By Vivian Host

I'VE BEEN SEARCHING for a way to describe the Brooklyn, N.Y., band !!! to people, and I always seem to fail. First, you have to get past the fact that their name is three exclamation points and is pronounced "chik chik chik" or "uh uh uh" or any three sounds – a move the group has called "commercial suicide." Then you have to accept that they meld punk, funk, and house music with saxophones and keyboards, which sounds like a disastrous combo but actually works.

Upon listening to their self-titled 2001 Gold Standard CD, explanations become moot, and so do comparisons with the other dance punk bands that !!! pal around with. Sure, there are hints of post-punk acts like Gang of Four and the Fall in this sauce, but there is also a fair share of dub, '60s funk, and disco à la Chic. Though they certainly fit into the Williamsburg "scene," !!! come off as warmer than compatriots Radio 4, less electronic than the DFA Records crowd, and not as austere or fashion-conscious as the Rapture. Case in point: their new much-discussed Touch and Go single, "Me and Giuliani down by the School Yard (A True Story)."

!!!'s Sacramento upbringing has a lot to do with their iconoclasm. "It was kind of isolating," vocalist Nic Offer says. "All the big punk bands would go play Oakland, San Francisco, and Berkeley, and by the time they were done with that, it was like, 'Let's get out of northern California.' I feel like we kind of grew up away from the emo and hardcore and indie stuff that was happening. We found our own thing, which was basically through the dollar bins at record stores. That led us to soul and funk and disco. We've always kind of had this thing like, 'Oh, San Francisco thinks they're so great but they haven't really turned out shit, and Sacramento's really where it's happening.' "

One might not think of Sacramento as a "happening" town, but !!! were at the center of a homegrown dance party scene where liking the Minutemen, the Meters, and Missy Elliott was only natural. Deciding that hardcore's regulations simply weren't fun anymore, the group formed in 1996 out of the ashes of a few punk bands (notably the Yah Mos). "Me and Tyler were playing in a punk band, and it was kind of ludicrous because we didn't listen to any punk," Offer says. "It just got to a point where it was like, 'We're playing this music, but we're listening to this music.' So it was like, why don't we attempt this? The first practice session was like, 'Yesssss!' We knew we were on to something. When I listen to early punk, everybody was great because there was so much you could do with it.... It was like a fresh palette. That's what it was like when we started. It was like, we can play these pick lines and three-note bass lines, and it fucking sounds awesome. We can do anything!"

While !!! were forming, Offer, guitarist Tyler Pope, and engineer Justin VanDerVolgen were also busy crystallizing another project, Out Hud, with Molly Schnict and Phyllis Forbes (formerly of East Bay hardcore terrors Raouul). Born out of four-track noodling in the bedroom, Out Hud was an outlet for instrumental electronic dance music deconstruction, playing with the conventions of techno, disco, dub, and new wave on the 2002 Kranky debut, S.T.R.E.E.T. D.A.D. Although Out Hud can loosely be described as indie dance, Offer, who plays bass in the outfit, says their sound is the product of some unlikely influences, including Daft Punk's disco house opus Homework, Michael Jackson's Off the Wall, and Missy Elliott's Supa Dupa Fly. "When the Missy Elliott album came out, it changed the way I played bass and the way I felt about rhythm," Offer explains. "I felt like this was the funkiest thing I had ever heard. I was already over James Brown and Kool and the Gang. Funk was taken to another level after that record."

Offer says !!! strive for a more experimental sound, while Out Hud concentrate on making things even funkier. Still, the bands can't help but sound somewhat similar, as they share members and engineer VanDerVolgen. On their current tour, Out Hud are opening for !!!, and audiences will notice another similarity: both acts require the crowds to get on the floor and move something. In fact, !!! are known for being dance nazis, berating the audience and refusing to play until the whole place is ready to shake it.