!!! are one of Earth's great live bands; something you have to experience in the flesh to truly comprehend.
To quote Aunty Meredith in her !!! wisdom: "Designed for celebration. Built for energy generation. Engineered for euphoric elevation. Tested in all atmospheric conditions. Certified to issue failsafe moodproof bigband surefunk dancepunk. In poolboy shorts. Any beat that moves you is fuel for their six cylinders: twitchy R&B, queasy dub-disco, discotheque disco, romantic house, any quality propulsive groove. They turn any space into a dance club, as anyone who witnessed their legendary set at the very first Golden Plains way back in 2007 will attest. If you aren't familiar with their vibe, check out One Girl/One Boy, Slyd, Must Be The Moon, Freedom '15 or Dancing Is The Best Revenge. If you aren't familiar with their name, it was inspired by the subtitles of the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy, in which the clicking sounds of the Bushmens' Khoisan language were represented as "!". The band says !!! is pronounced by repeating thrice any monosyllabic sound. Friday Night peak hour. Yes. Yes. Yes."
While !!!'s live shows are something to behold, they underscore the sheer musicianship and songwriting that goes into recording their albums. It is a lot of hard work made to look easy. "Most of the songs on Shake the Shudder are based off of jams", says frontman Nic Offer, "and since we record every jam, most of the tracks here feature moments we actually recorded from those jams. Most artists have to dig through the crates to find that one sample nobody has used but we can sample ourselves, having been playing this style of music for awhile now. As a band we try to play it the way the JBs would, as producers we try to mix it the way a DJ would."
Shake the Shudder are words to live by and ones that !!! fully embrace. There are always fears to be faced and new paths to forge, and those uncertainties never hold them back. They just propel them to jump in head first. For years, !!! have run the dance band gambit and become New York City legends. From their start in Sacramento, to Brooklyn house party staples and Union Pool residencies, and now delighting festival stages from Primavera to FYF, they've cemented their place as part of New York's live dance scene - while others have drifted into the history books.
Shake The Shudder is a product of !!!'s DIY punk roots presenting a harder edge lyrically and sonically, while incorporating trans-Atlantic electronic music influences. Regularly enlisting the aid of talented female vocalists to elevate to their sound, this new album is no exception with the inclusion of up and coming talents Lea Lea and Meah Pace showcasing energetic breakout performances that only hints at what they do live. And Nic Offer is no easy frontman to keep up with on stage.
The new record opens with "The One 2", diving right into this experimentation, "we've always admired this style of dance music from afar and were curious if we could add our twist to it, our twist being a plotline and some attitude." Immediately segueing into the soon-to-be live favorite "Dancing Is The Best Revenge" (below), which premiered on Last Call With Carson Daly, the record starts off with a bang and doesn't let up till the closing groove "R Rated Pictures."