CD of The Week

We were introduced to Le Butcherettes, fronted by Teri “Gender Bender” Suárez, with their 2011 debut album Sin Sin Sin. With her wild stage presence, noisy post-punk sonics and evocative vocal range, Suárez drew comparisons to Karen O and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. When Le Butcherettes played Milkboy Philly that fall, it was one of the most impressive concerts I saw that year. She also teamed up with Omar Rodriguez-Lopez along the way, who contributed toSin Sin Sin, and later formed Bosnian Rainbows, which released their debut album with Suárez on vocals last year. Le Butcherettes lay dormant during this time, but announced their sophomore album Cry Is For The Flies, earlier this spring.

Musically,Cry Is For The Flies isn’t far off from Sin Sin Sin, full of buzzing, noisy keyboards throughout the record and visceral song titles such as “Burn The Scab” and “The Gold Chair Ate The Fire Man.” Horns swell on the rocking “Your Weakness Gives Me Life,” while “Poet From Nowhere” has almost the Eastern European gypsy feel of Gogol Bordello.

Halfway through the record, surprise, it’s a spoken word piece from Henry Rollins! Maybe Hank would’ve been a better fit as a hidden track though, as it’s a very quietly mixed piece of audio that really doesn’t fit in. Much better is the album’s other guest star, Shirley Manson of Garbage, who continues her 2014 streak of collaborating with fellow badass rocking females by contributing vocals to bonus track “Shame, You’re All I’ve Got.”

Interestingly enough, Cry Is For The Flies was recorded just after the release of Sin Sin Sin and sat on the shelf while Suárez and Rodriguez-Lopez focused on Bosnian Rainbows. It doesn’t hit the heights of that first album but is still another intriguing statement by a fascinating voice in music demanding attention. Hopefully Le Butcherettes will hit the road and return to Philadelphia later in 2014.