Summer 2023 was a My Guardian Angel summer, summer 2024 is an Empty Eddy summer.
That’s right everybody, I’m going to be talking about one of my favorite bands again in Ultra Q; This time around I had the privilege of getting to see them perform last month at Polaris Hall in Portland, OR for the second time.
For those that are unfamiliar with the band Ultra Q or the lore of the band, they are a post-punk band comprised of Jakob Armstrong, Kevin Judd, Enzo Malaspina, and Chris Malaspina hailing from Oakland, California. They previously were known as Mt. Eddy and had released an album titled Chroma along with a couple of EPs before changing their name to Ultra Q, which comes from a Japanese T.V. show called Ultraman.
The band has released two albums and three EPs together under the Ultra Q moniker, their debut album titled My Guardian Angel in 2023 and recently their follow-up sophomore album Empty Eddy in 2024.
Last time, I saw Ultra Q was at the very same venue over a year ago back in June 2023 when they had just released My Guardian Angel while on tour with Wavves and Cloud Nothings. This time around Ultra Q was on tour supporting Spiritual Cramp, a punk band from San Francisco, CA, on their West Coast tour.
I got to catch up with the band a little bit before the start of the show since the venue is so small and enjoyed talking with Jakob, Kevin, and Chris. The last time I got to speak with the band was back in December when they were playing a small run of shows in the Pacific Northwest, which included two shows in Eugene and Portland during that stretch.
Enzo Malaspina wasn’t there for this show as he was out on tour with Destroy Boys, but I was excited to see him play with the band all back together in October when Ultra Q returns to Polaris Hall. In place of Enzo for the show, the band recruited their friend Albert to play guitar to fill in and I thought he absolutely killed it.
The band played through an approximate 45-minute long setlist with a variety of different songs from their discography including EP’s Get Yourself a Friend and In a Cave in a Video Game as well as My Guardian Angel and Empty Eddy.
The highlights from the setlist for me included “Beep Boop”, “Gror”, “It’s Permanent”, “Rosy”, and “What D’you Call It.” Overall, I thought it was a great setlist that Ultra Q played and had plenty of energy and, a variety of songs from their discography. The final song that they played to close out their setlist came off My Guardian Angel titled “VR Sex”, which is one of my favorite songs off the album, and I love the choppy riffs and high energy the song brings.
Spiritual Cramp came on the stage next after Ultra Q and having not heard of the band before the show, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed their set. The band brings a lot of New Wave, punk rock, hardcore, post-punk, and garage rock elements to their sounds.
If you’re looking for music in the post-punk genre, I cannot stress enough: go listen to Ultra Q and Spiritual Cramp. I cannot say enough good things about both bands. I know I’ve said that about Ultra Q before and I truly mean it, which if you do get the opportunity to see them play live you’ll enjoy their performances like I have and others that I’ve talked to at their shows.
Ultra Q will be back at Polaris Hall on Oct 20, where they’ll be playing shows on a full U.S. tour with The Red Pears and The High Curbs.
