| 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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Wonky is a subgenre of electronic dance music known primarily for its off-kilter or "unstable" beats, as well as its eclectic, colorful blend of genres including hip-hop, electro-funk, 8-bit, jazz fusion, glitch, and crunk. Artists associated with the style include Joker, Rustie, Hudson Mohawke, Zomby, and Flying Lotus. The genre includes the microgenre aquacrunk and is related to purple sound.
Ross Matthew Birchard, better known by the stage name Hudson Mohawke, is a Scottish producer, composer, and DJ from Glasgow. He is known for his work in 21st century hip-hop and electronic music. A founding member of the UK based record label LuckyMe, his fractured 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.
LuckyMe is a United Kingdom–based record label and design studio specialising in the release of new electronic, hip hop, pop, rock and underground dance music. Referred to as "one of the most innovative and prolific independent record labels of the decade" and acclaimed for "distinctive visual arts projects and collaborations".
Rustie is a Scottish musician from Glasgow. He is associated with the Numbers label collective and first received attention for his 2007 EP Jagz the Smack. He signed to Warp Records in 2009. His 2011 debut album Glass Swords won him widespread acclaim. His music blends disparate genres, including hip hop, rave, and electronic trap.
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Lunice Fermin Pierre II, better known by his stage name Lunice, is a Canadian record producer and DJ from Montreal. He is one half of the duo TNGHT along with Hudson Mohawke.
Konx-om-Pax is a Scottish electronic musician and graphical artist from Glasgow.
Glass Swords is the debut studio album by Scottish producer Russell Whyte under his alias of Rustie, released by Warp in 2011. The album was produced and recorded between 2008 and 2010 by Whyte, partially in his father's home in Glasgow, Scotland and partly in his own home in London, England. The album contains vocal work from Whyte as well as London based producer Nightwave.
TNGHT is a musical duo consisting of Scottish producer Hudson Mohawke and Canadian producer Lunice, formed in 2011. The duo released their self-titled debut EP to positive reviews in 2012. They announced an indefinite hiatus in late 2013, until their return in September 2019.
Tom Calvert, better known by his stage name Redinho, is an English musician, DJ, and producer from London. Calvert produced Swet Shop Boys' debut album Cashmere and Sufi LA, and performed with them on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in New York, and directed their live performance on BBC Radio 1. Calvert was also the member of Hudson Mohawke's live band on the Lantern album campaign, and produced Riz Ahmed's 2020 album The Long Goodbye.
"Blood on the Leaves" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Kanye West from his sixth studio album Yeezus (2013). In the song, West presents his thoughts on how fame can cause the destruction of relationships, while making comparisons of contemporary times to the lynching of African Americans in the United States during the pre-civil rights era. West delivers his vocals through an Auto-Tune processor, like on his 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak. It contains samples of both singer Nina Simone's 1965 rendition of Billie Holiday's song "Strange Fruit", and "R U Ready" by the duo TNGHT, who co-produced the track.
"Chimes" is a song by Scottish artist and producer Hudson Mohawke. The song gained attention after its appearance on the MacBook Air TV ad, as well as after Mohawke's success through the likes of Kanye West and with the TNGHT project.
Lantern is the second studio album by Scottish producer and DJ Hudson Mohawke. It was released on Warp on 16 June 2015. It features guest appearances from vocalists including Anohni, Miguel, and Jhené Aiko.
That We Can Play is the debut EP of the American electronic-music project Games, consisting of producers Daniel Lopatin and Joel Ford. Lopatin and Ford produced That We Can Play in an apartment studio, using vintage synthesizers and sequencers to recapture the sound and style of 1980s power pop.
TNGHT is the self-titled debut extended play of the duo TNGHT, the collaboration of producers Hudson Mohawke and Lunice. Recorded in a London studio in a couple of nights, it was released on the labels Warp and LuckyMe on July 23, 2012.
Hopelessness is the debut solo album by British-American artist Anohni, frontwoman of Anohni and the Johnsons, released on 6 May 2016 on Secretly Canadian, Rough Trade, and Hostess. Featuring co-production by Hudson Mohawke and Oneohtrix Point Never, the album departs from the chamber pop style of her previous work, instead exploring an electronic sound and engaging directly with political and environmental themes in the form of protest songs.
Cry Sugar is the third studio album by Hudson Mohawke, the alias of Scottish musician Ross Birchard. It was released on 12 August 2022 on Warp Records. It has received generally favorable critical reviews.
