The guy sitting next to me on the train last night was listening to this (not on an ipod but on his portable CD player) so I thought I’d give it another go. I say another go as the expectations were so high with this release, even before he signed to Warp so could the Hud Mo live up to them?

Well the competition have really raised their game (if you think Dorian Concept and Floating Points for a start) and with talk being better than label mate Prefuse 73’s last album, Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian, Glasgow’s Hudson Mohawke (aka Ross Birchard) that’s a lot of expectation. And not only that, he’s been championed by all you’re usual suspects from Mamiko (who will definitely be at the launch party on the 6th) and Alexander Nut (Rinse) Mary Anne Hobbs, Gilles Peterson and Benji B to name just a few.

Before he was known as Hudson Mo, he was known as DJ Itchy and at the ridiculously young of 15, was the youngest ever UK DMC finalist. He started out making beats on Music and Music 2000 for Playstation and he’s lost none of his love of this period as you can’t sense the scratchin’ and 8-bit technology in lots of the tracks on the album (some more obvious than others).

That said, some of the tracks sound more like the fantastic The Strange Dreams Of Paul White; ‘Black N Red’, ‘Gluetooth’ and the bloggers’ favourite ‘Rising 5’ stand out.

It’s not all abstract underground instrumental hip hop beats as there are vocal contributions from Olivier Daysoul that comes over as Frank Zappa meets Sa-Ra Creative Partners on ‘Joy Fantastic’ and ‘Just Decided’ (if you don’t get these two first time, stick at it as they are growers).

Mohawke’s other collaborator is Stone Throw’s electro funker DâM-FunK (pronounced ‘Dame Funk’). Both ‘Tell Me What You Want From Me’ and the twisted ‘Allhot’ are perhaps as closest this album getting to hot buttered (if you know what I mean) but DâM-FunK has his own album Toeachizown out now (check the interview with Gilles Peterson last night - see links below) and will be performing at the Southport Weekender this weekend.

On the subject of gigs, Mohawkes busy schedule doesn’t stop (see below) but if you can’t catch him live, get lubricated with some buttery goodness; in other words Butter does live up to expectations!

Hectic Mix nominations: All four vocal tracks, ‘Black N’ Red’, ‘ZOo00OOm’, ‘Rising 5’, ‘Gluetooth’, the Tunng-ish ‘Star Crackout’ and the electro-Irish jig of ‘FUSE’.

Forthcoming Gigs:
5 Nov 2009 Turin Turin, IT Test School Region
5 Nov 2009 ClubToClub Festival 09 Turin, Torino
6 Nov 2009 Butter Launch Party Amsterdammmus @ Viral/Trouw w guests Amsterdam, Noord-Holland
21 Nov 2009 Warp20 Japan/Electraglide w Battles/!!!/ChrisCunningham/Weatherall/Clark/Lotus Tokyo, 兵庫県
22 Nov 2009 Osaka Osaka, 岩手県
29 Nov 2009 Stereosonic Festival Sydney, New South Wales
30 Nov 2009 Stereosonic Festival Perth, Western Australia
6 Dec 2009 Stereosonic Festival Melbourne, Victoria
6 Dec 2009 Stereosonic Festival Adelaide, South Australia
7 Dec 2009 Stereosonic Festival Brisbane, Queensland
11 Dec 2009 Warp20 @ Berghain Berlin, Berlin
12 Dec 2009 Koln

Reviewed: Hudson Mohawke - Butter (Warp Records) Cat. No:WARPCD188 Release date: 26th October 2009
Tracklisting:
1 Shower Melody (1:21)
2 Gluetooth (3:47)
3 Joy Fantasic feat. Olivier Daysoul (3:59)
4 3.30 (1:35)
5 Trykk (2:12)
6 Fruit Touch (3:58)
7 ZOo00OOm (2:42)
8 Acoustic Lady (2:07)
9 Rising 5 (3:12)
10 Twistclip Loop (1:23)
11 Just Decided feat. Olivier Daysoul (3:50)
12 No One Could Ever (2:19)
13 Velvet Peel (2:16)
14 Tell Me What You Want From Me feat. DâM-FunK (2:58)
15 FUSE (3:11)
16 Star Crackout (4:55)
17 Allhot feat. DâM-FunK (2:43)
18 Black N Red (2:45)

Links:
www.myspace.com/hudsonmo
twitter.com/Moanhawke
facebook.com/hudsonmohawke
stonesthrow.com/damfunk
www.myspace.com/damfunk
Bleep.com
warp.net
Various - Warp20(Box Set) “with Gavenhurst, Tim Exile and Jimi Tenor holding heads high amongst the bleeps” WS, BUZZ Hyd/Oct09
Gilles Peterson :: 3 November 2009 :: Theophilus London In The Studio, Celebrating 75 Years of Maida Vale with Sa-Ra Creative Partners and Words & Music from Dam Funk
Dam-Funk - Searching For Funk Future (Stones Throw) [LA]
Dam Funk - My Funk Goes (On and On) (Stones Throw) [LA]
Dam Funk - Toeachizown (DF’s Theme) (Stones Throw) [LA]
Dam Funk - Mirrors [Stones Throw) [LA]