Butterfingers - Breakfast At Fatboy's

YOURZ

Simply put, Butterfingers are Australia's answer to The Beastie Boys meets The Bloodhound Gang.  They are irreverent, funny, crass and clever.  And while some of the humour is defiantly below the belt, it is performed in such a way that you can't help but smile.  And the very colloquial references endear this band to me even more.

I laughed out loud when I first heard Everytime and hoped the band wouldn't prove to be a one-hit wonder or, even worse, a novelty act of some sort.  With the release of Breakfast At Fatboys, they proved neither was the case.  Nor were they a one trick pony, as this début proved, crossing into punk, big beat, dub and straight up indie rock.  And always delivered with lyrics that stick in your head, the sort you catch yourself singing in the most inappropriate of places.

Produced by Australia's Magoo, who has produced some of Australia's best bands over the years, ...Fatboys was followed up by The Deeper You Dig, which included the wonderful Figjam (Fuck I'm Good, Just Ask Me).  Equally as much fun, this album proved to be even more popular than their first, landing them an APRA Award for most played urban song.  An indefinite hiatus has followed but I don't think this is the last we'll be hearing of Butterfingers.  And a good thing too. 

VERDICT: TURN IT UP Yo Mama's on the top of my things to do list...

MINE

These guys are in that (for me) hip-hop nirvana of rock and pop and rap all thrown together and blended up with the cheekiest lyrics you can imagine.  One of my prized posessions is a Butterfingers t-shirt that proved too small for my husband's recently-enlarged figure (due to pumping iron, not eating doughnuts).  It's a Yo' Mama picture and has occasionally elicited queries from interested bystanders.  Kind of difficult to explain in polite company.

And while I do love that song and I Love Work (it's sarcastic!) it's Everytime that really floats my boat.  I'd call it the ultimate loser song - everytime this guy does something, something bad happens to him.  I've only seen them once, supporting Grinspoon, but they were amazing.  While they do have the sort of lyrics and sound that appeals to a bunch of teenagers (yes, they include fart references) I'm not so much of an old codger that I'd fail to appreciate their humour.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP (a chicken's not a vegetable!)

For more information: http://www.myspace.com/butterfingersmusic

In our collection, we also have: The Deeper You Dig

The Cruel Sea - Where There's Smoke

YOURZ

I've mentioned on earlier posts here how I was in an indie band in the 90s who did really well in the city where we all lived at the time.  Most of us have since left this city, escaping, as it were, to bright lights and bigger cities both in Australia and overseas.

Back in the day, we played a lot of support shows for major acts at the local university and supported some great acts, like Pavement (see our review here).  The Cruel Sea were another of the bands we supported back then.

On the day, we arrived at the uni, set up and did our sound check.  All went well and we got to hang out and watch The Cruel Sea do the same.  Later, when we got up to start our set, the worst thing that can happen to a musician happened to me - my amp refused to work.  After a few minutes of madly scrambling around trying to sort out the problem, one of the guitarists from The Cruel Sea (I think it was Dan Rumour) plugged me into his amp and gave me strict instructions not to touch his settings.  Thanks to him, we were able to continue our set without any further problems.  Of course, when I got the amp home and plugged it in, the fucking thing worked fine.  But to share the stage with this band would have to be, despite my amp problems, one of the highlights of my musical career.

Where There's Smoke is their swan song, recorded not long before the band decided to call it quits, although they have done the odd show or two here and there since and occasionally threaten to reform and record (I wish they would).  Recorded with one of Australia's best producers, Magoo, this album isn't far removed from their previous efforts, is a shining example of their hybrid blues/reggae/rock and a perfect bookend to their first album, Down Below, recorded over a decade earlier.

Now, what happened to my copy of This Is Not The Way Home and The Honeymoon Is Over - purloined by thieving house-mates years ago, no doubt.  Guess we've gotta add these to our must haves as well, Mine. Oh boy, that list is getting long.


VERDICT: TURN IT UP

MINE

It's not the most fabulous Cruel Sea album, but it has their trademark sound - bold and bluesy.  I guess my biggest objection is that the tunes don't showcase the sound of Tex Perkins' vocals as well as The Honeymoon Is Over did.

I remember when that album swept the ARIAs (The Aussie equivalent of the Grammys) in 1993, and one of the guys I worked with asked me who the hell they were.  It was kind of difficult to explain that they'd been an instrumental band who'd picked up a vocalist with a personality bigger than most who'd previously fronted a legendary pub-rock band called the Beasts of Bourbon.  I remember snickering to myself in a record shop in country Victoria one time when I came across one of the Beasts albums - called The Axeman's Jazz - filed in the Jazz section.  They'd obviously never listened to it.

Tex is a true performer and the tight, driving tunes the rest of the Cruel Sea provide form a perfect backdrop to his gravelly, wild vocals.  He's also one of those guys who looks like he's not only undressing you with his eyes, he's also doing unspeakable things to you before borrowing $50 for cab fare and never showing up again.  A barbarian.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP


For more information go to http://texperkins.net/

In our collection we also have The Most