The Quick & Easy Boys
Red Light Rabbit
PerCapita Records
Well, The Quick & Easy Boys have done the seemingly impossible - they've managed to make a largely funky record without coming off even the least bit corny. Those who've seen the Portland band live and wondered how the trio's energy-packed live show would translate to the recorded medium have a firm answer in Red Light Rabbit.
While a soulful air of throwback funk fills the 11-track album, the band keeps a garage-rock ethos, proving with songs like "Take Your Medicine" that a band can be funky without getting too concerned with flashiness. The record peaks with "Black Panther," a groovy yet earnest rocker that's grounded in the sort of guitar mastery that Jimmy Russell dishes out throughout the album. Fans looking for the honky-tonk feel the Boys deliver at their shows won't find much of it here, but that's a good thing because Red Light Rabbit feels more focused than the band's earlier efforts. Yeah, the honky-tonk-funk collision was interesting, but the more gritty rock feel the Boys have going here makes for a much more solid record.
The Quick and Easy Boys play Silver Moon Brewing. 9pm Saturday, August 14.
