Are You Ready for an Organ Solo?

AMG Review of Are You Ready for an Organ Solo?

Heather Phares
All Music Guide

Quintron returns with more subversive, more than slightly sleazy fun on Are You Ready for an Organ Solo?, one of three albums he released in 2003. By now, his modus operandi -- howled baritone vocals, insistently dumb beats, cheerleader-style backing vocals courtesy of Miss Pussycat, and of course, organs and analog synths galore -- is well-known, but that doesn't make it any less entertaining. Tracks like "Place Unknown," "The Beach," and "Teenage Antoinette" are electro-garage rave-ups that should be the life of any happening party, while "Miniature Breakdown" is a dancefloor stormer that is about as straightforward as Quintron gets (which is to say, not very). However, any worries about Quintron making his sound more conventional should be put to rest by oddities like "Mud Bugs," the theme to a horror film of the same name. This makes perfect sense, considering the track's "Frankenstein"-like organ stabs and screamed vocals. Likewise, the rambling "I'm Not Busy" is funny, funky, freaky free association that is catchier than it has any right to be. "Cave Formation" is without a doubt the strangest song on the album: Miss Pussycat's doubled, girlishly robotic vocals describe the wildlife -- and nightlife -- in a cavern; backed by a minimal beat and the occasional keyboard squiggle, it's an utterly unique, and hypnotic, song. The album's party vibe feels a little weary by the time the long-awaited "Organ Solo" finally arrives, but Are You Ready for an Organ Solo? is such a bizarre blast that it hardly wears out its welcome.