4 out of 5

Label: Clouds Hill

Produced by: Johann Scheerer (engineer, recorded by, mixed by)

A meaty live mini-album that covers tracks from bi/MENTAL, Le Butcherettes ‘Live at Clouds Hill’ accomplishes my main ask for a concert recording: give me something different from the studio.

Simply by nature of lead Teri Gender Bender’s animated performances, live Le Butcherettes shows are likely always going to have some spice added, but Live at Clouds Hill specifically may best the album versions of its tracks, thanks partly to the Clouds Hill team’s engineering / recording providing a pretty deep sound (countering a general flatness to a lot of live recordings), but also because the glitz and glamor of the popped up bi/MENTAL is rooted back into Le Butcherettes’ rawer rock sound when not cleaned up in the studio. Rest assured that we still get the full range of sounds found on the album – samples, keys, etc. – but the backing drums, guitar, and bass hit with rootsier flavor, tying the songs, sonically, back to older albums, which is also appreciably underlined by the production itself. Essentially: if you found it hard to sync LB’s somewhat poppier energy on bi/MENTAL with their crunchy punk rock from before, Live at Clouds Hill clarifies how their discography all fits together, turning even the lighter sounding fare from the album – such as la/SANDIA – into punk anthems.

That said, there’re still occasional hints of this being a live recording, particularly on the B-side, when some of the lowend comes across a bit muted. Perhaps this was a mix / master choice, but, for example, struggle/STRUGGLE (bi) – already a harder hitting song – is somewhat leveled out, maybe so that Teri’s acrobatic vocals could be promoted. However, that was a notable single on the album, and it’s arguably – if I’m promoting the tracks here for hitting harder live versus studio – better in its original form.

However, it took me several spins to appreciate bi/MENTAL, whereas Live at Cloud Hill allowed me to draw a clearer line from Le Butcherettes past to these songs, allowing me to jump in right away. Given that I quite enjoyed that album after its perceived hurdles, having meat and potatoes versions of those same, excellent songs makes owning both versions of them definitely worthwhile.