Two-thirds into the opening track of Q and Not U’s debut album, No Kill No Beep Beep, we can hear the start of a revolution. “A Line in the Sand” transitions seamlessly from angular to dancey, where everything — the rhythm, the feel, the mood — changes. The album was released in 2000, just when a new trend was emerging, with bands regularly recycling the sounds of Gang of Four, Delta 5, Bush Tetras, Liquid Liquid, and tons of other punks who loved having enormous basslines driving their noisy, angsty songs. Soon, it would become the sound of independent rock for a couple of years and even occasionally crossover to the mainstream.
In its original form, it was music to protest and party to; it was angry and poignant, sure, but it was also festive. Considering that the patron saints of this sound were the fiercely political Gang of Four, one could offer the speculative reason that, in a post-9/11 world, we needed music that was both outspoken and frenetic enough to dance like there was no tomorrow (not that politics were explicit for this wave of bands). But it was still a somewhat regional concern: Dischord has always reflected the sound of Ian MacKaye’s bands. Early signees played out like Minor Threat companions, and most later bands embraced the paced, dexterous sound of Fugazi. Q and Not U surely took some cues from Fugazi, but they also seemed to be influenced by the dance music of the D.C. Go Go scene sound and the aforementioned post-punk bands.
Sure, The Rapture released an EP the year before and there were plenty of other offshoots playing in a similar fashion, but it’s rare to hear a band shift five years into the future within a single song. And most amazingly, “A Line in the Sand” and all of No Kill No Beep Beep still feels like a contemporary party, something that can’t be said about many subsequent “dance punks.”
