CD Reviews

!!!

Myth Takes | Warp

By MATT ASHARE | May 8, 2007

3.0 Stars

PROMISES KEPT !!! maintain the post-punk dance groove on Myth Takes.

It’s been about a decade since singer Nic Offer left the punk rock of the Yah Mos behind for electronic dance grooves and deep-bass funk in what came to be known as !!! (i.e., chk chk chk, as in the ticking sound of a programmed beat). It may have taken four albums for Offer and his cohort to perfect their mix of rhythms, melodies, and nervous poetry, but it all came together on 2004’s Louden Up Now. Myth Takes may mark the band’s transition from the more rock-oriented Touch and Go to the electronica label Warp, but it delivers on the promise of Louden Up, with infectious beats and a kitchen-sink approach that has minor-key guitar arpeggios rubbing up against spooked synths in “Myth Takes,” with its allusions to New York as a place where “nothing’s been the same since the chain of events” and wry advice like “Should have known the world was cold/Next time you’ll pack a sweater.” Clamorous trash-can beats propel the kind of herky-jerky rhythm that’d please James White’s Contortions in the dystopic “All of My Heroes Are Weirdos,” and Offer raps about a cold sexual encounter for five-plus minutes of pounding drums, chk-chk-chk guitars, and noisy synths in “Must Be the Moon.” And the band — especially bassist Justin van der Volgen — keep it up for a full eight minutes of menacing, if abstract, dance-floor grooves in “Bend Over Beethoven.” A horn section, falsetto leads, and female backing vocals come together for some full-on disco in “Break in Case of Anything,” but !!! can’t leave it at that: eerie dub breaks intrude as if to remind everyone that this is avant-funk, not just the plain kind.

!!! + Holy Fuck | Paradise, 967 Comm Ave, Boston | May 15 | 617.931.2000

Topics: CD Reviews , Entertainment, Music, Pop and Rock Music, More

| More

See more deals

view all

[ 06/19 ] The Airborne Toxic Event + the Joy Formidable + Leagues @ Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel

[ 06/19 ] House, by Alan Ayckbourn [playing with the interconnected Garden] @ Trinity Repertory Company

[ 06/19 ] "The Festive City," @ RISD Museum

ARTICLES BY MATT ASHARE

SEND IN THE CLOWNS | July 02, 2009
The New York Post got to resurrect its priceless "Wacko Jacko" headline. Barbara Walters scored Super Bowl-level ratings without having to lift a pretty little finger. And Michael Jackson, well, no matter how you slice it, he got screwed royally.

ARRESTING DEVELOPMENTS | September 16, 2008
Lack of talent, charisma, and/or personality can prevent a good band from achieving greatness — but too much of a good thing can also be a problem.

ROCK THERAPIES | July 22, 2008
A little over four years ago, the Boston music scene lost one of its cuter couples when singer-songwriter Blake Hazard and guitarist/producer John Dragonetti left town for LA.

FORTUNATE ONE | July 07, 2008
It was no surprise to find Chris Brokaw in Hawaii last week, just two Saturdays before he’s due back in Cambridge to pull a double shift upstairs at the Middle East.

BOSTON MUSIC NEWS: JULY 11, 2008 | July 08, 2008
The New Year, a band the Kadanes started with Chris Brokaw on drums a decade ago, are still a going concern.