Hipster CD Collection: Q

hipster CD collection
Q

booze & grub

movies

Check out the CDs on Mr. Hipster's shelves.

<-<- back to CD collection index

Q and Not U
[q and not u website]

Different Damage

Sure it's more mature, but it's way less fun. Sure there are some sonically piercing songs, but even those throw-ins feel a little forced after No Kill No Beep Beep's franticness. I'm sure critics would say this is a better album than their debut (or not), but they almost sound content here. And what artist has ever made a good album while content? In the realm of dance punk, this one is more dance, less punk, although still a predecessor of many of today's hot acts.

No Kill No Beep Beep

I was talking to somebody about this band, and I think he said that listening to Q & Not U made him literally want to blow his head off. I totally get it, although I wholeheartedly disagree. Like many other Dischord bands, they take the label name to heart and create dischord within their music. It's all start and stop and weird angles, time signature changes, shrieking guitar plucking and octopus drumming. Listen to "End the Washington Monument Blinks" and tell me these guys aren't a good pop band. It does sound like the guitar player is using a drill bit as a guitar pick at points, but it just adds to the wacky hand claps and call and response thing that has honestly spawned a generation of wacky bands from as diverse a background as Brooklyn and Canada. This is the original, boys. Get on board.

Power

It's as if this band just has no desire to be annoying anymore. And with the annoyance goes some of the fun. Granted, this is a much more listenable album than either of their first two, but with this one they've moved into more Hot Hot Heat-ish territory (or maybe HHH moved into theirs). The DC sound is all but dead, which is a shame, but in its place comes a more stripped down Rapture mixed with just a touch of spazz rock (along with some bizarre flutes/recorders) and surprisingly less handclaps than their last album. And then they broke up and went their separate ways.

Q-Tip
[q-tip website]