As a bridge between 2 weeks’ threads, may I offer a little butter? And not in the Marlon Brando/Maria Schneider way, although I’m sure the band was referencing that classic film.
This week’s Mystery Date was performed by Butter 08, a New York band who released one self-titled album in 1996 on the Beastie Boy’s Grand Royal label. Members included Miho Hatori and Yuka Honda of Cibo Matto, Russell Simins of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Rick Lee of Skeleton Key, and Mike Mills, graphic designer of album covers and later, a director of film (Thumbsucker and Beginners). But the mystery guest on the Mystery Date track, “It’s the Rage,” was Sean Lennon performing the keyboard solo. He was dating Yuka Honda at the time, and when Cibo Matto toured, played the bass.
I couldn’t find any Butter 08 live performances, but here is their one and only music video (sans Sean):
Cool song and fun video. As for the band’s name, I would guess they wanted to call themselves Butterfield 8, after the Elizabeth Taylor movie, and got shot down by lawyers.
Ahh, Grand Royal. Home of terminally weird and offbeat (and often off-key). I was a big fan of Luscious Jackson at around this time.
Although I’m familiar with all the participants this little side project must have slipped through the cracks of the cutout bin.
Actually, I really like the album. Many of the tracks are posted on YouTube. Just look for the giant pats of butter.
Yeah, watching the video, it reminds me of Nirvana meets Mary Tyler Moore. Clearly a band up on their cultural references.
Here’s a video from Skeleton Key. I really liked their first album, Fantastic Spikes Through Balloon; this is a track off of it but most likely performed by the next incarnation who went on to release a 2nd album. A third is due soon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnWARU4eJ9E