By the time of their fourth album
Strange Weather, Isn’t It? !!! had been making records for almost a decade. Not too many bands can keep going for that long and continue to make records that have all the energy and quality they began with, but
!!! have managed it. While many of the alumni of the dance punk boom of the early 2000s have faded away or changed their sound or just plain lost their way,
!!! remain as good as ever and
Strange Weather is full of the kind of ferocious and funky dance punk that they’ve always done. Taking barely any pauses for breath, the record is a headlong rush from beginning to end filled with exactly what fans of the group will want to hear. Unlike on their last album 2007’s
Myth Takes there are no glam rock beats or ballads here, just floor filling jams mixed together like a stellar DJ set. Kicking off with one of their catchiest songs to date “AM/FM” and following it up with the dubbed up, hypnotic “The Most Certain Sure” is a great way to sequence the record. It plugs you right into the
!!! aesthetic and lets you know that there has been no drop off at all. Indeed the best tracks here equal the best tracks the group has done to date; apart from the two songs mentioned already, the slinky, hooky “Jamie, My Intentions Are Bass,” the bubbling “Even Judas Gave Jesus a Kiss” and the hard charging “The Hammer” will all fight for space on
!!!’s Greatest Hits. Unlike their most similarly talented contemporary
LCD Soundsystem, they don’t have the kind of songs that jump out at you and have you singing along. Instead, their songs work more insidiously, creeping into your brain on the back of the bass lines and
Nic Offer's buried-in-the-mix-but-insistent vocals. It’s a subtle kind of pop music and while it might work best on a dance floor, as a whole the record works well under headphones.
Strange Weather may get some static for not being groundbreaking or risk taking but that’s okay. It’s just
!!! at their best and that’s good enough.