!!! - Myth Takes

Cast your mind back to the mid 1990s when Belle & Sebastian were at their most impressive.

Fans flocked to the internets and NME/Melody Maker magazine to devour every piece of information on this strange sounding Scottish band, only to find that they didn't do interviews, no photoshoots, nothing.

The publicity they shunned fueled the admiration for a band verging on greatness.

Fast forward 10 years, and it seems the new anti publicity approach is to find a band name that is impossible to find through Google.

To be fair !!! sound absolutely nothing like Belle and Sebastian, nor are they exactly shunning the attention heaped upon them, indeed their new album Myth Takes should caterpult them to the consciousness of the punk/funk/psychedelics crowd, currently dominated by the Klaxons and LCD Soundsystem.

!!! came to prominence in the UK back in 2003 when re-released single Me and Giuliani Down By the School Yard (A True Story) was adopted by dancefloors and magazines alike as Dance Single of the Year. Whereas !!! previously slotted into the stream of bands like Leftfield and Out Hud, this record unashamedly summons them to the more conventional new wave movement.

Tracks like "Bend Over Beethoven" and "All My Heroes Are Weirdos" effortlessly but frantically make you feel like your dancing with an electric chair strapped to your back.

Despite it being a very solid album, it does feel rather samey, particularly suffering a lull through Sweet Life and Yadnus (tracks 6 & 7), but is rescued through the exuberant "Bend Over Beethoven" and the climactic "Infinifold". Without realising it, this album could sneak up in the annual top 10 lists, but if it does, it'd feel like a smash and grab. Don't expect the Klaxons to be abdicating their new wave crown just yet.