If you're following along (which you're not), you may have noticed (which you didn't) that this is my review for the 2007-themed edition of LFTWY, but we've not yet had the 2006 review. That's because I haven't got a copy of the 2006 issue, though the editor will get me one some time, I hope. Obviously, I could still upload my review, but I like to do so once I've read the whole magazine. So, the 06 review will pop up at some point in the future, don't worry (which you already don't).
!!! - MYTH TAKES (Warp)
I’m never quite sure about artists who are celebrated because their work is primarily of interest to their peers – you know, a comedian’s comedian, a poet's poet. Nobody ever heard “Oh, he’s a great chef, but only other chefs like his soup, everyone else thinks it tastes like surgical stockings in brine”. Not trying to be a reverse snob about it, but every time I hear about a guitarist’s guitarist all I unearth is someone with honed chops and no musical sense. So, whilst I could say that this album lives on the strength of the bass, it’s not just for Pastorius anoraks (I actually like Jaco Pastorius, though, even if some of his fans are tedious, so let’s say Mark King).
!!! claimed their name could be anything you wanted so long as it was a single syllable repeated three times. My friend Mark called them Jeff Jeff Jeff, whereas my proposal at the time is not for publication in a polite zine. Bloody stupid concept, really, but they were a good band, taking the punk funk that was so influential in the noughties, but keeping it sleek, psych, and danceable – more ESG than Gang Of Four, in short. This album, as befits a Warp signing, is controlled, rhythmic, and inventive – though when I saw them live at a Swiss festival around this time they were surprisingly lackadaisical and silly, one of them spending as much time waggling one naked boob at the audience as playing.
The title track has plenty of groovy no-wavey NYC cool but takes it to a midwest prairie, complete with eerily calling fauna, and Morricone-ish guitar chords. ‘Must Be The Moon’ is a thin pseudo-hip hop beat, a bit like a Tone Loc tune played by a payphone, with blowhard sex-conquest lyrics which are a bit like ‘Cool For Cats’ crossed with early Beasties. Then the slimy, eel-like bass comes in, slinking along and the magic happens, ushering in an industrial dub second half with reverby clangs that are like asthmatic aluminium catching its breath – a few tracks on the album do this, coming off like Jamaican 12” tunes, with a standard first half, and a “version” tagged onto the end. ‘Bend Over Beethoven’ pulls a similar trick whilst nodding towards 23 Skidoo (and is a brilliant title, you have to admit).
‘A New Name’ has falsetto, but is otherwise a bit generic. ‘Heart Of Hearts’ is a rigid rhythmic grid, but there’s lots to unpack: perhaps it’s like a sonic nonogram puzzle (in which case, solving it would probably reveal a tin of Pabst and a beanie, perfect for the noughties hipster). There’s a lattice of guitar and synth, with that bass somehow anchoring things and shifting like sands at the same time. Really nice left-hand clav too. This is one that’s most like LCD Soundsystem, who were trendy gods at the time.
The vocal on ‘Sweet Life’ is a bit uninspired, and the cymbals clatter somewhat messily, but the pointillist synth bass is lovely. ‘Yadnus’ has quite a “standard” guitar strum structure, like it’s related to a Stones tune on some level. ‘Break In Case Of Anything’ boasts spacy wah-wah guitar, and maybe a smidge of Can in its relentless round-the-toms rhythm. There are really nice horns, coupled with dub-siren bleeps. The record rides into the sunset with ‘Infinifold’, uncharacteristically groove-free, with male and female vocals in unison. It has a little touch of melancholy, though not too much... nothing to stop some light boob-jiggling if the mood took.
I would heartily recommend this album, as well as the others they made for Warp around this time (I have no idea what later releases are like, apparently the last was in 2022). !!! may not be a band to change your life, but is this highly enjoyable, tactile and intelligent music? Yes yes yes.
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