!!! louden up now

!!! are due to tour Australia again soon, so here's a look back at the album that broke them over here...

Is this group's name pronounced "ungh, ungh, ungh", "chk, chk, chk", "pow, pow, pow" or something else? The seven New York bandmates still can't agree after two albums so what chance have we got? Then there's the question of how to find them in music shops. I tried and (eventually) found them filed before A, between C and D and after Z depending on where I went. The music itself is equally hard to categorise as there's so much happening on each song. It's funk, it's electronica and it's disco all at the same time. It's also got a "fuck you" punk attitude to boot.

The only problem with having such a lot going on musically is that Nic Offer’s voice is often drowned out. That's a shame because there's some lyrical treats here, like "When the going gets tough the tough get karazee, let them huff and let them puff cuz it doesn't fuckin faze me". They also find time to protest about Mayor Guiliani's ban on dancing in New York bars on the album's stand out track 'Me and Guiliani Down The School Yard'.

This is one of those records where you hear something new each time you listen. It's just a pity it's rarely the vocals.

If Louden Up Now were a time and place it would be the Hacienda, Manchester in 1988: pumping disco, funky guitars and it couldn't give a shit whether you like it or not.
Article by Andy McLean. Copyright held by author.
First published in The Brag, Sydney, 2004.

Louden Up Now is available through Inertia Music.