Bitterness 1; The Qualia 2
by: Alistair Wallace

On April 27th the band The Qualia released their second album Secret Weapon.  While they are from Brooklyn and they are self-described as electro-pop, The Qualia seem more focused on what comes after the hyphen than before.  Song craft trumps gimmick; the Qualia is less dogmatic than many of their electro-pop borough mates (MGMT, Animal Collective, et. al), and the album is better off for it.  Too bad the bass playing sucks.

At this point I should mention that I auditioned to play bass live for this band, and, needless to say, I’m writing this blog and they just released a very good second album and are playing awesome live, regardless of the robot on bass.  They’re obviously doing just fine without me, but the rejection stung in a way that is hard for me to impart outside the realm of my own experience of it, so, you know,  f these guys.

Best track is “This Weekend”, which I find lyrically has a sweetness reminiscent of the Smiths-era Morrissey ballads like “Unloveable” or “Sing Me To Sleep”.  Here’s a link to listen/buy the whole album.

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