| Butter | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Butter 08 |
| Cover: | Butter (Butter 08 album).jpg |
| Alt: | A photograph of a square of butter with the word "butter" carved into it in all caps. |
| Released: | 1996 |
| Length: | 38:54 |
| Label: | Grand Royal |
| Producer: |
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Butter (also referred to as Butter 08) is the debut album by Butter 08, a band consisting of Cibo Matto leaders Miho Hatori and Yuka Honda, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion drummer Russell Simins, filmmaker Mike Mills, and Skeleton Key percussionist Rick Lee. The album was released in 1996 by the Beastie Boys' label Grand Royal.[1]
NMEs 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, punk rock, arena rock, hip hop,[2] and alternative.
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".[3] Wireds 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."
AllMusic's Tim Sheridan called the album "Often hilarious and consistently groovy; in a word, dynamite." Entertainment Weeklys Ethan Smith said the album is "guaranteed to keep your hips shaking all night".
Less positively, Spins 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 and "Degobrah" being "fake hardcore".