Driven by a vicious and visceral soul, The Buttshakers are known for their fierce and fiery music: turntables steam from the heat of their records, dance floors buckle under the blistering pressure of their infectious grooves, a group with a burning Midas’ touch.
Yet after nearly a decade of touring and recording, it was with a different musical vision that they approached Sweet Rewards, their first collaboration with Underdog Records.
Accustomed to the raw, primitive sounds of 60s garage rock and the crude sexuality of pre-Motown soul music, The Buttshakers have created a reputation as a “must see” live band, perfectly aligning loud rock riffs and lustful desires. A sound they could have continued to dig into again and again. Instead, they decided to take another route. A creative shift, a return to a style of soul music that no longer has to rely on pure energy alone; a sound that concentrates on the quality of writing, composition and interpretation rather than pure virility.
Exceeding the limitations imposed by their tight yet powerful six person lineup (vocals-guitar-drums-bass-trombone-saxophone baritone), they opened up this studio session to fully accommodate their ideas and concretize their musical ambitions, emphasizing the subtle structures of the overall production: a larger horn section creates a richer, scintillating sonority; a touch of slide-guitar opens their creative universe to the open spaces of the far West; the organ vacillates between psychedelic drapery and heartfelt gospel tones; all of this supported by the wicked groove of a percussionist driving the beat on.
Their sultry and soulful frontwoman, Ciara Thompson, is here for the first time supported by backing vocalist. An occasion for her to indulge in a few call-and-response chorales, a reverence to a gospel background instilled in her from her native St Louis (Missouri), a still vibrant heritage from the city that cradled jazz, blues, country and folk music. This new liberty gives her room to explore various emotional venues, exposing a voice capable of fitting perfecting within the intimacy of a stripped down acoustic ballad as well as a nervous funky break.
Ideal for a sound that never lets down yet remains intuitive to the gradual rise of emotion each song demands. With each new listening, Sweet Rewards reveals something new to the listener: another dimension, a hidden layer. An album and a group that proves that they have more than one trick up their sleeves.
Arcadia
Paru le 5 November 2021
The rewind button brings the tape back several times and, with it, The Buttshakers. From the tape to the studio, the décor changes to an America lost in its own reverie, the America that Ciara Thompson left in 2008 to settle in Lyon, France. Untethered from the idealistic veil of her childhood, this America, her America, now appears in its crudest reality: disfigured by violence and racism, the streets transformed into a make-shift shelter for those without a home.
Not in My Name
Paru le 16 August 2021
The words for Not In My Name are in continuity with our last single Back in America. While BIA discussed the illusion of the American Dream, NIMN looks at the US post-Trump.People are hopeful, and there are plenty of reasons to be hopeful about where things are going. But this song is a reminder that this isn’t enough. A lot of the song talks about the medias influence, whether in the US or elsewhere, where “fake news” and “cancel culture” blur the lines and allow politics and media alike to manipulate people through fearmongering and sensationalism.
We wanted the sound to match the subject, so we put a really heavy horn section down, very funky with a lot grit, like the JBs. People want change, and change is coming; we wanted an anthem to match that spirit. It’s a punch-in-the-gut kind of vibe, our version of “power to the people”, to symbolize this muffled cry.
Hear Me
Not In My Name
Sweet Rewards
Paru le 9 February 2018
Driven by a vicious and visceral soul, The Buttshakers are known for their fierce and fiery music: turntables steam from the heat of their records, dance floors buckle under the blistering pressure of their infectious grooves, a group with a burning Midas’ touch.
Movin On Live Session
Sweet Rewards
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photo Thomas O'Brien -
