''Butter'' (also referred to as ''Butter 08'') is the debut album by Butter 08, a band consisting of

Cibo Matto Cibo Matto (, Italian language, Italian for "crazy food") was an American alternative rock band formed by Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori in New York City in 1994. Their first album, ''Viva! La Woman'' (1996), had lyrics primarily concerned with food. ...

leaders

Miho Hatori is a Japanese singer, songwriter, and musician. She is best known as a solo artist, co-founder of New York City band Cibo Matto, and as the first person to provide the voice of Noodle in the virtual band Gorillaz, as well as for her work with ...

and

Yuka Honda is a Japanese-American musician who resides in New York City. She is a multi-instrumentalist (mainly piano, synthesizer, sampler and other keyboards), composer, record producer, and co-founder of the band Cibo Matto. Throughout her career, she ...

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion was an American three-piece rock band from New York City, formed in 1991. The group consisted of Judah Bauer on guitar, backing vocals, harmonica and occasional lead vocals, Russell Simins on drums and Jon Spen ...

drummer Russell Simins, filmmaker

Mike Mills Michael Edward Mills (born December 17, 1958) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer who was a founding member of the alternative rock band R.E.M. Though known primarily as the bass guitarist and backing vocalist of R.E.M., hi ...

, and

Skeleton Key A skeleton key (also known as a passkey) is a type of master keying, master key in which the serrated edge has been removed in such a way that it can open numerous Lock and key, locks, most commonly the warded lock. The term derives from th ...

percussionist Rick Lee. The album was released in 1996 by

the Beastie Boys ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

' label

Grand Royal Grand Royal was a vanity record label founded in 1992 by rap group Beastie Boys in conjunction with Capitol Records after the group left Def Jam Recordings. It was based in Los Angeles, California. ''Grand Royal'' was also the name of a maga ...

Style

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

''s Darren Johns called the album a "symposium for the obscurer-than-thou", noting influences including acid rap and Bis. Other genre influences noted include

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

arena rock Arena rock (also known as stadium rock, pomp rock or corporate rock) is a style of rock music that became mainstream in the 1970s. It typically involves radio-friendly rock music that was designed to be played for large audiences. As hard rock ...

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

, and

alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (Kamen Rider), Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * Alternative comics, or independent comics are an altern ...

. Critics also noted the contrast between Hatori's and Simins' vocals, calling Hatori's "high-flown" and "shrill" and Simins' a "paranoid growl", a "restrained drawl", and "husky". ''

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

''s James Sullivan said Lee provides "foundational scratch guitar" and occasional "mind-bending string-bending" and Mills adds simple basslines which "keep the rhythms gliding atop Simins' pile-driven beats."

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

's Tim Sheridan called the album "Often hilarious and consistently groovy; in a word, dynamite." ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

''s Ethan Smith said the album is "guaranteed to keep your hips shaking all night". Less positively, ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

''s Douglas Wolk called the lyrics "either half-assed ... or inaudible" and said many song's ideas felt like "the result of a moment's whim", such as "Mono Lisa" sounding like

Stereolab Stereolab are an English people, Anglo-French avant-pop band formed in London in 1990. Led by the songwriting team of Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier, the group's sound incorporates repetitive motorik beats with the use of vintage electronic keybo ...

and "Degobrah" being "fake hardcore".

Track listing

Personnel

Butter 08

– vocals, piano, organ, drums *

–

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

Farfisa Farfisa () is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy, founded in 1946. The company manufactured a series of compact electronic organs in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Compact, FAST, Professional and VIP ranges, and later, a se ...

, synthesizer, piano, sampler, guitar, backing vocals *

– bass, guitar, backing vocals *

Russell Simins The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion was an American three-piece rock band from New York City, formed in 1991. The group consisted of Judah Bauer on guitar, backing vocals, harmonica and occasional lead vocals, Russell Simins on drums and Jon Spen ...

– drums, vocals, guitar, bass * Rick Lee – guitar, bass, percussion, sampler

Additional musicians

* Josh Roseman – trumpet (4) * Ravi Best – trumpet (4) *

Timo Ellis Timothy Kneeland "Timo" Ellis is a multi-instrumentalist and record producer from New York City, and is frontman vocalist for the band Netherlands. In 1997 Ellis and Sean Lennon joined Cibo Matto. As a quartet ( Yuka Honda, Miho Hatori is ...

– drums (6) *

Sean Lennon is a British-American musician, songwriter, and producer. He is the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and half-brother to Julian Lennon. Over the course of his career, he has been a member of the bands Cibo Matto, the Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tige ...

– keyboards (6) *

Evan Bernard Evan Bernard is an American director of commercials and music videos who has directed videos for artists such as The Chicks, Moby, the Beastie Boys, Green Day, Lit, Cibo Matto and many others. Life and career After studying advertising design ...

– vocals (10)

Technical

* Yuka Honda – producer * Russell Simins – producer * Jamey Staub – producer, mixing engineer *

Howie Weinberg Howie Weinberg is an American audio mastering engineer. Over the course of his career, he has received over 2,257 mastering credits, three TEC Awards, 21 Grammy Awards, two Juno Awards, and one Mercury Prize. Career Weinberg mastered Herbie Ha ...

– mastering engineer *

Lance Acord Lance Acord is an American cinematographer and film director. He is best known for his work on the films, '' Buffalo '66'' (1998), ''Being John Malkovich'' (1999), ''Adaptation'' (2002), and ''Lost in Translation'' (2003). Early life Acord ...

– photography * Joe Wittkop – photography * Michael Lavine – photography

References

{{authority control 1996 debut albums Butter 08 albums Albums produced by Yuka Honda Grand Royal albums Cibo Matto