As the Geto Boys once so eloquently said, there's "no tellin what's bein' thought up in the mind of a lunatic." But if I could imagine it for a moment, I would think that if a lunatic created music, it would sound something like Qui's discography.
Formed in 2000, Qui is comprised of vocalist/guitarist Matt Cronk and drummer/vocalist/keyboardist Paul Christensen, two guys clearly not interested in musical genre category tags. Nope, these dudes write and perform songs that exist in their own maniacal sonic space. It's schizophrenic in the sense that at the turn of any note, the song can venture off into a completely different mood, without warning.
A perfect snapshot of Qui's deranged guitar music comes in the form of "Icky Mouth," a track from the duo's forthcoming Snuh album. The song features Trevor Dunn, a bassist No Echo readers will know from Mr. Bungle and Fantomas. Listen below and tell me if I'm wrong.
“'Icky Mouth' was a funny one," Matt Cronk tells No Echo. "We had initially recorded it without bass and with a very different lead vocal, which when all was said and done, I wasn’t happy with. We were talking about it in the van while on tour with Trevor last year and Paul suggested he put a bass line to it. He agreed to it. I thought, too, that we should shit can my vocal track and have Paul come up with a new one. He did that to wonderful effect. It was a bit of an ass-backward way to write a song but it turned out pretty good, right?"
Recorded, produced, and mixed by Toshi Kasai (Melvins, Helmet), with two tracks co-produced by Toshi and Melvins drummer Dale Crover (Melvins), Snuh will hit stores on Aug. 3 via Three One G Records. Snuh will be available digitally on iTunes as well as physically through Three One G Records on 100 pink and 200 black 180 gram vinyl. Free CD will be included with vinyl purchase. Pre-order your copy here.
Records will also be available via Antena Krzyku, Macina Dischi will be releasing the album on CD, and Sweatband Records will be releasing a limited run of cassettes.
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