Sometimes, it’s important to know when you’ve failed; to acknowledge that no single person can dampen the inevitable tide of public opinion alone. When it comes to the ’80s revival, such is the situation. Not only are the fey, indie boys and girls suiting up in the most outrageous fashion clashes, they’re regurgitating the narcissistic thoughts that plagued the decade in a less interesting manner. And as for electronica, the genre is ramping up the stakes by creating lurid landscapes that parody the most kitsch elements of that cocaine-flecked, paranoid period.
Well, at least that’s what Warp signing, Hudson Mohawke, has done on his debut outing for the eclectic label. Watching the youthful exuberance the 15-year-old HudMo displayed on two turntables as UK DMC Finalist, DJ Itchy, it’s possible to see his affinity for combining the quirkier elements of the genre, even though he mashes them into a somewhat confused set.
Nevertheless, should anyone have a true understanding of hip-hop, it’s the turntablist: cutting and looping beats for MCs was all in the game for the traditional DJ, but turntablists took the art to the next level, deconstructing sampled beats with flair and dynamic incredulity.
That’s not to say every DJ a good beatmaker makes, but it does give credence to the argument that Butter is a temporally schizoid listen. Where fellow Warpee, Bibio, battles to include vintage sounds from the ’60s and ’70s, HudMo is happiest when re-imagining the classic ’80s sounds that, no doubt, influenced his hip-hop education.
Utterly committed to the groove which is fundamental to the longevity of a hip-hop track, it’s fair to say that HudMo has woven elements of legendary hip-hop producer Dilla into Butter’s tapestry. To single out tracks that demonstrate this point is facile; rather like picking a ship out of the armada that’s bearing down on a dinghy in the middle of the Atlantic.
Some listeners may be looking for big, commercial tracks on Butter. Well, there are a handful of those: ‘Joy Fantastic’, ‘Rising 5′, ‘FUSE’ and even Damfunk, man of the moment, gets a look-in on the futuristic Rn’B smash ‘Tell Me What You Want From Me’. But it’s on the less accessible numbers where the greatest rewards are found. When HudMo expels the geeky energy spent on beat-juggling to production, as he does on the cut-up ‘Fruit Touch’, ‘Allhot’ or ’3.30′, the results are frequently impressive, prospectively hinting at one of HudMo’s signature flourishes.
Albeit of a different era, the re-pitching of vocals (from 33rpm to 45rpm) that hip-hop embraced earlier this decade (Hi, M.O.P.) is another of the album’s acknowledgements to the genre that shapes its sound. Unlike FlyLo, HudMo has completely bypassed the entire recorded output of ’90s hip-hop, and applied the production techniques of the 2000s to the sounds of the ’80s and come up smelling like Axel Foley on assignment at a dairy yard.
Butter is, of course, one of the most essential releases of 2009; another record that puts the UK at the forefront of electronica. It demonstrates an intuition for the art it so successfully emulates that it’s almost OK to see the kids in those ridiculous dayglo outfits. Almost.
