Sometimes pummeling the shit out of a song just feels right.

Qui - Love’s Miracle

[3.5/5]

Crawling from the sewers of Los Angeles like a pair of amphetamine reptiles ripped to the tits on tar fumes, warm Mexican beer and the stench of rotting fish, Qui (pronounced kwee, we're told) were originally a duo consisting of guitarist/vocalist Matt Cronk and drummer/vocalist Paul Christensen. That is until last year, when they brought in grizzled ringer and former Jesus Lizard/Scratch Acid howler David Yow to man the ramparts, as it were, just in time to record their second full-length. Stuffed from nose to toes with nine noise-rock delights, Love's Miracle sees Qui stomping the piss out of seven originals' worth of staccato power-skronk, mangled hypno-blues and freeform jabberwocky before delivering swift uppercuts to kindred bizzaro Frank Zappa (on a cover of "Willie The Pimp" from 1969's Hot Rats) and sainted psych sorcerers Pink Floyd (on a severely truncated version of "Echoes" from 1971's Meddle) as if the two entities weren't complete polar opposites. Not that Qui are big on subtlety or, like, mercy: If a song can be pummeled, pounded and/or beaten into submission, they figure, well... it probably deserves to be. (IPECAC) J. Bennett

ROCKS LIKE:
The Jesus Lizard's Down
Barkmarket's L. Ron
The Cows' Cunning Stunts

IN-STORE SESSION WITH VOCALIST DAVID YOW

With the exception of three Scratch Acid reunion shows last year, you pretty much disappeared after the Jesus Lizard broke up in 1999. Did you retire from music?

A few months after the Jesus Lizard broke up, I got a job doing photo re-touching, and that's what I've been doing. I didn't have a desire to do music anymore. But this Qui thing kind of happened organically. It was a surprise, but it's one that I like a lot.

How did it happen, exactly?

Originally they asked if I'd sing on their cover of "Willie The Pimp" by Frank Zappa. We did that, and then I did a few shows with them and started doing vocals on songs that they usually sing. Eventually, I started having input. One night we played a show at a club here in Hollywood and I said, "It kinda looks to me like I'm in the band. Am I?" And they said, "Yeah, it looks that way." At first, I didn't wanna do much touring-I told them I didn't wanna go out for more than a week or two at a time-but after a while, I thought, "That's bullshit. If we're gonna do this, let's do it right."

I remember seeing you perform with the Jesus Lizard, and it seems like your stage routine has mellowed considerably with Qui. Is that by necessity?

Well, I think that's a combination of a few things. First of all, I'm really old. Secondly, one of the reasons I didn't wanna do a band after the Jesus Lizard is that I feel like I'm fairly limited as far as vocals go. I'm not much of a singer, and I didn't wanna repeat myself musically or physically. I had quite a reputation for crowd-surfing and taking my clothes off, and... well, for one thing, who wants to see an old, naked man? So it's kind of a been-there, done-that kind of thing. I'm not Iggy Pop.

Why did you decide to call the album Love's Miracle?

That was a title the other guys had before I joined the band, but at one point we were gonna call it Pussy Cheeks. Once we got the cover art, we thought Love's Miracle was really appropriate, so we switched it back. And it's kinda creepy, you know? I mean, even if it was a picture of a man and a woman holding hands or something, Love's Miracle is kinda creepy for a rock band.

Did you specifically choose Sept. 11 as a release date?

Well, we had a choice between Sept. 11 and Sept. 18. We went with Sept. 11 because that date has a really bad rap, so we're trying to help it out. J. Bennett




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