You’ll have to be quick as this 12” only release is limited to only 500 copies and is a taster for their upcoming album ‘Louden Up Now’ released next month. Although !!! (pronounced chk chk chk or any other three repetitive sounds) have been around in one form and another since 1996 they only came to this reviewers attention last year with the mind blowing ‘Me and Giuliani Down by the School Yard (A True Story)’ single. Nearly ten minutes of throbbing bass, funky rhythms and hypnotic guitar it seemed to be three separate songs mashed together and was far and away the best single released all year. Followed up by some very low key dates and then …. well, nothing, for bloody ages.
Then it all comes at once, new single, album on the way and some more low key dates coming up, was it worth the wait? Damn right it was. ‘Pardon my Freedom’ kicks off with big fat drums and a throbbing bass line before a madman is let lose with a cowbell. The vocals creep and overlap each other, almost inaudible before coming to the front of the mix. And it’s a sweary record, ‘cos everyone knows that swearing is big and is clever. ‘Like I give a fuck / Like I give a shit’ repeated again and again only letting up to find more creative versions of ‘fuck’ and ‘shit’. We haven’t even mentioned the jangling post punk guitars and the sinister electronic buzzing that just keeps building until once again you realise this is about three songs sewn together like a punk funk Frankenstein culminating in clanking rhythms, weird buzzing noises, swirling guitar workouts, bongos and eighties drum fills. Phew! Most bands don’t have this many ideas in their careers let alone within nine minutes of one single.
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On the flip we have an instrumental remix of ‘Pardon my Freedom’ and a creeping ‘Shitscheissemerde’ complete with sinister vocals, hammer horror keyboards and a brass section. Obviously.
Whilst not quite up to the standard of ‘Me and Giuliani….’ (what is?) this still pisses over a majority of the over hyped rubbish we are bombarded with each day. Like LCD Soundsystem it is easy to write off !!! as a band for fashion victims and that you won’t get into their gigs if you don’t have the right asymmetrical haircut or suitably cool record bag. Whilst I’m sure the Hoxton tossers will be at their gigs in droves don’t let them stop you from experiencing the delights of only one of a handful of bands that can fuse the funkiest of dance beats with angular guitars, punk attitude and a killer horn section. If they can deliver an album that consistently hits these heights you may just find 2004 is the year of !!!.
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