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Arriving at their third long-distance endeavor, Dischord's current crown jewel under Ian Mackaye, Washington D.C.'s Q And Not U hit the mark once again. And there was never any reason to doubt it.
Perhaps also drawn by the punk-funk cyclone that is all the rage these days, I like to consider the music of this DC trio as the natural evolution after thirty years of history of a discourse started by Devo and Talking Heads, of which they manage to preserve that sense of sonic plasticity and that ability to create songs that are both fiery and icy at the same time: falsettos worthy of a Prince who embraces the punk cause in 2005 and a vocal style with "Indie Rock" tattooed on its forehead perfectly complete electro-funky structures with a high danceability rate, listen to the opening "Wonderful people" or "L.a.x.", "Wet work" and the nervous "X-Polynation"; in other instances, the dance flair gives way to greater compositional complexity influenced by former labelmates El Guapo (Cafarella and Cohen produced the album), just listen to the synthetically intimate melodies of "District night prayer" and "Dine", the hostile and gloomy "7 daughters" or "Throw back your head", rich with bucolic-futuristic atmospheres that also accommodate subtle and fragile flute lines.
And then how could we not mention the enlightened pop of central tracks "Collect the diamonds", "Beautiful beats" and "Book of flags", the latter effortlessly transforming into pure explosive dance?
In short, the latest offering from Q And Not U will likely sound more sunny and direct compared to its predecessors "No Kill No Beep Beep" (2000) and "Different Damage" (2002), and certainly more attentive to that trend represented by Liars, Rapture, and LCD Soundsystem among its prominent advocates. Yet it is equally clear that Chris, Harris, and John, starting from indie and gradually expanding the boundaries of their sonic universe, album after album, give us true gems of music, and in the end, that's what really matters.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
03 L.A.X. (02:29)
i found some teeth in the street, whatever that means.
smell the flesh in the air. however i care.
plans and bodies.
new terror, loose graves.
change the code to discreet.
forever that means trace events of the day beyond mind's means.
trained in body.
non territory non days.
face the road to deceit together stain scenes.
erase back drop of concrete unsustained dreams.
holy/unholy.
win terror lose grace.
untrained eye on the street lost and eye on the street.
war drums drumming.
nude terror new days.
i'll take the blame and not the blood.
i'll learn the shame and not the faces.
turn our bodies into objects.
just meat to fill the plans.
life everlasting, or eternal relationships, or whatever that means and no answers.
get over, get over, get over.
count the numbers not the names.
weigh the corpse but not the faces.
turn our bodies into objects.
just the blood out in the rain.
numbers and the names.
all our blood and all our faces.
left the shit out in the rain.
turned abject hatred into love.
life everlasting, or eternal relationships, or whatever that means and infinite get over, get over, get over.
the war drums drum.
to find the teeth in the street, what does that mean?
untrained eyes on the street ever after.
war drums drumming.
10 X-Polynation (02:47)
Oly, oly, oly, is just a pig opera when you're landing in your helicopter
Your recent making me feel indecent
I've got a tongue in my mouth
I'd like to use it
Bit down mid-seize
You black and bruised it
Back to the wall
Did you even read at all?
I can't read at all
I do, I do
This building swallows my tongue
I cannot say thy will be done for you
Your spine is curving like a question mark
We lost it all when you unleashed infinite passions to roam with no direction under your protection
Push, push, push us from the deepest of wombs
Build another wall through your oval room
Send you down to live in your immortal tomb
Your arms are reaching like a fruitless tree
Imagination? no, x-polynation
The orchard's emptied for you, for blood and sugary juice
Pushed from the deepest of wombs, the fruit is blackened and bruised
The tongues will bleed until you sleep in the deepest of tombs
Do we the pro-cess in our process
Do we the poses in our progress
Your fruits are falling like a gang of bombs
We lost it all when you unleashed infinite rations out
Your fruits are falling and they taste like bombs
Assassination? no, x-polynation
11 Passwords (02:56)
Oftly they push me in the water
Im ringing my clothes out now
I drank the pail down of the water
I run the water from my clothes so clean
Gently shut my eyes
Gently shut my eyes
I filled the pail of the water
I cast the passwords in a perfect scene
And burn all my belongings
Maybe two will complicate my life
Oh this and more
Right before my eyes
The pail in my mouth
My password was a home on fire
Oh this and more
Silently transpired
They push push push me in the water
They push push push me in a perfect scene
Reciting passwords in a fog of perfume
Reciting passwords in the? of perfume tears
They're burning my belongings
They're deleting every word I write
A silky fog of tear gas
Endlessly conspires
I I I never said no
Because my password was a home on fire
This as the perfume teardrops
Vanished from my eyes
12 Book of Flags (02:44)
An iron gate surrounds you stinking like rotting lace
Your flags are waving dishonestly
A pining plaything, so false so pleased, your flags are aching to bloom from distand grouds, drowning out every sound
Ten generations, ten-thousand nations reditributed like a lost and found
We're keeping our flags at home
We're keeping our flags indoors
We're pulling them from our clothes
We're spending some time alone
"You better not child."
Your flag confessed it's first confession calling out all your guests, calling out all your children
Like it or not, "child."
I knocked your system up
I drank your system down
I'm showing symptoms
I fucked your system
Look, now I'm pregnant with the whole damn town
We wrapped your flag up (they never want to be alone)
We wrapped your flag up tight (they never want to be alone)
We tucked your flag in (there's trouble in the house tonight)
We kissed your flag goodnight
I miss the precious sounds, the tender sounds, the softer sounds
I miss the underground
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