Concert Review: Butcher Brown
October 26, 2023
On Saturday, October 22nd, Butcher Brown — the Virginia based quintet — performed in front of a packed room at Philadelphia’s World Cafe Live. The show comes in support of their latest album, Solar Music, the band’s 5th studio album. Following the show, I talked with Kevin about CARRTOONS’ opening set, Butcher Brown’s set, the new and varying sonic directions the band has travelled, and more! Here’s our conversation:
Stanley: I wanted to start with Carrtoons, who opened the show for Butcher Brown. You had a couple of times where you almost saw him over the last month or so, but on Saturday it finally came to fruition. What did you think about his set?
Kevin: My guy! Let's get to it. Yeah man, I was supposed to see Carrtoons when I went out to LA and he had a headlining show out there that coincided with his album release. I was sick that I couldn't attend but as you said, opportunity came knocking again and we saw him in Philly open up for Butcher Brown.
Going into the show I was curious about how he would execute the songs in a live setting. And this wasn't a Q type situation where Q does so much vocally we wondered how it would transfer to a live show. This was more about the fact that Carrtoons is, to my knowledge, primarily a bassist/producer and there are a good amount of features on the record. But those curiosities were soon answered as soon as he got on stage. He held up his end of the bargain with the title of bassist. Every song seemed to start with a bassline that immediately captured your attention - he plays with great feel. And the song compositions/instrumentals on their own were dynamic enough to hold the audience's attention throughout his brief opening set.
BUT - I was surprised at how well his singing voice was! Carrtoons, if you're reading this somehow, I think you should sing more! He had a really great tone and it felt natural. He only did it a few times but when he did, I wondered why he didn't do it more often. Singing bass players are having a moment (Thundercat and Adi Oasis for example) - Carrtoons has the ability to do some more of that in my opinion. What you think about the set though?
Stanley: That's a good point about his singing -- I thought it was good as well! He mostly stuck to the vowel sounds (rather than "lyrics" in a more traditional sense), which makes sense given his affection for 60s and 70s Soul music. Coming in, I knew how good of a producer he was. All of his songs have such a great feel to them. On most of his songs he sort of has this James Jamerson approach to me -- foundational and laid back with incredible syncopation.
What I didn't expect, or didn't know, coming into the show was his dexterity as a "lead" bassist -- he was SHREDDING! Like, on some Stanley Clarke and Thundercat type stuff. I was completely blown away. It was cool seeing him perform his Frontline remix with Butcher Brown, too. I thought that was another example of his versatility and dexterity as a musician.
We saw Butcher Brown late last year. Since then, they've put out another album -- a double album at that! -- and they've hit the road again. What did you think about this show, particularly in comparison to seeing them not that long ago?
Kevin: The musical floor for Butcher Brown is very high. You know that you're going to get a professional band that carves out space for the improvisational moments but also really shows off their songwriting chops throughout. I was impressed this time around with their diversity in sound. We know that we going to get the "jazz" with hip hop/rap elements infused throughout but what I really appreciated with this show was that risk taking. This past double album, Solar Music, is my favorite Butcher Brown project so far for that reason. I love the house/dance vibes that are on a good amount of tracks. In particular, I really liked the MOVE (RIDE) instrumental, even though I wish my guy Jay Prince wasn't there to rap his verse. That jawn is infectious and the beat mandates that you move. You can't help but feel good and move with that track and there were similar moments throughout the show. Even got the oldheads out of their seats a couple times to dance!
Butcher Brown is showing that you can continue to try new things musically to expand your audience but still keep that musical integrity and make something that feels authentic to them as a band. Am I gassing this jawn up too much? Lol. Let me know!
It was also cool seeing them do DJ Harrison's cover of Jimi Hendrix's Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) from his last album, which has this sort of feel of like D'Angelo covering Hendrix lol. I loved it.
Stanley: Nah, I think this is well said and an appropriate amount of gas lol -- they're that good! It was funny at one point when Tennishu said something like, "now that we got the artsy stuff out the way, let's dance" lol.
But "diversity of sound" is a good way to put it, it feels like the band is stretching themselves to explore different types of sounds, but sounds that also feel true to them. Which is crazy to say because their last album — Butcher Brown Presents Triple Trey — featured an orchestra!
I really enjoyed their performance of No Way Around It, which has this great, infectious bass line. But I think of that as a great example of them exploring different sonic paths -- dance music in this case -- that still feels like them. It was also cool seeing them do DJ Harrison's cover of Jimi Hendrix's Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) from his last album, which has this sort of feel of like D'Angelo covering Hendrix lol. I loved it.
After the show, we got a chance to talk to DJ Harrison for a quick second. You asked him two questions that I thought were thoughtful and interesting and wanted to bring them here.
One was about the composition process, given they are a band made up of 5 people, and you also asked about some of the stylistic choices on this latest album, how they seem to have more dance elements in their music. This is a bit of a two-pronged/meta question lol but I'm curious to know what made you ask about those things? Maybe another way of asking that is, what did you notice that inspired your line of questioning?
Kevin: Oh for sure! And I appreciate DJ Harrison really taking the time to answer those questions thoughtfully. It's a similar thought process to my last answer - I don't have Butcher Brown's catalog committed to memory but, when listening, it felt like a distinct decision from them as a group to try some new sounds. And for me, the dance elements really shined through in repeated listens because I didn't remember them making a choice to include that type of sound in their previous projects.
Dance/House music feels like it is having a moment in the mainstream as well in recent years (Beyonce's RENAISSANCE being the obvious example). Not to give away what DJ Harrison said but it seems like Butcher Brown has their ears to the streets and want to be in concert with what the people are listening to but also once you in that (musical) door, they got you hooked because what they're known for musically is still present and done really well.
From an outside perspective, it feels like it could be slightly difficult to make sure that each group member's ideas are valued equally. But, they seem to have a collective spirit to the music making process. No one person seems to be driving the ship by themselves as it relates to the music making process and that makes space for new ideas to be possible.
