New from No Zu

capture-nozu-096midI’m really excited by No Zu. In a world where people often get thrown into genres or defined by their past efforts, this group of Australians remain undefined. Think of yourself combining elements of funk, jazz, punk and other dance (hall) elements, combining them all to form an entirely new sound that you’re not likely to hear anywhere else. Seems like the gradual progression of where Chk Chk Chk and LCD Soundsystem crashed into the sound the Clash left behind at the end of their career. It’s rad, and this track will be featured on their new album, Afterlife, which is released by Chapter Music on February 5th.

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PYAITK: !!! Does Christmas Right

CHKX3 XMASWho doesn’t like a sweaty dance party at Christmas time? Nobody.

!!! has a new 7″ out featuring a smooth and dark dance jam called “And Anyway It’s Christmas” and it is not your typical Christmas carol. I was thinking of how there hasn’t been a recent song for the season that didn’t suck, maybe Low did one, suggestions are welcome. The seasonal jams I go back to every year involve the Peanuts crews (Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas rules all). I recently heard some uber cheesy song about a dude in line at the store buying a kid that didn’t have enough money shoes for a dying mother. It was so creepy.

Anyway, smooth beats are better.

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Show Review: !!! @ The Mohawk (5/25)

Dance party…

The rain, ever looming, ever threatening avoided unleashing a drenching flood on The Mohawk last Saturday. To make up for it, !!! front man Nic Offer did his best work to make it rain, rain sweat. Twerk. Put it in. There was flailing and gyrating and a few trips into the crowd to spread the love. Meanwhile, the stage was full of music to back him as the dance punk disco pros put down the thick funk at the perfect BPM.

Shockwave Riderz opened with Learning Secrets DJ sets filling the gaps with the hits you should know. Pics and a few more words after the break…

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Thr!!!er Is Coming

Naming your album Thr!!!er is a bold move chk chk chk. Or !!!. Or whatever.

If you want to get a sample of the goodness that awaits, you can download the track “SLYD” for the low-low price of your email address. It is a dancy sample driven groove, shocking right? To pair with this new track is the announcement that they will play The Mohawk on May 25. Tix go on sale later this week (2/15), so get on the for sale page and start refreshing.

Channeling my inner-Al Czervik – “LET’S DANCE!”

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/chk-chk-chk-Slyd.mp3]

Download: !!! – SLYD [MP3 via Email Registration]

ACL Spotlight: !!!

chkchkchk

We continue our ACL coverage this week with the Brooklyn via Sacramento band !!! (properly pronounced as Chk Chk Chk or Pow Pow Pow). 

Let’s start off this business with a memory of a little-known Ghostland Observatory making their mark on the dusty fields by encouraging thousands of people to dance off the previous night’s hangover.  Well, this year, I predict that it will be !!! doing the moving and shaking this year with all the fans, as they’ve been doing it on a small scale for quite awhile.

Imagine their combination of horns, guitar, percussion and electronics blasting out of those mammoth festival speakers, as you casually sip on your beer.  Then Nic Offer shakes and jives all across the stage, further encouraging you to feel the rhythm; you’ll be shaking it in no time at all.

The band have several CDs to their name, and personally I’d go with the funky grooves off of their self-titled debut, but other really dig the work of Louden Up Now, which came out shortly after the Me and Giuliani Down by the Schoolyard single.  It gave a new twist on the band’s grooves by adding a little more electronic push to the music.

Hopefully we’ll all get a chance to preview some of the new tracks the band has been working on as of late, but if not, we’re at least guaranteed a good long set of sweat-dripping, hip-shaking funk-rock to get our hearts racing and our feet moving in the early afternoon.

!!! take to the AMD Stage at 2:00 PM.

[audio:https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/intensify.mp3]

Download: !!!- Intensify [MP3]