You‘ve gotta hand it to Christopher Paul Richards. As singer/guitarist for D.C.-based Dischord groove punks Q And Not U, one might‘ve listed him in the “see ya at the reunion” column when the band went its separate ways. But here he comes with Purple Blaze, a solo debut that retains the best parts of Q And Not U‘s beloved sound-the acoustic punk funk of Power, the Prince obsession-and bathes it in a unique wash of XTC-esque West Coast mod melody and Quebecois electronic punk surrealism. (The latter thanks, in part, to resident Alien8‘er Tim Hecker, who helped produce Blaze.) A buried treasure of folk-funk-punk-pop-psychedelia.