Q And Not U
Power

THE REVIEW

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.