Sunday, December 27, 2009

Q And Not U - No Kill Beep Beep


People still talk about the time Q And Not U played in Halifax (2003 I believe?). There have been many imitations but rarely does a math rock band blend so many musical elements into such catchy memorable parts. John Davis had so much talent as a drummer he could easily find company with guys like Matt Cameron, Brendan Canty or Sebastien Grainger.

Davis does cool triplet time stretching in Fever Sleeves, cool fast disco stuff in Hooray For Humans, touches on So-Cal style drumming on We Heart Our Hive. His rhythms are prominent but not boisterous, and he has an awesome kick drum foot, which he uses to sometimes slip in little doubles before his snare hits, which I like.

I think we get to hear more of his talent on their next release, Different Damage, but he has more energy on No Kill Beep Beep. Math rock is a genre that everyone enjoys playing, but it's hard to transfer it properly to a record and make it sound palatable. Davis has perfected the drumming approach to the genre, he keeps his energy up but his volumes at mid range so that it's not all washy with cymbals. I like that, because as hard as I try, I can't do it.

Audio/Visual Evidence: I couldn't find any live videos of them playing songs from this record, so here is some live footage of other songs.

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