THE BUTCHERCONS
Coalesce (Independent)
Review by: Jason Caballa
NOTHING BUT PURE, PUNK-INFUSED ROCK & ROLL
If you missed our extra-large Homegrown feature on the December-January issue, then you may not know that The Butchercons are a relatively new four-piece rock band composed of Hilera’s Bobby Padilla on drums, Moonstar88′s Paolo Bernaldo on bass and Jose Tolentino and a dude who simply calls himself Neil trading guitar and vocal lines. If you happen to catch them live and didn’t know better, they you’d probably also think that Neil and Tolentino were siblings, since they kind of look alike – long, messy hair that hides their faces, lanky boddies and the same vocal style: a high-pitched yelp not unlike that of The Buzzcocks’ Pete Shelley, Hot Hot Heat’s Steve Bays, or event The White Stripes’ Jack White, but a tad less tuneful and tends to utter more profanity, as Coalesce, the quartet’s first full-lenght, starts off with the pair shouting “You Fucking Prostitute” in unison on “Prosti,” the album’s opening track. From the very beginning of Coalesce, The Butchercons establish their signature sound – punk, garage rock & roll not unlike late ’60s proto-punks The Stooges, early grunge-sters Mudhoney or The Vines’ earlier material (remember “Get Free,” the best Nirvana song not written by Nirvana?), but much, much rawer-sounding. You can barely make out the lyrics on “MRT Station” amidst the loud guitars, but the song’s “One-Armed Scissor” – better, as both Neil and Tolentino let out a series of compelling call-and-response verses over a thick guitar drone and a catchy dance beat.
With seasoned players like Padilla and Bernaldo as their rhythm section, The Butchercons are expectedly a tight unit, but listeners may wonder if the Moonstar88 bassist was recruited to ensure the fact that the quartet’s songs have some semblance of pop structure, despite the fact that neither Neil nor Toelentino can really sing, tracks like “We Always Want Something” are filled with hooks, from its shifting fast-slow tempos to its memorable “Yeah, if you want it like this” choruses. Thankfully, “Hard To Fit” has some actual singing on it, while Hilera frontman Chris Padilla injects the Bleach-era Nirvana-ish “Operating Table” with a substantial does of melodiscism. Not that Coalesce sounds inadequately done; on the contrary, I think it’s one of the most well executed local rock template, the four-some manages to come up with eleven two-t0-three-minute blasts of buzzsaw riffs and tight, pounding rhythms without sounding repetitive. “Someday” has some Sonic Youth guitars happening, while their call-and-response vocals (this time beefed up by Typecast’s Steve Badiola) come to the fore once again on the anthemic closer “Not A Part Of This Town.” Granted, the album’s intentionally lo-fi production makes Coalesce sound a bit too raw for the average rock fan, while Neil and Tolentino’s high-pitched non-singing may bot be to everyone’s liking, but Coalesce could very well be the purest, rawest rock & roll document (or anyone else) have heard in years. Don’t miss out on this one.
