Many artists embrace the raw side of rock 'n' roll, but few can translate it into an unstoppable force hell-bent on creating a party that will not end until the last bit of sweat is wrung from your brow. Quintron is one of those translators.

Britches, Yowie, Gnarwhal and Marnie Stern (playing in that order) represent a formidable and tightly wound playbill -- all the bands are wheeling in roughly the same sonic orbit, but their approaches are disparate, and they are all at vastly different stages in their musical lives.

Wednesday night proved manic at the Firebird. A barrage of openers spread the wild energy over three sets of not so dissimilar genres. 

Sloughing through a swamp of sound, Britches -- a 3-piece noise outfit from St. Louis -- offers the sonic equivalent of being unable to wake up from a really dark nightmare.