New Music Initiative 077: Buttertones
Jul. 15th, 2020 03:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bedsitter23How would one describe the Buttertones- a band that is not easy to identify.
The name implies a ska band to me. The album covers look like classic jazz albums of the Fifties and Sixties or alternatively circa-Y2k post-punk- either something released by Blue Note or Burning Heart.
The most often used comparison is Garage band and to a certain extent, surf. It is not a stretch to compare them to the Allah-Las or the Growlers, or an band that follows that history back to the Cramps and back before to the Sonics, and anyone in between. But it's singer Richard Araiza's baritone (and how the band play around it that is the real story.
A touch lounge, a touch rockabilly, more than anything it reminds me of Morrissey, especially on songs like "Denial, You Win Again " (even sounds like a Morrissey title) and "Fade Away Gently".
The band's a bit of a chameleon too, so while the image of 60s rock looms, there is such an 80s sound. Think Gun Club or Joy Division depending on the track (on the title track, maybe both). "Blind Passenger" starts with an obvious Cure guitar lick. Elsewhere, C86esque sounds drop in, while "Bebop" manages to be surf and No Wave. Throughout, these influences seamlessly intertwine.
I wasn't aware of the band before Jazzhound (three albums since 2017). From my short period of listening, I might say this album simultaneously continues their sound, but also takes them to a new level. I really dig this. Album of the Year candidate.
The name implies a ska band to me. The album covers look like classic jazz albums of the Fifties and Sixties or alternatively circa-Y2k post-punk- either something released by Blue Note or Burning Heart.
The most often used comparison is Garage band and to a certain extent, surf. It is not a stretch to compare them to the Allah-Las or the Growlers, or an band that follows that history back to the Cramps and back before to the Sonics, and anyone in between. But it's singer Richard Araiza's baritone (and how the band play around it that is the real story.
A touch lounge, a touch rockabilly, more than anything it reminds me of Morrissey, especially on songs like "Denial, You Win Again " (even sounds like a Morrissey title) and "Fade Away Gently".
The band's a bit of a chameleon too, so while the image of 60s rock looms, there is such an 80s sound. Think Gun Club or Joy Division depending on the track (on the title track, maybe both). "Blind Passenger" starts with an obvious Cure guitar lick. Elsewhere, C86esque sounds drop in, while "Bebop" manages to be surf and No Wave. Throughout, these influences seamlessly intertwine.
I wasn't aware of the band before Jazzhound (three albums since 2017). From my short period of listening, I might say this album simultaneously continues their sound, but also takes them to a new level. I really dig this. Album of the Year candidate.
