Few words in the English language contain the letter q without the letter u (Iraq and Qi Gong being two exceptions). And in Washington D.C.'s thriving underground scene, very few bands lack some resemblance to hometown heroes Fugazi or any other post-hardcore project from the mind of Ian MacKaye.
At first glance, art-punk trio, Q and Not U, seem no different. They're signed to MacKaye's Discord label, home of herky-jerky polito-punk. D.C.'s favorite son also sits in the production booth on QANU's 2000 debut, "No Kill No Beep Beep," so the similarities come as no surprise. The sonic squalls and good cop/bad cop vocals have the same blistering immediacy of the early Fugazi formula. The resemblance crumbles, however, with drummer John Davis's kit-bashing. His taut, jazzy, polyrhythmic big beats change tempo and temperament with superhuman precision. The hoots, hollers and hand-claps that accompany him help grease the crowd's wheels, pushing power-punk to the dance floor for a drunken pirouette.
The exit of bassist, Matt Borlique, however, signaled a creative leap for QANU's remaining members. Rather than replacing him and barreling forward, they adapted to a three-piece for last year's release, "Different Damage." They beefed up their Gang-of-Four-ish clang and bounce, but toyed with experimental song structures, schizophrenic time signatures and ragged, minor-key melodies. Now dissonant synth chords, melodica solos and lopsided rhythmic change-ups fill the gaps left by Borlique's absence.
Unlike most bands on Discord, QANU are fairly apolitical. Chris Richard's lyrics are intentionally nebulous, so when they shout "harm every tissue for some ticker-tape pants" or spell out the words "Soft pyramids evaporate," don't read too much into it. A party needs no interpretation.
