!!!

Louden Up Now

December 8, 2004

# 10

Just when Prince comes to his senses, releases a pretty darn good album (Musicology), and reverts back to his old moniker, onto the music scene comes another band with a seemingly unpronounceable name, !!!. But unlike The Purple One, at least these California lads are kind enough (even if every other word out of their mouths seems to start with the letter “f”) to inform us that their name can, in fact, be pronounced. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, I give you 2004’s best guitar dance trance funk band, Chk-Chk-Chk.

This Gang of Four with potty mouths (actually, there are eight members) has arrived at just the right time. With post punk and new wave returning to the musical fray and dance music’s ever expanding pallet quickly sweeping more and more guitar oriented groups onto its radar, !!! is a perfect blend of classic Parliament Funkadelic with many of the best dance of the past several years: Basement Jaxx, Fatboy Slim, and Daft Punk. Unlike the latter three, however, !!! is much more organic like the George Clinton crew, with real live instruments dominating the landscape rather than their production and computer skills. If this sounds a little strange, well, it is, but anyone who has spent some time enjoying any of the bands I have already mentioned will most probably find a place for these guys somewhere in their collection.

The songs on Louden Up Now run from one to the next in very much the same way as some sort of cool house mix at your favorite non-stop dance club. Stops are present here and there, but on the whole, the vibe and emotion is constant and never gets away from the point of the music: to get your ass out on the dance floor, and to keep it there. This is very much like instrumental dance music except that there are indeed words. But the strange thing is that the words act almost as another instrument, adding a flourish here, a segue there, but always bending with the music. The lyrics revolve around unbridled political anger, with George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Rudy Giuliani, and any and all war mongers gaining the majority of the four letter worded venom, but that is always secondary to the beat. The obscenities do run rampant, however, but surprisingly this doesn’t come off as distracting. Instead, it somehow adds to the exciting yet unpredictable trancelike nature of the music.

The stand out tracks on Louden Up Now are Me and Giuliani Down By the School Yard, Hello? Is This Thing On, Dear Can, and Pardon My Freedom, but really, the whole thing is quite excellent. This is music that is difficult to accurately describe, even harder to accept and embrace on first listen, but which is well worth the effort once you find your own groove within the music. !!! is a band that truly deserves their name because their music is as confusing and memorable as is their moniker. White noise fans, this is your album for the dance floor. Now I’m not exactly sure what that means, but trust me; I promise it’s true.