!!! - Jamie, My Intentions Are Bass

Another decade and still these US punk-funkers are keeping the spirits of A Certain Ratio and ESG alive. Beset by tragedy and enforced personnel changes, !!! remain potent 15 years down the line, this EP recalibrating a clutch of tracks from recent album ‘Strange Weather, Isn’t It?’ and proving they retain the smarts to face down any pretenders.

And how. The title track oozes over big bass pulls, riding a fairly trad fluid groove which gradually drags in scratchy riffs and doo-wop harmonies, before collapsing into an xx noodle. While Nic Offer brings the sleaze, it’s the sheer funkiness that makes this one a monster, eclipsing anything even LCD Soundsystem have given us this year.

‘Jamie…’ will do just fine as a single, but here it’s accompanied by a selection of superb remixes – ‘The Hammer’ gets a pulsating Underworld-style treatment by ex-A.R.E. Weapon Thomas Bullock and an acid workout from Aussie duo Canyons; ‘The Most Certain Sure’ goes deep house with Liv Spencer and drifts through glitchy folktronica to sproingy synths thanks to Bibio; ‘Steady As The Sidewalk Cracks’ is worked up into a mantra, heavy on the bongos and juddery strings, with the help of former DFA man Tim Goldsworthy.

There’s no weak link. All up, a generous package of sustained floorfilling excellence.