| Butter | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 26 October 2009 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 51:05 | |||
| Label | Warp | |||
| Producer | Hudson Mohawke | |||
| Hudson Mohawke chronology | ||||
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| Hudson Mohawke studio album chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Butter | ||||
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Butter is the debut studio album by Hudson Mohawke,the alias of Scottish musician Ross Birchard. [4] It was released on Warp Records on 26 October 2009, [5] to positive reviews from critics. [6]
In 2009,Hudson Mohawke signed to Warp Records,despite a very limited track record of official releases;in fact,the bulk of his releases were unofficial tracks and DJ mixes circulated on the Internet,as well as his 2006 Hudson's Heeters mixtape. [7] Butter is his debut album and second release on Warp following the 2008 Polyfolk Dance EP. [8] The album’s artwork was designed by Birchard’s friend Tom Scholefield (a.k.a. Konx-Om-Pax),with both working from a folder of influences they wanted to incorporate, [9] including "the '80s t-shirts Ross and Dom [Flannigan] liked with wolves and bad airbrush animal art." [10] The album features collaborations with Dâm-Funk,Nadsroic,and Olivier Daysoul,the latter an American singer who contributes to two tracks. [11]
Birchard described his recording setup as "very simple," explaining "I’m more interested in the equipment being usable and immediate,rather than spending loads of time tweaking things." [10] Most of the album was made in the audio program FruityLoops using free plug-ins. [10] Mohawke also used hardware such as an Ensoniq VFX and Roland W30 "for lots of vintage dancey sounds" as well as a Korg M50,and sampled his own MIDI programming. [11] He premiered the material at LA's Low End Theory,where it was received positively, [11] although some feedback from the more purist hip-hop DJs was less positive. [10]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 80/100 [6] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [12] |
| BBC Music | favorable [13] |
| Clash | 7/10 [14] |
| Drowned in Sound | 8/10 [5] |
| The Guardian | [15] |
| NME | 7/10 [16] |
| Pitchfork | 6.7/10 [17] |
| PopMatters | 8/10 [4] |
| Q | [6] |
| Resident Advisor | 3.5/5 [8] |
At Metacritic,which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics,Butter received an average score of 80,based on 9 reviews,indicating "generally favorable reviews". [6]
AllMusic called it "A fearless scrap heap mutation that incorporates icebox IDM crunch,DayGlo synthesizer funk and,most notably,late-'80s/early-'90s R&B flourishes." [12] AJ Ramirez of PopMatters gave the album 8 stars out of 10,commenting that "While Butter's fascination with chaotic beats and sonic experimentalism fit right into the Warp aesthetic,the album is remarkably accessible,liable to inspire head-bobbing motions of approval." [4] The Guardian wrote that "listening to Butter can feel like eavesdropping on the future," adding that "It's like eating candyfloss and helium on a speeding rollercoaster:exhilarating and discombobulating in equal measure." [15]
In retrospect,DJ Jake Jenkins called the album "one of the most iconic releases in the LET / beat-scene paradigm. There is a peculiar technicolour to the album that was unlike the other instrumental hip-hop coming out of LA at the time." [10] Birchard stated that within five or six years of release,he began hearing about the influence of the album on other artists,but "what I was doing was just doing shit for fun basically and wearing the influences of it on my sleeve,and it wasn’t done with the intention of anything else [...] If I was going to do it all over again,I would do it exactly the same." [10] In 2020, Clash named it among the 20 best Scottish albums of the 21st century. [18]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Shower Melody" | 1:21 |
| 2. | "Gluetooth" | 3:47 |
| 3. | "Joy Fantastic" (featuring Olivier Daysoul) | 3:59 |
| 4. | "3.30" | 1:35 |
| 5. | "Trykk" | 2:13 |
| 6. | "Fruit Touch" | 3:57 |
| 7. | "ZOo00OOm" | 2:42 |
| 8. | "Acoustic Lady" | 2:07 |
| 9. | "Rising 5" | 3:12 |
| 10. | "Twistclip Loop" | 1:23 |
| 11. | "Just Decided" (featuring Olivier Daysoul) | 3:50 |
| 12. | "No One Could Ever" | 2:19 |
| 13. | "Velvet Peel" | 2:16 |
| 14. | "Tell Me What You Want from Me" (featuring Dâm-Funk) | 2:58 |
| 15. | "Fuse" | 3:10 |
| 16. | "Star Crackout" | 4:55 |
| 17. | "Allhot" (featuring Nadsroic) | 2:43 |
| 18. | "Black n Red" | 2:44 |
Credits adapted from liner notes. [19]
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Ross Matthew Birchard, better known by the stage name Hudson Mohawke, is a Scottish-American producer, composer, and DJ from Glasgow. He is known for his influential work in 21st century hip-hop and electronic music. A founding member of the UK label collective LuckyMe, his fractured, colorful take on hip-hop made him a leading figure in the late-2000s wonky scene. He released his debut album Butter in 2009 on Warp Records. He has followed with the solo albums Lantern (2015) and Cry Sugar (2022), both on Warp.
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