Dance punks rejoice! For the punctuated knights of the genre !!! are back in fine fashion with a new record called, appropriately enough, Thri!!!er.
Some of you have absolutely idea what I just typed up there. And that’s alright. Remember, Song of the Day is all about discovery. For the uninitiated, !!! (yes, their name is a very search-engine unfriendly series of exclamation points, and the accepted pronunciation is “Chk Chk Chk”) is group that plays disco-riffic sounds and rhythms with the spunky attitude of rock ‘n’ rollers. They got together back in the heady days of the mid-90s after the dissolution of the band The Yah Mos, when a few members of the group and some others wanted to move into a dancier direction. The band worked on their live show for the next few years, and finally released their self-titled debut LP in 2001 after some well-received national touring. Their politically minded sophomore Louden Up Now hit stores in 2004. Myth Takes followed in 2007 and Strange Weather, Isn’t It? in 2010.
For their new record Thri!!!er, they enlisted the production help of Austin’s own Jim Eno (of Spoon fame) and Texan singer Sonia Moore (immortalized as the “Hey” girl on MC Hammer’s “2 Legit 2 Quit” AND a recent Texas Music Matters). Moore is front and center on the very cool “One Girl/One Boy,” but for today’s song of the day, we’ve chosen another dancefloor-approved track called “Slyd.” For a moment, imagine yourself in some after-hours, back-alley, underground dance party in one of New York’s hipper neighborhoods. Got it in your head? Now you can begin to imagine where “Slyd” comes from. There isn’t really a melody to speak of, just a beautiful groove. Elements move in and out of the sweaty mix. It begs you to get lost, and just dance.
