Butchy Fuego

Listening to the first couple of tunes on Butchy's debut LP, you might be forgiven for thinking that this is a new Bablicon record, but from the opening bars of the third song, ‘Another Day at the Pizzeria’, and for pretty much the rest of the album, things turn decidedly more strange: deconstructed punk, jazz, techno, rock, electronica and pop entice the listener into wonderfully uncharted waters. But throughout, the playing is infused with an obvious sense of fun, and for much of it’s length, this is an unashamedly melodic LP, albeit one that is more than a little off-kilter. The melodies, though strong, are more narrative than sing-songy. The songs strive for intimacy and audience attentiveness, begging the listener to embark on a journey; a fantastical cinematic circus where ideas like stupid and smart exist together in harmonious space; a journey that in the end leaves you curious, dizzy, maybe perplexed, yet wanting to live in that world over and over.

Butchy has appeared on LPs by Bablicon and Need New Body, and currently plays drums in the Chicago-based trio, and Thrill Jockey artistes, 'Pit er Pat'. The group have also had releases on Polyvinyl and Overcoat, in addition to a number of limited edition self-released items. Pit er Pat tour Europe in September.

Discography

'Butchy Fuego' CD (Pickled Egg Records Egg 44CD) "A good and entertaining avant tour de force, which moves through four or five distinct phases as the CD unspools. The early tracks are - like Bablicon manage very well - odd melodies played on woodwinds, piano, sax and other acoustic instruments, in ways that will appeal to Henry Cow and Slapp Happy fans. Then we get songs like The Paleontologist, where the singer turns in a convincing Red Krayola impression, with distant muttered vocals, and lyrics written in absurdist style. Soon after, we start wandering through the murk of studio-effects purgatory - Filler and Bumbleplight, in particular, are beautiful and bewildering self-indulgent studio-based experiments, drenched with echo, electronics, reverb, cut-ups and loose disconnected voices. Great electro gloop for the masses. Near the end of the CD, Bunny is a long strange song, which anyone should be proud of, effecting that kind of retarded outsider music feel you get from early stoners like Dinosaur Jr or Sebadoh, or perhaps anyone who ever tried to ape Daniel Johnston. In all, a strong melodic approach here, and laced with more appealing idiosyncrases than you find in contemporary English music, which is saying something. Another nifty item from this UK independent label" [Ed Pinsent, The Sound Projector] "This Chicago experimentalist encapsulates a manifesto with his 'Changing the Public's Image of the American Optician'. It splits from its polite Francis Jeffes- esque quartet halfway through, and heads into the nuthouse canteen, all rattling pans and drool. There's a schizoid attitude to composition, much like Transelement's first single, coupled with a production close to clasic Faust. 'Hot Balls' has the sort of distorted Rhodes sound that Bablicon created for 'In a Different City'. In fact, Diminisher and Blu Hawaii guest on the album, so those Soft Machine and Volcano the Bear influences are never far away. 'The Paleontologist' sounds like early Pavement, but 'Music for Sarah's Film' makes a messy dub out of some trumpet riffs, clicks and screaming. It's when this montage works that the album really shines: the Dada tradition is clearly where his sympathies lie" [Steve Hanson, Careless Talk] 'Changing the Public's Image of the American Optician' (MP3) 'Music for Sarah's Film' (MP3) Download Butchy Fuego from eMusic Listen to Butchy Fuego on Last.fm

UK: £10.00 EU: €15.00 US: $18.00

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