Though they’ve been acquitting themselves admirably since 2001 as a crungy guitar-and-drums duo, I bet QUI wouldn’t have landed this gig if they hadn’t bitten the bullet last year and added a lead singer–specifically the Jesus Lizard’s lead singer, David Yow. These LA guys are doing Yow a favor too, of course, by taking him out of the “what have you done for us lately?” column. What they’ve done for us together is Love’s Miracle (Ipecac), a dirty, sweaty, fantastically tasteless train wreck of an album. The lyrics are nasty and make no sense, and yes, that’s Zappa’s “Willie the Pimp” and Pink Floyd’s “Echoes.” (The latter sounds past its sell-by date, but I’m pretty sure that’s intentional.) Thankfully this stuff is more fun than annoying–quite a feat, since it’s annoying as fuck. Yow is in fine form, digging up the bluesy part of his dirt-track howl and strangling the shit out of it–think Bon Scott emceeing a demolition derby in hell–and his comrades are a colossal riff machine, especially drummer Paul Christensen, whose sound is as thick and bubbly as boiling asphalt. –Monica Kendrick
