!!! Experiment With Berlin Techno on New Record

While it may not sound much like Berlin techno to the casual ear, !!! ringleader Nic Offer reveals that is indeed the sound at the heart of his band's new album, 'Strange Weather, Isn't It?'

"We tried to soak up the club scene over there," Offer tells Spinner of recording in Germany's vibrant capital. "It's really inspirational to be working on music all day and then go to a club and hear things similar to what you were doing, and be like, 'Right, that's how it's done.'"

Holed up in the basement studio of a club in Berlin's Kreuzberg district, the dance-punk outfit spliced together funky grooves and infectious rhythms until they found the right recipe for their hotly anticipated fourth album (out August 24). Sweltering chargers like 'AM/FM' and 'Steady as the Sidewalk Cracks' mix trebly guitar, lush effects and soulful vocals.

"A friend mentioned something about sound sculpture and that's sort of what we worked with," Offer says. "Something that's minimal, but everything in it has a lot of depth and has a purpose for being there."

A more self-assured affair than past records, 'Strange Weather, Isn't It?' sees the group emerging as elder statesmen of the indie-rock world. "I think you can tell that it's us and that we've been doing it for awhile, and we're starting to figure out how it's done," says the New York-based frontman.

As for who "us" is, well, that notion has changed a bit since !!!'s last record, 2007's 'Myth Takes.' This time around, the recording lineup is noticeably paired down, including only Offer, guitarist Mario Andreoni, horn player/keyboardist Daniel Gorman and saxophonist/percussionist Allan Wilson.

"We kind of lost half the band for this record, so it was an interesting way to make the record," says the vocalist, who declines to talk details -- not surprising considering the tragic death of the band's former drummer Jerry Fuchs last year. "We had to figure out a new way for us to work -- but then, each record has usually required us to figure out a new way to work."

"In some ways, I don't want to get it down too tight," he adds, after a moment of contemplation. "I want every record to be some sort of discovery."