!!! (pronounced chk chk chk or pow pow pow) was one of the more boisterous American companies that successfully reanimated the danceable post-punk of the early 1980s during the noughties. Strange Weather, Isn't It? is their fourth album and was mostly recorded in Berlin. Would be here !!! have also gained techno influences, but there is little to be heard of that. They draw on scratched 12-inches
… from originals like A Certain Ratio, 23 Skidoo and Talking Heads just as lavishly and build their own party with it, complete with dub breaks and other remix techniques that were so in vogue at the time. But strangely enough, the party doesn't want to start this time. Maybe because peers in style seem to have disappeared (Radio 4, The Rapture) or have actually enriched their sound (Yeasayer, Vampire Weekend). Thus, in 2010, the early 1980s seem to sound dated again. (MR)more
