From what I can tell, Dartz! is the U.K.'s shot at Q and Not U. However, their British accents, along with more of a Bloc Party feel, lessen the gap of similarity between the two groups. Some of the guitar work on This Is My Ship, the Teesside trio's debut, also reminds me of a lazy Minus the Bear, using tapping, hammer-on and pull-offs to achieve the sound. Where Minus the Bear's Dave Knudson is incredibly accomplished (he pioneered this technique in the late Botch), it is evident that Dartz!'s guitarist, Henry Carden, admires the skill, but has not mastered it. I'm interested to hear any guitar work of the sort, so this quality, found in songs such as "Harbour" and "Cold Holidays," keeps me satisfied.
The Q and Not U comparison is not my own review-writing contrivance. This Is My Ship's press sheet specifically gloats, "[The songs] 'Prego Triangolos' and ' St. Petersburg' should give you an idea of which dynamic, spiky Q and Not U-esque school of indie rock these boys attend." While these two songs are enjoyable, Dartz!'s influences are all too glaringly obvious to want to continue listening after the album finishes. Knowing that sounds from "Prego Triangolos" and "St. Petersburg," along with other songs on the album, seem to have been borrowed from Q and Not U's No Kill No Beep Beep reminds me that I'd rather be listening to Dartz!'s influences. The vocals on "A Simple Hypothetical" sound exactly like those of Bloc Party. I don't know much about the band, but I do know I've heard comparable music and vocal harmonies on their debut, Silent Alarm.
Sometimes it's necessary to combine more than a few influences in one's own music, or at least not mimic the artists' unique subtleties - even Q and Not U's "wooo!"s are imitated on This Is My Ship. If Dartz! added some of their own flavor to their already flavorful soup of favorite artists and influences, I'd be more inclined to give them another listen.
If Dartz! isn't going for an original sound but wanted to join the wave of artists who produce dance-oriented punk/pop, they've succeeded. If you listen to Dartz! and don't know about the late Q and Not U, you've been cheating yourself out of the pioneers of the sound.
