!!! - Let It Be Blue (LP) - Blue Vinyl

Let It Be Blue finds !!! still chasing the ecstatic sweet spot where punk impulse meets club chemistry, and doing it with the kind of finesse that comes from two decades of sweaty rooms and restless tinkering. Released on May 6, 2022 via Warp Records, the Sacramento-born, New York-seasoned crew leans into sleek, nimble grooves that feel built for late nights and long walks alike. It is a lean record, but not a sparse one. Every shaker, clap, and bass wobble has a job to do, and the band seems delighted to make each element count.

If you fell for the sprawl of Louden Up Now or the swagger of Myth Takes, you’ll recognize the DNA here, but the silhouette is slimmer. The tempos sit in that agreeable range where a DJ can ride them, yet the songs feel sung, not merely stacked. Nic Offer keeps the vocals sly and conversational, baiting the ear with little hooks and asides while the rhythm section locks down that elastic pocket they’ve polished since warehouse shows were the plan A. On “Storm Around the World,” Maria Uzor of Sink Ya Teeth slides in like a co-conspirator, her cool vocal cutting through the synth haze with a pop grace that never kills the underground glow. It is one of those pairings that feels obvious the second you hear it. “Here’s What I Need to Know” goes the other way, riding a strobe-lit pulse and a rubbery bass figure that could loop for hours without wearing out its welcome.

What I love is how physical the record feels without shouting. The percussion snaps, the kicks thump, and the synth lines choose angles over excess. You can hear the band trusting reduction, trimming down to the most kinetic parts so the mix breathes. That kind of discipline is a different sort of bravado, and it suits them. When a cowbell pops or a hi-hat does a quick skip, you notice it. The guitar shows up as color and contour more than riff machine, a flash of palm mute here, a wiry scrape there, just enough to remind you this is a live-minded group that never surrendered its roots to the grid.

Warp has kept !!! in a space where they can keep evolving, and Let It Be Blue plays like a late chapter with fresh energy. The sequencing moves. Peaks land where they should, and the breathers still twitch. You could line it up next to Wallop and hear a band paring back the neon without dimming the lights. It is music that treats the dance floor like a commons, not a catwalk.

For anyone hunting !!! vinyl, this one is built for the format. The low end is warm and rounded, the percussion crisp, and those small production choices enjoy room to bloom when you give them a proper spin. Let It Be Blue vinyl rewards volume. On a living room system the kick speaks in full sentences, and Offer’s vocal sits just forward enough to feel present without trampling the groove. I’ve flipped it on quiet mornings and at 1 a.m., and it works both ways, which is a neat trick for a dance-punk record.

There is also the collector’s itch. !!! albums on vinyl tend to hold their value because they live in that overlap of indie heads and DJs who actually play their copies. If you buy !!! records online, you know stock can vanish after a few re-presses. I’ve watched copies of As If and Thr!!!er do the disappearing act more than once. If you stumble on this at a Melbourne record store while digging for weekend sets, grab it. Folks chasing vinyl records Australia-wide have been snapping up Warp titles steadily, and this feels like one destined to keep circulating in DJ bags.

As a late-career statement, the album has a clear point of view. Keep the pulse, keep the humor, trim the fat. It is a reminder that !!! never saw the dance floor as a trend to chase but a craft to refine. The hooks are subtler than their early anthems, but the payoffs land, and the sound design invites repeat listens. If you’ve been meaning to reconnect with the band, start here, then work backward. If you are already converted, this will slide right into the stack, between those scuffed 12-inches and the faithful staples that always seem to rescue a flagging set. Either way, it proves that economy and euphoria can share the same side of wax.