!!! (CHK CHK CHK)
Myth Takes
Warp Records 2007
iTunes • website

Taco Rating: 82%
Rating:

The name of the band is !!! (pronounced ‘Chk Chk Chk’ or any three repetitive sounds). They’ve been putting on a serious live show around the Sacramento, CA area since 1996, releasing a slew of 7″ records, and singles- including the Magnetic Fields’ Take Ecstasy With Me in 2005, but they’ve left their fans hangin’ for a proper album release. The various members have since dispersed throughout the US, but they’ve reunited for this long overdue studio project recorded in a big empty house in Nashville.

Behold Myth Takes!!!Now make a random one-syllable sound and repeat 3 times…now continue reading…

Each of the 10 tracks on Myth Takes is built upon a serious GROOVE. The basslines are usually synthetic, and always PHAT- that’s what first drew me into this record. They approach song somposition with a raw, cut&paste attitude (think Dust Brothers/Beck). Tracks bob & weave from new-wavey vocal workouts to riff-rock-funk live instrumentation to extended, bubbly headphone trips. Check out the sick clavinet groove on Yadnus (below). Vocalist Nic Offer does his best workingman’s whiteboy Prince meets a straight-outta 1983 new wave/indie-rock croon, and it suits the vibe perfectly.

For those needing a more biased interpretation of !!!’s sound - their website lists these flavors: “Post-punk bass patterns, spaghetti western guitars, African polyrhythms, spaced out disco and vintage Philly soul…”

Bassist Justin Van Der Volgen produced the record, and probably deserves the credit for sculpting the live jams into Myth takes’ overall sound. There’s some impressive DUBBED out mixing and generally thick and buttery grooves. leave it to the Bass Player- that’s what I always say…Here’s what Justin said: “Really, all we want to do is play. If we could jam together forever without stopping, we probably would. We’re dedicated to chasing that elusive groove”. Fuck yeah. UH! UH! UH!