In the psychological search for the roots of behavior, the simplified final verdict comes down to environment versus genetics. If music can be brought into the study, chromosomes might as well throw in the towel, since environment seems to have behavior in a headlock when you put D.C. under the scope. The first five seconds of "Fever Sleeves" project more D.C. landmarks than the Mall. Taking a quick survey of the city, we find ghettos reaching into suburbia and suburbs reaching into ghettopia. Georgetown gentrification rubs against white government blocks as other sectors rot under boarded windows. So, it's not surprising that pop bands from D.C. can carry nasty faces and ragged edges, while hardcore bands may spice their spikes with coats of glucose.
Q and Not U roll out of the mold of the Capitol dome in the stereotypical D.C. form and find an ideal home in the roster of D.C. archivists, Dischord Records. For Dischord's 20th Anniversary, No Kill No Beep Beep serves as suitable a summation as the label's upcoming box set. Beeping guitars flutter, thrash and crash like wuxia. Drummer John Davis leads the listener through the herky-jerky chaos like an acrobatic fullback. At times, the rhythms and changes rumbling from his kit hog too much spotlight, and songwriting takes a backseat to cluttered post-hardcore aerobics. Q and Not U pummel through their disc in piecemeal haste. Duel guitars stutter to spit out all they learned from Fugazi and Circus Lupus. This is punk rock filibustering. Loopy finger-tappings and harsh pick-hammerings take precedence over the chordal strumming of those other cities.
Lyrically and vocally, the band's three singers follow the lead of the guitars-- cutting and spewing random thoughts that smash suburban imagery with violence, politically charged vocabulary, and disdain. The result is a sometimes silly, sometimes screamy mishmash of typical collegiate new-wave ramblings. Take lines like, "Kill me with that favorite comb," and, "We breathe clock and telephone/ Basement fires keep us so alive." They mean little more than rock din. Q and Not U have a notion of what they should sound like, but haven't yet discovered what they will and can sound like. Their best song, "End the Washington Monument (Blinks) Goodnight", mimics the loose Fugazi of End Hits. They proclaim: "Inside the convex lens/ We all crash new jet planes tonight," in an attempt to emulate their icon, Fugazi's Guy Picciotto, who put it much better when he sang, "Your eyes/ Like crashing jets/ Fixed in stain glass/ With no religion."
Still, few bands sound like this, and even fewer towns sound like this. Zeal may outmeasure experience and uniqueness, but blaming D.C. for producing Q and Not U is like blaming Keebler for making cookies. A scene which constantly cannibalizes and cross-inspires, D.C. looks to produce some slight new variations yet. No Kill No Beep Beep comes with all the frustrations and thrills of a debut. I'm just waiting for them to put the "new" in "new wave."
