!!! (chk chk chk) "Strange Weather, Isn't It"

I remember seeing this band show up on our Music 4 Less/Sound Shop product calendar eight or nine years ago and I wondered who the hell would name their band "exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point?" That's like naming your band Shitwad, it doesn't have a chance.  So it was too dumb for me to stock it, and where would you alphabetize it anyway.  A few years later I run into them at WPRK during my eighteen month revival of the famous "PM in the AM" show, but my bias rules out and I don't even give it a listen, but I at least learned the pronunciation of the band name.  Fast forward to October this year and I see a new release for the band, so I figure since they've survived with that stupid name this long that I would finally give it a shot.  And wouldn't you know it, I like it!  As a matter of fact, I was playing the bejesus out of Radio 4 and the Rapture at WPRK, and they were other bands cut from that same NYC post-punk dance rock scene as !!!.  I suppose you could throw the Scissor Sisters into that group, too. 

While spinning "...Weather...", there is the immediate latter-day Gang of 4 influence along with the Clash and Public Image Limited, and maybe just a smidgen of Kid Creole buried underneath.  The obvious current day comparison is LCD Soundsystem, but LCD is more precise and witty where !!! is looser and sweaty.  Here is a live video from France in which you will get a better visual sense of the band, though the sound quality is quite poor, but I reason you can hear their music anywhere else. 

"Strange Weather..." is 40 minutes of energetic fun.  Put it on at a party and watch the heads start to bob across the room, or play it in your car on an open road, but watch your speed!