after posting about it and waiting in anticipation, finally i got my hands on a copy of selamat tinggal dunia (STD), the latest album of butterfingers. hahahaha.....maybe it's safe to say that i own the only copy in ireland. so, having nothing to blog about, i'm going to write my say on this groundbreaking album.

the first butterfingers tune i heard was girl friday from the butter worth pushful album years ago (that was when dead mushroom was top) and had been hooked to buttersound ever since and believe me STD is no butter worth pushful. if i want to really relate STD with any of butterfingers' previous albums, i would have to say that STD is the sequel to 'malayneum' with less psychedelic vibe. songs like taman tasik perdana and merpati sejoli give me the same tingling sensations as when i'm listening to pacific and antidotes.

in the interviews prior to the launching of std, butterfingers promised a different formula, a different listening experience for their fans and different did we get. first major difference? well, it's in malay. maybe some of you might remember that butterfingers had stated a long time ago that they won't do malay songs. heh, guess they didn't keep their word but so what. in fact, the first malay song they released was tahun 2001 in the 'underground tribute to sweet charity' almost half a decade ago. the malay music industry desperately needed salvation from the monotonous cintan-cintan jiwang formula and butterfingers came to the rescue. they gave a mention of this trend in the first line of their sharp and cynical tentang-tentang, "bukak radio di pagi hari, malam hari sama sahaja, cinta sana, cinta sini, aku gila geli".

some old butterfingers fans dislike the direction butterfingers are taking musically. you can refer to their opinions in the royalbutterfingers forum. they say that bf lost their grunginess. well, to me butterfingers had abandoned grunge long ago, starting from the hallmark album 'transcendence'. bf is not about grunge, they're about buttersound, they're about how the music is expressed, how it is conveyed. heck, if they can make dangdut sound good, then let them gelek!

to tell you the truth i already heard most of the songs in STD such as cuai, kabus ribut, ngilu, tentang-tentang and daulat tuanku months before it was launched, though not in their final mix. that's what you get when you have hardcore butterfans on the net. what's more is that you could download the video clip for kabus ribut and other butter videos here. moreover, songs like merpati sejoli was introduced to the public as early as new years day 2003, when they performed at rock the world III. you can even sample tracks of bf's supposedly next album, siaran tergendala and pancasona.

STD kicks off with ngilu, perfect intro for the album and powerful lyrically ("rongak gigi sendiri",heh). the tunes that'll surely attract the masses are cuai and kabus ribut. selamat tinggal dunia is another candidate, but i'm not so sure about the verses though, "pasir jerlus, litar pintas, jerangkap samar" maybe just too cryptic to be fully appreciated. maybe, it's their intentions, who knows? i'm not so sure about daulat tuanku getting regular airplay though. why? just see the lyrics and tell me how hot and spicy it is. my favourite track, probably is taman tasik perdana, though kabus ribut had been my song of choice in the shower for almost a week now. i don't know but something about it make me want to go to taman tasik perdana and see the flowers and butterflies. kudos to kadak for his excellent bass works in merpati sejoli and what can i say about hanyut except hmmm mmm mmm mmm. urusan seri paduka baginda is one song that's not really a song complete with gamelan and stuff that's somehow connected with cuai, the track before it.

if you don't understand what i'm talking about, then get the album, the ORIGINAL album published by EMI malaysia at only RM34.90. or if you're still not convinced then you can hear 30 seconds samples of all the tracks here.

if you need to see another (better) review you can visit the forum or here.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 31, 2005 at 1/31/2005 06:18:00 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.