as I said above, this collection of songs will have no trouble getting the kids bouncing out there for sure. If you like some well-honed dance rock that is not into shimmering hooks and electro-tricks, these guys break it down to the basics and groove it out, and you just have to love that. While I do recommend this album to anyone who enjoys this type of music, certainly I even more highly recommend catching them live where you will get the full experience of what these songs can deliver.
