Anthropomorphizer (Original Soundtrack)

Along with her keyboard and vocal stylings, Miss Pussycat's puppet shows are an integral part of the Quintron concert experience. They're also enchanting in their own right, with a homespun feel that can change from innocent to subversive at a moment's notice. While her distinctive visuals earn praise regularly, Anthropomorphizer, a collection of soundtracks from nearly a decade's worth of shows, proves that the vocalizations, sound effects, and music are just as compelling. They're even more surreal without the puppets, coming across like psychedelic radio plays or field recordings of dreams. "Caveman Island" (the earliest work here, from 2005) features two Neanderthals who adopt a pet skunk and open a bar to meet ladies (after a dapper-sounding character with an English accent says "Your caveman tools are nice and big — why don't you two have girlfriends?"). Pussycat's mix of cute, weird, and dangerous is especially delicious on "Cookie Carnival Baking Contest," the tale of a renegade goblin cake with a brand-new flavor. Here and throughout Anthropomorphizer, Miss Pussycat and Quintron accompany her stories with evocative music that calls to mind the D.I.Y. experiments of Bruce Haack and Miss Nelson mixed with punk, funk, lounge, and more; on "Magical Nebulon Rainbowland," drifting synth textures coalesce into electro boogie-woogie. Anthropomorphizer will delight those already familiar with Miss Pussycat's world, and win over those open to the wildest flights of fancy.