It’s time once again, for a number of reasons, for Mr. Quintron to appear on our fair pages four years to the day since he first featured. The biggest reason being his new album that came out two months ago on Goner Records, Too Thirsty 4 Love. Recorded on 2 track, it’s Quintron playing his custom Hammond/Rhodes combo organ with working headlights and utilizing his Drum Buddy creation, in his native New Orleans with his partner in crime and puppet shows, Miss Pussycat. The other reason: I needed something to help me get over some High School Musical-inspired, Disney Channel-ish, over-produced, over-scripted, pre-teen/teen flamboyance. Let’s just say Mr. Quintron came through for me.
Original Post: Jan 5, 2005:
This one is for Sean. Over the years, Sean and I have recommended bands to each other, with limited success. It all started back in 1993 when I went into the music store where Sean worked and told him I was bored with everything in my music collection. He handed me a Green Day CD which I traded in shortly thereafter, despite the rocking cover of the Who’s “My Generation.” Sean, a la Ronald Reagan, says he “cannot recall” handing me Green Day, but I assure you it happened. Another notable moment was in 2000, when he and I (and Sam) were in San Francisco at Ameoba. I recommended Jessamine to Sean; he bought a CD, and probably traded it in shortly thereafter. But it all finally came together, thanks to 3hive, when Sean posted Louis XIV. I just love “God Killed the Queen.” Success! I then hipped him to an early ’90s British band, Five Thirty, whose mod, power pop, blues, fuzzed-out wah stills gets my feet shakin’. Another success! So after our little fun with The Herms yesterday, I wanted to post Mr. Quintron for Sean. Mr. Quintron is a one-man band and organist extraordinaire, who has also invented the Drum Buddy (see below). It is to my great shame that this New Year’s Eve I missed Mr. Quintron playing “Grandfather Time” at the stroke of midnight at the Hi-Tone in Memphis, just 12 minutes from my house.
Happy New Year! In an auspicious start to 2009, I had one of my old musical wishes granted, that is, sharing with you all a free MP3 from Kathleen Edwards. Not exactly new to the scene, this Canadian country crooner’s 2003 debut Failer had some of my all time favorite lines (“Wanna go get high? / The Mercury is parked outside under the lights”). She’s been pretty quiet since the mid-point of the decade, with Asking for Flowers coming after a three year break. The title track, available here, offers a perfect glimpse of what she has to offer — smooth and subtle vocals, an easy roots foundation, lyrics that offer a deeply personal narrative. And for this Midwesterner, something much better than watching Big 10 football teams getting creamed in the Cali sunshine.
Frederik, yet another musically gifted Swede brings us tunes we love. Na Na Ni varies from quiet, dark and pretty instrumentals to more pop-ish songs with quirky lyrics–he does them both well. And for that very reason, this December, whether on bus, train or subway, Frederik was always in my headphones, never leaving my side. The album varies from quiet, dark and pretty instrumentals to more pop-ish songs with quirky lyrics–he does them both well. Frederik has become my own personal patron saint of public transportation–always making what was happening outside my headphones prettier, more magical, less annoying. I’ll be listening tonight and, again, tomorrow while I’m turning twenty-AHEMPH. I think the record makes a delightful beginning AND end of a year. Happy New Year’s kids.
Adding to our slowcore archive always delights me. Sometimes something really mellow is exactly what you need. Right around New Year’s seems to be one of those times. There’s always so much going on around the holidays and then there’s a brief moment of reflection around the new year just before you jump back into your daily grind. Unlearn encourages us to do otherwise. Unlearn the daily grind. Un-do bad habits. Add constructive ones. Don’t speed back up. Make time to experience the 
Times New Viking sure make a whole lotta racket for only three people. The fuzz, the pounding, the screeching organ; it’s like The Velvets on speed, the Velvets how they sounded in the earphones of the young, impressionable future members of Times New Viking.
Today’s Christmas special comes courtesy of Brushfire Records. Looking for last minute Christmas music? Download this festive collection and 25% of the profit goes to support children’s music education. Lots of stocking stuffers here from Matt Costa, Money Mark, Rogue Wave, and of course Jack Johnson, but I can never pass up Neil Halstead’s toe-tapping authenticity song, so I’m passing this one along to you. Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Cheers.
Not only does “Are You Sure?” take the prize for being the sunniest song about winter I’ve heard all year, it also wins the best Beulah song since Beulah broke up four and half years ago. It also happens to be one of my favorite songs of the year. A Block of Yellow’s bright melodies come directly from the Elephant 6 Collective songbook and the general ’60s garage pop sound. A Block of Yellow chased with a hot cup of cocoa will run the chill right out of your fingertips and toes this winter.
Wintermitts is a quartet from Vancouver, that inexplicably chipper Canadian raintown that is lax on the doobie laws and serious about its pop music. Wintermitts is so serious that it features accordion and flute regularly and bring in horns, harmonica, melodica, and even glockenspiel for extra-special occasions. If that weren’t enough, they’re also serious conservationists — they gave away an Heirloom tomato seedling with their previous CD, aptly, Heirloom. But wait…there’s more. They sing in French sometimes, and sometimes is perfect because us monolinguists can enjoy how they make an octopus a symbol for true love (really, it’s not far-fetched at all once you know that octopi have three hearts) in English and then enjoy whatever blah blah blah they’re saying in French on tracks like “Petit Monstre.” Seriously, Lise Monique Oakley can be singing about emptying the litter box for all I know and I still want to grab her and say “Kiss me, mon amour!”
Regarding that which we would term “Americana,” do they call it “Canadiana” in the land to the North? Just curious. Ox = American lo-fi alt country from Canada. They showed up on a nice little sampler from Weewerk that I’ve been listening to like a homemade mix-tape lately. My favorite among these tracks is probably “Transam,” which with its wavering vocals and shady narrative (not to mention the Bond-themed guitar solo) kind of reminds me of those Neil Young songs about drug shipments and getting burned. The thing is, download any of these freebies from Ox’s two albums and you’ll find great narratives wailed over stripped down simplicity. This time less is more.