album of the week: 9.3

!!!

Strange Weather, Isn't it?

Warp Records (2010)

why you'll love it: Good party music

why you'll hate it: diminishing returns with each !!! album

One thing you gotta admire about !!! is they've never gone out of their way to play for a certain crowd. At the hight of their popularity, both the party kids and the indie critics approved of the "Can goes to the disco!" style !!! brings to the table. They did this without ever playing up any persona, despite having their choice of being retro worshippers, hippies, or krautrock savants. It seems like they've only been making music for themselves, and we're free to join in on the fun.

Strange Weather doesn't seem like it's trying to impress anyone. There is no swear-laced "Pardon My Freedom" or fired-up tracks like "Intensify"… it's a single-less album. Aside from "Hollow" the songs are never meandering, but have no real discernible features. Nothing but a whole lot of jamming makes the album feel a bit nebulous. It lacks a bottom line.

I wish they would have played this up in the track list and tried to tie every single track together, so that it sounded like one long studio session. As it stands now, the songs are enjoyable while they last, but forgotten once they end. Even after a few listeners, I've had trouble remembering what parts I liked belonged to what songs. !!! aren't stupid though. There are only 9 songs here, only a couple stumbles, and they were smart enough to end with their strongest beat, "The Hammer"