IQU is a lo-fi music

Lo-fi music

Lo-fi is lower quality of sound recordings than the usual standard for music. The qualities of lo-fi are usually achieved by either degrading the quality of the recorded audio, or using certain equipment. Recent uses of the phrase have led to it becoming a genre, although it still remains as an...

 group from Olympia, Washington

Olympia, Washington

Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census...

History

The band formed in Olympia, initially as ICU, and comprised Michiko Swiggs (keyboards), Aaron Hartman (bass), and K.O. (Kento Oiwa, guitar, theremin, turntables). Swiggs and Oiwa had met at a rave

Rave

Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...

 in Osaka

Osaka

is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. Their early recordings consisted of free-form improvisation, but became more song-based. They were by Calvin Johnson to his K Records

K Records

K Records is an independent record label in Olympia, Washington, co-founded, owned, and operated by Calvin Johnson, formerly of the bands Cool Rays, Beat Happening, The Go Team, The Halo Benders and presently in the bands Dub Narcotic Sound System and The Hive Dwellers...

 label, releasing the album Chotto Matte A Moment! in 1998. The band's live shows included bills shared with Unwound

Unwound

Unwound was a United States post-hardcore band based in Tumwater/Olympia, Washington. Formed in 1991, the band consisted of Justin Trosper , Vern Rumsey , and Brandt Sandeno , all of whom had previously been in a band called Giant Henry. Brandt Sandeno quit Unwound in 1992 and was replaced by...

, Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...

, The Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips are an American alternative rock band, formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983.Melodically, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles—such as "What...

, Hovercraft

Hovercraft (band)

Hovercraft was an instrumental experimental rock group that formed in Seattle, Washington in 1993. It was co-founded by its core duo of guitarist/samplist/tape looper Ryan Shinn, and bassist Beth Liebling. Liebling and Shinn would use the pseudonyms "Sadie 7" and "Campbell 2000", respectively,...

, and Mouse on Mars

Mouse on Mars

Mouse on Mars is a duo from Germany who have been making electronic music since 1993. Their music is a sometimes quirky blend of IDM, krautrock, disco, and ambient with a heavy dollop of analog synth sounds and cross-frequency modulation...

, and the band toured extensively. In 1999 the band issued the Girls on Dates EP, a collaboration with performance artist, poet, and filmmaker Miranda July

Miranda July

Miranda July is a performing artist, writer, actress and film director. Born Miranda Jennifer Grossinger, she works under the surname of "July," which can be traced to a character from a "girlzine" Miranda created with high school friend Johanna Fateman, called Snarla.- Background :Miranda...

, described by Allmusic as "a frightening mix of squealing low-fi electronics and broken verbal communication" and "a wonderfully provocative collaboration". Their third album, Teenage Dream

Teenage Dream (IQU album)

Teenage Dream is a 2000 remix album by IQU, released on K Records. The album features the original version of the track "Teenage Dream" plus six remixes by artists such as Looper, Sonic Boom, and Lexaunculpt, and two mixes of "Can't You Even Remember That?", a track from the band's debut album...

was released in 2000, featuring seven different mixes of "Teenage Dream" by the likes of Looper, Lexaunculpt and Sonic Boom

Peter Kember

Peter Kember is a British musician and producer, more usually known as Sonic Boom, and was a founding member of alternative rock band Spacemen 3....

, and two mixes of "Can't You Even Remember That?". Hartman left in 2000, forming Old Time Relijun. Over the next few years, Oiwa scored the soundtrack for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and worked as a DJ, and Swiggs became more involved in visual arts

Visual arts

The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...

. Their fourth album, Sun Q, recorded as a duo, was released in 2004, and was regarded as their best yet by Allmusic, who described the album as "pretty, Asian flavored synth pop". Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

 described Sun Q as "a mash of styles that can be generally categorized as "alien pop" - mutated top 40, broken disco, and hyperactive glam instrumentals that flow along at a stream-of-consciousness pace".

Albums

• Chotto Matte A Moment! (1998), K
  K Records
  K Records is an independent record label in Olympia, Washington, co-founded, owned, and operated by Calvin Johnson, formerly of the bands Cool Rays, Beat Happening, The Go Team, The Halo Benders and presently in the bands Dub Narcotic Sound System and The Hive Dwellers...
  
  
• Teenage Dream
  Teenage Dream (IQU album)
  Teenage Dream is a 2000 remix album by IQU, released on K Records. The album features the original version of the track "Teenage Dream" plus six remixes by artists such as Looper, Sonic Boom, and Lexaunculpt, and two mixes of "Can't You Even Remember That?", a track from the band's debut album...
  
  (2000), K - IQU and friends
• Sun Q (2004), Sonic Boom