IQU's Girls on Dates EP is a frightening mix of squealing low-fi electronics and broken verbal communication. Complimenting IQU's explosive haze is an hilarious and chilling spoken-word performance by punk poet and filmmaker Miranda July. Though there are only four tracks on the record (the last two tracks are remixes of the first two songs), IQU weave an interesting plot of miscommunication and language reformation with their crunchy electro beats, live upright bass, and July's flat-out spoken weirdness. On the title track, July provides the voices of multiple characters as a pushy female investigator attempts to solve a homicide -- her only lead being a ditzy young woman who can't pronounce her own last name. IQU build a mood of creepiness and tension around the one-woman dialogue as the suspect goes insane in this amazing musical study of semantics. In the other track, July portrays two respite givers trying to communicate with an invalid woman by devising a series of response signals. July's startling imagination becomes that much more present in the monologue as she tells the disabled woman "If you know that I'm here, I want you to stop breathing." IQU have a definite knack for tone as Michiko Swiggs, K.O., Aaron Hartman, and July create an unsettling and opaque wall of drum, bass, and synthetic madness. A wonderfully provocative collaboration. ~ Ken Taylor Personnel: Miranda July (vocals); Michiko Swiggs (keyboards, synthesizer); K.O. (keyboards, programming); Aaron Hartman (upright bass).

Includes a cover of Minnie Ripperton's "Loving You" on theremin. Four years on from their last release and nearly six years after their debut album Chotto Matte a Moment! arrived, IQU returns with their second full-length Sun Q. When most bands go on such an extended hiatus it's a red flag that all is not well, but Sun Q is in fact IQU's best work yet. They've traded some of the more overtly experimental and drum 'n' bass leanings of their earlier work for pretty, Asian flavored synth pop that's equally shiny and smart: the irrepressible "9th Line" sounds like Daft Punk gone Shibuya-kei, with electro beats, fuzz bass and tight, tinny guitars jostling for position. Though the sardonic vocals on the verses help keep the song from becoming too cutesy, the track's overall vibe conjures up images of toys and robots getting their groove on (the song also takes a bathroom break, one of the first songs to do so since Björk's "There's More to Life Than This"). This mix of style, wit, and just a slight bit of geekiness informs the rest of Sun Q, particularly on "Dirty Boy" -- which also recalls Bis' first forays into synth pop, albeit with a slightly funkier edge -- as well as on the fun, sushi-referencing "Hamachi" and a cheeky cover of Minnie Riperton's "Loving You," on which the band's theremins strain to reach some of the impossibly high notes the soul diva hit on the original. "Dirty Boy"'s ringtone and vocoder-laden funk-pop and the sweetly mischievous pizzicato strings and breathy vocals on "Crazy" show off IQU's range within their sound and also recall the late-'90s heyday of Shibuya-kei artists like Buffalo Daughter and Takako Minekawa. However, the album doesn't sound dated; indeed, its somewhat more recent retro stylings feel fresher than the '80s synth pop revival of the early 2000s. Sun Q isn't perfect: more than a few of the songs go on longer than they should, and occasionally IQU sound stuck between the indie leanings of their previous releases and the bigger, poppier sound they seem to be heading towards. But when the band is capable of songs like the soft rock meets dance-pop hybrid of the title track -- which could've appeared in an alternate version of Lost in Translation with a more obviously happy ending -- ...

IQU's Girls on Dates EP is a frightening mix of squealing low-fi electronics and broken verbal communication. Complimenting IQU's explosive haze is an hilarious and chilling spoken-word performance by punk poet and filmmaker Miranda July. Though there are only four ...

TEENAGE DREAM [EP] consists of seven remixed versions of the IQU song "Teenage Dream." IQU, formerly ICU, found the lo-fi/electronic audience while on tour with the Flaming Lips and Cornelius. The trio was a great match for Cornelius' electronic pop and ...