Butterflies
Butterflies
NG Records, 622 Broadway #3A, New York NY 10012, meatboys@ngrecords.com
Release Date: August 26, 1997
Straight through, from beginning to end, Butterflies' self-titled album can be kind of a tough listen. Like some paranoid auteur on the run from the genre cops, Butterflies dig into their bag of musical costumes and emerge with a new identity at every phone booth. In the mood for some indie-rock spitfire? "White Pepper Blues" is some of the best you'll find, carefully crafted even at its earsplitting highs, with just enough well-placed restraint to build the suspense. Need a dreamy escape? There's plenty of that, too, like the gently edgy "Quiet World" or the bluesier take the band gives "You're Gonna Make Me and My Momma Cry."
But the album's standout track is the Kurt-Cobain-Meets-Tom-Waits groove of "My Teeth Are Brown," a brilliant stew of Waitsean clinks and clanks, Cobain's patented monotone drone and such precise guitar noodling that you might think Sterling Morrison had returned for one last go-around. This is one of those lost gems that you dream of stepping on one day.
Maybe you'll only listen to one track here, a couple there. Who cares? These aren't eight-tracks; CD players make it easy to pick and choose. This is a nervous, jittery, thoroughly rewarding album -- challenging but worth it, like the anticipation before a big show . . . or like butterflies in your stomach.
-- Chris Schwartz
schwartz@outersound.com
