Q and Not U - No Kill No Beep Beep - Dischord

Review by: Jennifer Perkins

No Kill No Beep Beep has been a long time coming. Not only did Dischord desperately need something great to bring the attention back to this once top of the Indie hierarchy record label, music in general needed Q and Not U. In a day and age where everything is starting to run together and comparisons between bands can be drawn effortlessly it is refreshing to have a band spring up with basically a sound all to their own.

Sure Q and Not U have elements of other bands involved in their music, it's the way they incorporate the whole thing like one giant Indie/punk casserole that makes them unique. Musically the Q and Not U embrace some of the better points of Indie music with obtuse and complicated guitar work. At the same time throwing in basic elements that they obviously learned from the early punk scene of DC. Vocals, which rumor has it are shared among all 4 members, are tinged with a surly and insolent tone.

These kids were working under a good omen from the start. When your first 7" is a split release with Desoto Records and Dischord, people are going to prick up their ears and pay attention. The attention they have received would have come no matter who released this record. Even without the well known labels muscle behind it, No Kill No Beep Beep stands out as one of the better records of recent times. How many punk records have you heard as of late chant in the middle of a record "D-O-W-N and that's the way we get down", it was true love from that moment on.

The guitar work on songs like "The More I get the More I Want" are hook laden at one moment and chaotic the next. This band is going to win friends on both sides of the underworld of music. The Indie kids will like themusical challenge and the hardcore kids will appreciate the straightforward rock aspect. This is a crackerjack debut, and they are just getting started. The Q and Not U may be just the band to put DC back on the Indie rock map.

Read an Interview with the Q and Not U here.

Read where the Q and Not U got their name from here.