RORY MACLEAN
Arts Writer

When meeting someone new, and the inevitable inquiry comes about favourite music, something inside me cringes a little bit if my new acquaintance says “electronic” right away. There’s something stupefying about much of electronic music but it does have its time and place, especially when it involves the musicianship of a band, like the high-kicking electro-punks, Shout Out Out Out.

Shout Out Out Out Out is an Edmonton-based electronic band featuring two drummers, as many as three bass players and a shit-load of synthesizers. One of the few electronic acts I look forward to seeing live, they hit Louis’ Pub Oct. 28 for what turned out to be a sparsely attended show.

The dance floor, however, was full up.

Most of the songs feature lyrics, a bonus for me, though the singing is filtered through a vocoder — an electronic voice-altering device. Still, plenty of the fans in the crowd seemed to have deciphered all the lyrics.

The biggest draw of this band is their danceability. The lyrics and the bass hooks are just plain catchy. If they don’t get you tapping your toe or perhaps even wiggling those hips a little bit, you might not have a pulse.

I was once the kind of guy that had a painfully long warm-up period to overcome before I could be dragged onto a dance-floor. This usually involved plenty of liquid courage and significant coaxing from my significant other. But, for some reason, I have now embraced dance parties in all their forms. Shout Out Out Out Out has surely helped this transformation.

They may have an incredibly tedious name, but they have a solid stage show and good chemistry together onstage — enjoyable, even if you’re not a fan of electronic music.