It's a long time since the phrase "punk-funk" was used in anything but a pejorative sense, but the battle-hardened band that embodied it it in the mid-2000s show no signs of repenting, and bless them for it. They've called this album Thr!!!er because they reckon, like Jacko's Thriller, that it's their defining statement: certainly they're fonkier (as Craig Charles would put it) than ever before, a groove machine that's well-oiled but not outright slick, and still packs a bit of grit. Spoon drummer Jim Eno took the production reins for this LP and has helped !!! streamline and focus their sound: it bears fruit on tracks like Steely Dan-ish opener `Even When The Water Gets Cold' and the reptilian jazz-funk of `Get That Rhythm Right'. Elsewhere we get falsetto disco-soul (album stand-out `One Girl / One Boy', with it's chicken-scratch guitar and close vocal harmonies, is pure Chic) and techno meets Fairlight-powered new wave (the addictive `Careful').