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Hiro
24th June 2002, 22:46
I saw a rather absurd, (funny as hell) show the other week-

Mr. Quintron and Ms. Pussycat came to Toronto and after a warm-up puppet show that featured a squirrel and death facing off in a guitar battle (clearly death should have won, in my mind- but I understand the need for these stories to end in a childlike safe zone)- we were thrown into a Vegas lounge sleaze meets quirky, cheerleader, rock/organ-overload nut-bar set. Mr. Quintron/Ms. Pussycat are from New Orleans- and this is the first I had heard of them- Anyone else catch these two?

The tools he was using were what had my jaw on my shoes... Charlie and the Chocolate Factory style casing over some modified drum machines- Which he tortured endlessly- to produce some pretty wacky sounds... Later, he chose the pyro route and set his "drum buddy" on fire- Fucking great.

fr/

http://www.skingraftrecords.com/bandhtmlpages/quintron.html

<<Mr. Quintron is the contemporary mad scientist idealized, toiling maniacally
with circuitry and gadgets in his workshop. His laboratory work in the 9th
Ward of New Orleans has escaped the notice of the popular
electrical-engineering circles and has allowed him the solace needed to take
his work in directions overlooked by his contemporaries. Here he tampers
with his organs and constructs new toys, each more demented and spectacular
than the last. But thanks to his latest marketing campaign, multitudes now
recognize the possibilities inherent in such "Quintraptions" as The Drum
Buddy, a rotating oscillator / drum-machine activated by rhythmic light
exposure patterns. Building and adapting his own instruments is a very
practical skill for Mr. Quintron. For instance, commercial Theremin kits are
currently being sold for amounts in excess of $600, allowing "real"
rock'n'roll bands such as Dinosaur Jr. and Blues Explosion to build and use
the recently popularized instrument. According to Quintron, a transistor
Theremin that you can run through a tube amplifier can be built for
approximately $6 with parts from Radio Shack.>>

Toys rule.

Peezee
25th June 2002, 17:48
Hey I know those cats. I used to live in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Quintron/Ms Pussycat have put out a lot of material on Ann Arbor's Bulb record label a few years back.

The label does a lot of experimental/art/noise rock and lo-fi electronic stuff. Another good group to look out for on the label is Wolf Eyes - sort of noise techno- drum machines, hacked sound toys, and guitar.

With Quintron, a lot of his earlier releases were done with experimental instruments, then he started releasing a lot more straight up organ music- he's quite the organist, it has a sound somewhere in between haunting carnival tunes and 60s garage style. I think now he is getting back into experimental instruments as noted in the quote from Skingraft records above- I recall him saying something about wanting self-playing instruments or something.

Ms Pussycat I think is the one behind 'Flossie and the Unicorn" records also on Bulb, as well as Hanson, and possibly other labels as of late. These are bizarre tripped out Puppet Show stories with occasional musical interludes.

And an interesting bit of trivia about the Bulb label - MTV rocker Andrew WK started his music career working with Bulb and playing in local Art Rock bands in Ann Arbor.

@m.
25th June 2002, 21:42
Where the hell was i and why didn't you PM me, Hiro???

By the way, you should PM anyway as i have something exciting up my sleeve...

Hiro
26th June 2002, 01:50
"Wolf Eyes - sort of noise techno- drum machines, hacked sound toys, and guitar. "

I really dig when people take the old toys and rework them into "now" sound- Hearing traces of speak and spells (Sonic Boom/EAR- tipping the hat to Reed Ghazala)- or samples from Galaxia (sp?)- Sort of a comfort... New ways to incorporate the familiar childtime soundtrack into this moment.

A friend of mine fr/ Detroit, used to modify old Alphie robots and various Value Village treasures for some pretty fascinating live sets.

Peezee- Thanks for the heads up- I'll look out for Wolf Eyes!

@m- Check PM

Peezee
26th June 2002, 05:13
Originally posted by Hiro
"Wolf Eyes - sort of noise techno- drum machines, hacked sound toys, and guitar. "

I really dig when people take the old toys and rework them into "now" sound- Hearing traces of speak and spells (Sonic Boom/EAR- tipping the hat to Reed Ghazala)

A friend of mine fr/ Detroit, used to modify old Alphie robots and various Value Village treasures for some pretty fascinating live sets.


Speaking of Reed Ghazela, you can find how-to's and info on hacking sound-toys and cheap synths using Reed's "circuit-bending" techniques pretty easy on the web. here's a couple sites to check if you're interested:

http://www.anti-theory.com/soundart/circuitbend/cb01.html

http://www.carrionsound.com/menu.htm

lucid rinehead
26th June 2002, 15:18
cool! it never occurred to me that you could get better sound just by sticking in a line out....and if you use a DI box there shouldn't be any danger of melting your mixer!

Hiro
26th June 2002, 19:41
Re: Circuit bending-

There are quite a few analog loyalists represented here, in Toronto- One of whom- (Jacob Fairley) spends time assaulting *ahem* thoughtfully modifying ( ;) ) various analog treasures... The Thibideau brothers did a recent set with a newly improved little Casio sk-1 (care of Jacob)... Getting the low-down on just what these modifications do to the original sounds adds something to the way I enjoy their sets...

I just dropped off my old gameboy with Matt (Thibideau)- cause he is looking at some interesting software that will allow him to manipulate the sounds directly from the gameboy...

Does anyone know what I am talking about (still a little fuzzy on the details...)

Peezee
26th June 2002, 23:33
Re: Gameboy..

That sounds pretty cool.
I'm sure you must know about the Gameboy Camera cartridge that comes with a little audio loop sequencer and some funky 8-bit sounds - hours of entertainment.

But whats really cool is you can make dirty lo-fi digital videos with the gameboy camera. You need a Super Nintendo as well, and the SNES gamboy cartridge adaptor, then you just hook the camera cartridge up to your SNES, and record from the SNES video line out :)