Punctuation crazies !!! have talked up their new album as the one that will put them on the map. This claim leaves aside the fact that their previous four already put them on a map as dance-punk hipsters with a great line in unexpectedly funky grooves and sharp, wry lyrical smarts. Thr!!!er attempts to push the band into more pop terrain, with Spoon's Jim Eno overseeing the migration from the studio desk. The band can still conjure up remarkably spry and nimble disco shimmies ( One Girl/One Boy, Slyd, Except Death ), though that pop impulse does't zing quite as forcibly or as productively. Their willingness to go for broke with this seems hampered by a strange form of musical conservatism. Which means that Thr!!!er comes across as more risk-averse than a thrilling change of scene.
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Download: One Girl/One Boy, Slyd