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Dusted Reviews
Artist: Quintron Album: Too Thirsty 4 Love Label: Goner Review date: Oct. 14, 2008 |
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It’s tempting to say that Mr. Quintron and his puppet-playing missus, Miss Pussycat, succeed merely by keeping on. It can’t be easy keeping a niche-market music and marionette act going year after year, even without the added pressure of sustaining abuse from hurricanes, which put their ground-floor in-home club the Spellcaster Lodge out of action for a year, or the general stress of living in America nowadays. But they don’t want your pity or bogus romanticization (spend a bit of time with their photo gallery and their pride in the resiliency of their Ninth Ward neighborhood is palpable), just your entertainment dollar.
So how does this Quintron record stack up? Not bad at all, but not great either. Too Thirsty 4 Love was recorded practically live at home, with Quintron doing the Hammond organ, Rhodes piano, and Drum Buddy in one pass. The performances are quite lively, but a patina of in-the-red tape hiss obscures their sweat rather than giving it a boost. This record never musters the punch of previous releases like These Hands Are Mine or Swamp Tech.
Look past the dialed-down impact and there’s plenty to appreciate, though. With its swaggering beat and righteous Hammond rumble, “Waterfall” is classic Quintron and a winning enticement to revelry on the cheap. Elsewhere they successfully augment their sound. On “Model Ex Citizen” and “Dirt Bag Fever,” pumped-up electro grooves mesh with the roller rink organ. Other tunes dispense with the organ altogether; “Reborn” is pure spaceship-hung-from-the-ceiling electronics and “Sunday Night” – an ode to hedonism on the other side of the Atlantic with an English accent so bad that it makes Bob Pollard sound posh – posits a new persona: Quintron the piano man.
So, chalk this one up as a worthy entry in his discography, well worth checking out if you want to remember the songs after the show. But don’t be surprised if you like the show more.
By Bill Meyer
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The Frog Tape