okay, so I have read a couple album and 'live' concert reviews and I am still a little in the dark as to what these guys sound like... ? ... what other band could they be compared to?

They should be compared to Liquid Liquid, if you know them. Imagine Afrobeat-period Talking Heads with bad vocals and longer songs. They are good live (they play a show almost weekly in Brooklyn at their house (the Chick Chick Chick house, it's called)), but their first record is awful. The recent 12" they did with Out Hud (the two bands share about 4 or 5 members) is much better, and their recent single, "Me & Giuliani Down by the School Yard," is the best thing they've done so far. Their guitarist Tyler Pope used to play with Cake (!!! is from Sacramento -- most of the members now live in Brooklyn), and he's a fairly well-known session guitarist. Nic Offer sings in !!! and plays bass in Out Hud, which is why Out Hud >>>> !!! (until this new single, anyway), cuz Out Hud is instrumental and !!! has bad indie white boi vox. And I really don't like Tyler's guitar playing -- much too clean and precise. But yeah, you can get the new single for about $5, and the title track is tremendous, the other track awful. They're really, really nice folks, and I'm pretty much in love with Phyllis, Out Hud's drummer. So gorgeous and a lot of fun to hang out with.

Some people name-drop Gang of Four, but I think that is completely wrong. Andy Gill had a really dirty/sloppy style, and, as Yancey said, Pope's playing is very clean. If you like anything by Out Hud, I think you'll like this too. The only similarity I could draw between GoF and !!! is that they are both very dance-y. Hell, their newest single is a tribute to dancing, can you go wrong?

Just go to one of the websites that sell the cd.

they usually let you sample 30 seconds of a bunch of songs.

I know that CDnow used to do that.

Go to http://209.208.248.102:8080/insoundradio.html and select track 30 to listen to "Me And Guiliani Down By The Schoolyard (A True Story)."

So the band's name is !!!?

How do you say it?

Chk Chk Chk

Or any other three repetitive sounds.

I think if you like James Chance or anything from the no wave movement you would probably like !!!. I think their first record was great and the newest single is cool too. Now the question is how do you say the band +/-. Is it plus over minus or just plus minus?

If anyone asked me, I'd pronounce it "three exclaimation marks".