[photo via blueskyandclear]

I saw Bristol’s own Fuck Buttons last night at the El Mocambo with electrofriend Eric.  You don’t like their name, and there’s just too many tiger and wolf shirts.  So in an effort to freshen up the adjective onslaught similar to most aloof music bloggers, it’s fair to say that their music is a geographic compromise between the rock sounds of Brooklyn and Paris, falling fortunately right around Bristol.  Noise, repetition, hypnosis, acoustic drumless, analog thru MIDI, fuzz, Gameboy music and assorted childhood musical toys.  Song “Olympians” is a reasonable look at their more structured songs.  8 minutes of repetition and minimal dynamic can be trying, but I like the message. Good show.

Fuck Buttons to elektroniczno psychodeliczne duo z Brighton. zadebiutowali w 2007 roku ep’ką ‘Bright Tomorrow’, by rok póżniej wydać nieżle przyjęty, debiutancki krążek ‘Street Horrrsing’. choć jakoś nie specjalnie identyfikowałem się z tym materiałem, to tegoroczne dziełko zatytułowane ‘Tarot Sport’ brzmi naprawdę ciekawie. na pierwszy rzut ucha uderza ściana dżwiękowego noise’u, która po wnikliwej lekturze daje nam odczuć melodyjność tego hałasu. aby rozwiać pewne wątpliwości, materiał został zrealizowany pod wnikliwym okiem Andrew‘a Weatherall‘a, znanego m.in.  z Two Lone Swordsmen. long ukazał się w ATPR, a powyżej klip do ‘Surf Solar’.

HTRK + Fuck Buttons – Nouveau Casino – 23 octobre 2009

Deux concerts en l’espace de quelques jours au même endroit! oua c’est dingue! Ceci dit, celui ci ne m’a pas laissé la même impression que le précédent, explications de suite!

On arrive au milieu du set de HTRK, on rejoint MD, une copine située près de la scène. Première impression: la chanteuse ressemble à une nana d’école d’Art (à la sexualité trouble)  en chantant ‘elle frappe un tambour à tout bout de champ. Le groupe semble sortir d’une prestation de théatre du Bauhaus – toute proportion gardée – c’est beaucoup moins novateur. Le résultat est assez linéaire, et manque d’une certaine profondeur (entendre de “bonnes chansons”), enfin c’est pas non plus un calvaire. Se laisse apprécier, avec modération.

Arrive Fuck Buttons, deux types se faisant face à face, entourés d’une table de machines et d’objets diverses (style des magnétophones versions “circuit bending” etc.). J’ai pas du tout été emballé par leur prestation – mais le public lui semble avoir vraiment apprécié. Disons qu’à part peut être un ou deux morceaux qui avaient un certain feeling / charme, ça ressemblait à de la mauvaise electronica, comme on pouvait en subir il y a 5 ans, je vois pas vraiment le coté “génial” là dedans, c’est juste assez chiant et pas “si profond que ça”.

En gros, un concert relativement chiant, pas vraiment ce que j’ai préféré voir ces derniers temps… Heureusement, en sortant, on croise un pote orga, et c’est parti pour un verre dans un des bars de la rue JP Timbaud, puis le téléphone m’appelle vers d’autres horizons!

Rambled about Fuck Buttons & Growing show at Trip Trip Trip Rock for Fast Money Music.  Hope Sadie Laska takes my chauvinism with giant grains of salt. I do it cause I love!

Unashamedly plagiarising yesterday’s totally novel idea of coming up with a list of the year’s best things weeks before the end of the year that you’re writing a list of things to represent the best things of that year for, Rough Trade just sent me an e-mail entitled ‘Albums of the Year 2009’.

This seems like an unnecessarily passive-aggressive act if you ask me, particularly from a record label that I’ve always had a relationship of, if not mutual respect, then unspoken tolerance. I put up a post yesterday listing what I think are my own favourite albums of 2009. In this post I was at pains to make clear the subjective nature of my list: the title referred to ‘favourite things’, with the ‘favourite things’ being implicitly things that were the ‘favourites’ of the author (i.e. me).

In short, it was clear that this was opinion, in no way based on the objective scientific calculations of intense laboratory experimentation. It was a lazy idea, just a bit of fun to maybe start a conversation, albeit not a very interesting one where your mind quickly flits to thoughts of defenestration or ways to fake a stroke. But Rough Trade responded almost immediately without so much as an acknowledgement of my original post. No, “oh, that’s interesting” or “hmm, yes, but you’ve forgotten to include the Animal Collective album”. No “well, here’s what we think”. Just a long list of “50 Albums of the Year”, arrogantly dismissing my list by refusing to acknowledge its existence, and then having the audacity to present their own list as some kind of divinely selected musical canon (like RT are a kind of indie Moses). It’s like casually mentioning to an acquaintance that you quite like Newsnight, them staring at you with a look of disdain for a few seconds, then turning round and shouting the names of National Television Award winners into your face.

 To add insult to injury, they’ve even included a list of links so I can buy the albums on their list from them. Presumably, they think I could do with a bit of brushing up, like I’m not hip to what’s cool or something. Anyone would think that my inclusion of an album from 1974 and 2 reissues suggested I’d run out of ideas.

 I mean, I haven’t actually listened to a lot of what’s on their list, or even heard of it to be honest. At least now I don’t need to: I can just assume it will all be over-hyped nonsense…

 Rough Trade’s Ten Favourite Albums, 2009:

 The XX – XX

The Low Anthem – Oh My God, Charlie Darwin

The Horrors (yes, the fucking Horrors!) – Primary Colours

Fever Ray – Fever Ray

The Pain of Being Pure at Heart – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest

The Leisure Society – The Sleeper and the Product of the Ego Drain

Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport

Forest Fire – Survival

The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa

The only overlap between our lists comes at number 21 with Wild Beasts, thus intensifying speculation that they’re set to scoop  this year’s Vampire Weekend Award for Rousing Acceptance Rapidly Followed by Indifference and, Eventually, Hostility

I never thought I would go to a Growing show and see kids dance. My increasingly Walter Matthau ass remembers when they played strict music for bomb raids era Brian Shmeeno. But I guess they are touring with Fuck Buttons plus they are in a club so of course the beat reigns above all. Growing Castles played blue hoodie rap, in that I wouldn’t be surprised if their credit showed up on the experimental follow up to Wale’s disastrous debut, in the same way that Freescha wrote “Heaven on Earth” for Britney. Also, where have they been hiding this cute lead chick? They could at least put her in the foreground of press photos wearing a sexy Xiu Xiu shirt or something (I am thinking the wrist cutter “Xiu Xiu 4 Life” design offset by some AA nylons). For their live show, they took the essential drone-riffs from their records and added some Negativland-like abstract concrete samples to add some free form spontaneity. They had really pretty vinyl, so there’s that too.

Sidenote: Tip for Strib/Vita.mn photog to combat awkwardness: don’t stand in the back only to push your way to the front stage for two quick shots and leave. Also, blend in. I suggest an inside out sweater and AA nylons. Also, when did Triple Rock start selling Lone Star tall boys. Maybe better question: Why?

The non-Asian guy in Eff Buttons looks like a hipster Jason Molina. I am not gonna list what songs they played because that’s just fucking dumb to do, who do you think this is, Magnolia Electric Co? They played the one with the penguin noises and the fast drumming then the one with the organ intro and the cool noises and then lots of others ones that were really loud and that blended really well and that’s about as far as I’ll go with that. If you’ve heard the new record at all you know that it is all dancing bangers. It was a good move for The Buttons to hire Andrew Weatherall to produce the record; it’s like if The National got Joe Henry—not completely out of their sphere but really cool nonetheless.

Digression: Near the middle-end of the Buttons’ set someone threw a roach on-stage and the Wes Anderson looking motherfucker in the middle-front crowd tried to hit it. It was cached. What a stupid Wes Anderson motherfucker.

Effe Buttones had some really pretty vinyl, too and the Asian guy hopped right down after the set to go man the merch booth himself which I give him props for. Keeping costs down. The next time they come to town they will probably have a full orchestra and a light show and they will be playing at the Women’s Club Theater or Pantages so I’m glad I caught them at this stage. All in all it was a pretty show if you find things like keyboard arpeggios, chameleons and AA nylon fantasies pretty, which I do.

Words: Gentry Boeckel from Talk My Shit Again
Photos: Justin Taylor

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I really don’t have much use for Sarah Palin, but I have even less use for smarmy doyennes who sleep their way to the top of the Village’s social heap, and then ask very broad and quite rude religious questions of someone who’s not present to answer them.

What does she believe is God’s plan for her? Does she have any free will or is everything preordained. Can she see something coming and change her mind despite God’s plans for her?

Did God plan for her to become Governor of Alaska. If so, did God plan for her to step down. Did God plan for her to run for Vice President? If so why did she and McCain lose?

Did God plan for her to have a child with Down’s Syndrome? If so why did she consider an abortion? Did God plan for her to have a huge wardrobe? Then why did she apologize for it?

Sally Quinn is a douche. Religion’s not off topic with Palin, but these are the questions you want to ask:

Do you agree with Bishop Thomas Muthee that you are like Queen Esther?

Do you believe that witchcraft presents a danger to modern Christians, especially in Africa?

Why do you think white evangelical women in the U.S. lose their virginity earlier than any other group?

What is your opinion about Purity Balls?

Click here for some background on Bishop Muthee, who, by all accounts, is much less of a douche bag than Sally Quinn, albeit a far bigger asshole.

See also:

Palinmania (the comments mostly)

Seems like everyone is onto the Psalm 109er eliminationists (it’s worth your time to read 108 and 109 in their brief entireties to get a better feel for how much the Palinists hate the rest of America, and how incredibly moronic their interpretation of scripture is — Obama = King David, and only a semi-literate Christianist could think otherwise)

Texas successfully outlawed all forms of marriage in 2005

Scariest parody of the Going Rogue cover yet

I’ve been writing about narcissistic personality disorder for as long as I’ve been blogging, but rarely has it been so accurately diagnosed in a public figure (and verified by emails)

J Street responds

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Hmm, didn’t know Dwight Eisenhower once bowed to Hirohito. And Nixon bowed to Mao.

Makes no difference, I don’t believe an American president should bow to anyone. A bow is just one generation removed from a kowtow.

Fuck royalty no matter where they’re from.

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How long has Jerry Brown been looking like Joe Biden without hair plugs?

UPDATE: With a side of Peter Boyle thrown in.

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Vitamin is not the Strib, but it’s part of the same outfit and I got to this page with just one click from the Strib’s front page:

Not that I really give a shit. It’s kinda interesting is all. In the ’90s (and oh how I wish I’d saved a copy) the Strib reviewed The Clit Diaries, but for the most part you don’t see family newspapers spelling out the names of bands like the Fuck Buttons.

The funny thing to me is that at the height of punk I remember being shocked when my buddy Vick expressed contempt for some band with “fuck” in their name. But he had a good point in so far as back in the day, no major label would distribute a band with an obscene name. To Vick, new vinyl from The Fuck Gods meant having to deal with yet another indie distributor. Serious bands had real names and went through normal distribution channels.

Digital really did change everything.

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I’ve been skipping over a number of stories in which wingnuts wet their pants over the prospect of genuine terroramuses being brought to this country for trial. One possible incarceration site is the maximum security prison in Thomson, Illinois.

Clinton, Ia. - Mention the massive prison across the Mississippi River and you see a lot of smiles in this city.

People here know all about the federal government’s tentative plans to transfer alleged terrorists from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to a maximum-security facility a 15-minute drive away in Thomson, Ill.

And they are a bit amused by some media reports that area residents are worried that terrorists will be running loose in the streets….

They say turning the Illinois-owned Thomson Correctional Center into a federally run “Guantanamo North” would bring up to 3,000 jobs to this part of the country, which is very good news.

For the life of me I don’t understand how the wingnuts can tolerate the fearmongering coming from their leaders. Why would any sane American be frightened by some former goatherd who took the equivalent of a Saturday afternoon workshop in how to set your tennis shoes on fire?

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Haaretz has an update on purveyor of tainted meat products, Sholom Rubashkin, as well as the infinitely more moral Belle du Jour.

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The Swamp, the establishment political blog at the reliably Republican Chicago Tribune, goes after Fox News for using ‘08 campaign footage to show “the crowd” at a Palin book signing.

That is, of course, what Fox News does. News as a fungible product to be sliced and diced in support of Roger Ailes’ daily talking points. Sean Hannity’s quasi-apology after getting burned by Jon Stewart is the exception, not the rule. They do these things on purpose, and if they burn some production schmuck on this I hope he/she rats out their propaganda mill.

Liars, who wish their pants would just once catch on fire.

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There’s like one conservative at MinnPost (a libertarian, actually), so he got the honor of interviewing Katherine Kersten. Just looking at the living room behind her is giving me an old people rash, pretty much like her arguments do. Marriage is about children only according to Kersten, and the more rational take on that (marriage is about safeguarding and transferring property) isn’t even mentioned.

No dots to connect, she just segués directly from that to stating that gay marriage backers:

…feel a vindictive loathing of norms and limits in human society.

But then there are people in the “gay rights” leadership — or in the leadership of the same-sex marriage movement — who take a radical view. They want to see an upending of the institution of marriage. I mean, that’s very clear. There’s lots of evidence that some of these people would like to see, essentially, the end of marriage as an institution altogether. In its place you’d see a variety of civil unions, of the kind I just mentioned.

I’ve seen so much anger on the part of these people. They often exhibit an authoritarian, totalitarian impulse. We see some of this in the schools, for example, with regard to the Welcoming Schools curriculum that was so controversial recently in Minneapolis. There is an attempt on the part of some of these leaders to place themselves in positions of great power in order to work a transformation in society — having to do with male-female relationships and marriage and families. There’s so much anger there, I sometimes think that a lot of those folks are unhappy, frankly, for reasons of how they are living, of choices that they’ve made, and they project that anger onto people like me.

The only person identified in that screed is Katherine Kersten. Her enemies have no names other than these people.

Pretty disgusting stuff, only slightly mitigated by the hilarious asides: “So, I’m in the position of, say, a Garrison Keillor.” She also acknowledges that Anders “Tiny Penis” Gyllenhaal was her mentor at the Strib, a fact that just retro-legitimizes many of my angriest anti-Strib rants.

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Doing that panel thing tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 in the Phalen Room, but either you’re already signed up for Netroots Minnesota, or you’re not. And yes, my name is misspelled.

I’ll see you there if you’re there.

Voici les chouchous de novembre. C’est une manne assez jumpy dans l’ensemble, mais j’y ai mis aussi un bon disque langoureux.

Compilation “Girl Powder”
Réunion de groupes féminins de tous horizons et toutes origines. Culture electro pop et hip hop mélangées. Ces groupes de filles sont américains, japonais, australien, français….. Si vous aimez danser, si vous aimez Santogold ou Kap Bambino, si vous aimez l’electroclash aussi….laissez vous tenter.

Howie B Vs Casino Royale “Not in The Face Real Dub Version”
On va commencer par une présentation succincte de notre ami Howie B. Il est écossais,  musicien, producteur et remixeur. Sa carrière a démarré dans les 90’s, il a travaillé avec pas mal d’artistes tels Bjork, U2 ou Tricky. En 1996, il a sorti un très bel album ambient “Music for Babies” à l’occasion de la naissance de son propre bébé, disque dans lequel il utilise des sons entendus in utero. Il a également fait partie du collectif Skylab.
Lors d’une récente tournée, il a rencontré les italiens de Casino Royale et, ensemble ils ont décidé de faire un disque d’électro dub. Qui pour moi est assez bien réussi.

Baddies “Do the Job”
Des british qui font de l’indie rock croisé punk rock. C’est super efficace et  ça réveille, en effet comment rester de marbre à l’écoute de ”Open one Eye”  ? Il faut avouer que dans le genre les anglais restent imbattables. Je n’en dis pas plus. Il  ne sera malheureusement pas disponible avant le 25 novembre, alors voici le single en images pour patienter :

Fagget Fairys “Feed the Horse”
J’ai découvert ce groupe  en écoutant Bang Bang, la meilleure émission sur Pure FM à mon avis.  Je fais une petite parenthèse pour signaler que cette émission transgenres est surtout transculturelle, c’est une des dernières émissions sur la bande hertzienne nationale où l’on prend le temps de parler de bouquins et bd’s, de politique, de musique, de mode, de ciné  et de sexe,  le tout présenté avec beaucoup d’humour.  Je suis franchement  fan.
Bref, revenons à nos brebis. Fagget Fairys est donc un duo féminin suédois  formé de Dj Sensimilla et Mc Ena , elles font de l’electro rap assez dancefloor. Mais elles n’ont pas peur des mélanges, puisqu’on y retrouve des éléments dubstep, avec le fameux gros coup de basse ( j’aime bien ) mais aussi des influences balkaniques  (que j’aime beaucoup moins) . Elles sont lesbiennes, le crient bien fort, et  ont des paroles explicites (Feed the Horse). Un disque qui ne se prend pas la tête, dans lequel il y a quand même quelques fameux bons titres.

Fuck Buttons “Tarot Sport”
Le duo de Bristol revient avec un deuxième album qui est assez semblable au premier en fait. C’est de la techno évolutive et tripante  avec des déviations vers l’électro noise . Cet album-ci est peut-être plus dancefloor que le premier. Ils sont toujours sur le label ATP du nom du festival anglais qui les a découverts.  Je les ai vus en concert pour la quatrième fois au Bota le mois passé, et  comme à chaque fois, ce fut vraiment bien. Face à face de part et d’autre d’une table sur laquelle sont posées leurs valises de fabricants de sons. Ils se balancent d’avant en arrière comme des métronomes tout en criant dans un micro déformant, et triturant les boutons de leurs samplers et claviers divers.
Le cd ne sera malheureusement disponible que le 1er décembre.

Lady & Bird “La ballade of Lady & Bird”
Un disque très classieux à écouter de préférence allongé sur une peau de mouton au coin du feu alors qu’il neige dehors, et si on est en bonne compagnie c’est encore mieux.  Lady & Bird c’est le duo islando-français formé par Keren Ann et Bardi Johannsson. Comme pour leur premier projet, ils sont doués pour les ambiances feutrées, les belles mélodies sentimentales, et en plus ils ont eu le chic de se faire accompagner par l’Island Symphony Orchestra. Donc, pas de sampling ou du riquiqui dans les effets de cordes, ici c’est du vrai !

Pour terminer : je vous donne rendez-vous au Bota pour les concerts de Akron/Family, The Field et à l’AB pour pleurer au concert de Notwist tellement ça sera bien.
http://www.abconcerts.be/fr/concerts/p/detail/the-notwist-andromeda-mega-express-orchestra-11-12-2009
http://botanique.be/cgi?usr=a6fmqs2tb4&lg=fr&pag=869&rec=0&frm=0&par=aybabtu&id=4402&flux=30190486

]]> http://mydarlingmusic.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/fuck-buttons/ Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:42:25 +0000 guaguaron http://mydarlingmusic.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/fuck-buttons/

Pues una vez más damos un lugarcillo a la música que casi en nuestro país no escuhamos y es momento de darle oportunidad a Fuck Buttons conformada por Andrew Hung y Benjamin Power vienen con su sonido experimental progresivo con una carrera que empezo en el 2004 hasta la fecha cuentan con 2 discos Street Horrrsing y Tarot Sport nos dejan su música que nos puede causar distintas sensaciones pero lo principal es el seguir escuchando sonidos que nos den esa parte que muchas veces se deja de hacer por miedo a experimentar.

les dejo unos videines espero les gusten en particular chequen el de Surf Solar

When asked to describe their own music, most bands get it horribly wrong. UK electro-noisesters Fuck Buttons, however, are not most bands. Their MySpace tagline gets more done in four words than I will accomplish in 600 or so, not-so-neatly encapsulating everything you need to know about their largely wordless music: “Sounds like: the universe.”

I might add “expanding” to “universe” there. With the release of their new Tarot Sport(ATP), Bristol FBers Andy Hung and Ben Power have taken their roaring, scree-laden spacecraft and charted a course for the heart of the sun, creating what is perhaps the most epic album of 2009.

And arguably the most dance-tastic as well, since it finds Hung and Power trading in the inarticulate distorto-howls that splattered all over their debut, 2007’s Street Horrrsing, for a far more shimmering and percussive brand of drone rock. And though I did just call it “dance-tastic,” don’t go cracking those glowsticks just yet: Tarot Sport’s surges and rhythms make clear the duo’s penchant for letting the music take over and consume all — as any great dance music does. It’s just lacking all the signifiers that would allow the songs to be seen as a mere utility for shaking it. On the powerful “Olympians” (which kicks in with an organ-heavy sturm that sounds like the climax of the introduction to Also sprach Zarathustra seizing into infinity) and “Flight of the Feathered Serpent” (with its galloping polyrhythms like a Vangelis theme having an anxiety attack), Fuck Buttons are more interested in building up than breaking down.

“We wouldn’t describe this as a dance record,” contends Power when I broach the topic. “The music that we make is kind of at the mercy of the equipment that we use. We’re constantly accumulating new gear, new sound processors, which kind of resulted in more rhythm-based elements on this record — but we definitely aren’t pushing any kind of agenda, nor did we try to push it in a more dancy direction. We think of it as more cinematic.”

It could be cinematic, but maybe it’s just “bigger.” For Tarot Sport, they recruited Andy Weatherall (the legendary UK producer responsible for, among other things, the knob twiddling on Primal Scream’s 1991 techno-tinged classic Screamadelica), ditched the screamo vocals, and let things stretch out. “We just literally jammed out on these processors we had until we’d stumble across a sound that we liked, or some kind of manipulation that we hadn’t done before, and then we’d use that to start constructing this dense thing into a song.”

This process of deconstruction and reconstruction has resulted in a batch of songs that, underneath all the noise, disclose a revelatory beauty — and pack a surprising emotional wallop.

“We’re not particularly sad people,” says Power, “but we are interested in emotional projection within our music.” It’s easy to take beats and synths for granted, and even easier to doubt the emotional content of noise, but Fuck Buttons use minimalist tools to create music even larger than rock’s grandest gestures — and the effect can be overwhelming. And you wouldn’t know from listening to it, but part of its power comes from the fact that they’re holding back.

“It’s quite easy to just overdo it,” Power acknowledges. “We have so many signal processors that we could so easily overload everything, but we’re very interested in minimal music as well. We just want the songs to emerge thick and full and perfect — wherever that takes us.”

FUCK BUTTONS + GROWING | Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave, Allston | November 25 at 9 pm | 18+ | $12 | www.greatscottboston.com

Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power of Fuck Buttons have done it again. They gained underground indie stardom after the release of Street Horrrsing in 2008, easily one of the best progressive experimental albums of the year and had one of my top songs of the year with the ten minute bender, “Sweet Love For Planet Earth”.

A few months back, they released Tarot Sport EP, a short three song EP which teased Fuck Buttons fans like no other. Shortly after they released the full-length. The ten minute track “Surf Solar”, easily the best track of the album and one of the year’s best for sure, is the first track and sets the rest of the mood for the next 60 minutes. You aren’t gonna end up back where you started with their tracks that loop in and out of each other like tidal waves. And like the unpredictability of the LP title suggests, you aren’t gonna know where you’ll end up either.

I feel like Tarot Sport is just another wave off of Street Horrrsing, picking up right from the end of “Colours Move”. Except this time, the second half doesn’t feel as dark and moody as the first did. And this time, the Tarot Sport uses more optimistic tones throughout and still retains the melancholic feel.  The progression is all there. The formula’s the same yet it’s completely superimposed. It has the exact reverse opposite in terms of how it makes you feel but in the end, it’s still so so great. Innovative, wild, psychedelic and precociously awesome. And that’s why this album is one of my tops of this year.

A

I’ll be heading to their show at Il Motore in MTL on November 24th!!! GO GO GO! And stick around for a review =)

MP3: Fuck Buttons – Surf Solar

Buy their albums here!

01. Flight Of The Feathered Serpent // Fuck Buttons
02. Chocolate Cheesecake // Bon Mod
03. In your Heart // A Place to Bury Strangers
04. Deluxe Casino Royal // Casino Royal
05. Fuego // Black Disco
06. Ornen // Madamm
07. Love and Greed // Magneta Lane
08. No One’s Happy // Male Nurse
09. Mundo De Ciegos // Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
10. All The Hospitals // People Eating People

Fuck Buttons: Tarot Sport
ATP Recordings (2009)

From out of nowhere, early in 2008, Fuck Bottoms dropped Street Horrsing and managed to make buzz, hiss and drone palatable for an audience outside of the noise scene. When I saw them play at the ATP festival on Mt Buller in January 2009, people were dancing. Dancing! And I’m not talking about fucked up hippies waving their arms around like Hare Krishna, I’m talking about kids with Sunn O))) tattoos and Metal t-shirts bopping their heads along with the freaks on stage making a bone splintering racket with Fisher Price toys. Amazing.

I wasn’t sure what to make of Tarot Sport when I first heard it. Fuck Buttons have taken their sound into a glitzier and more dance-friendly arena, with the help of rock/dance crossover guru Andrew Weatherall. I wanted less rhythm and psychedelic keyboards, and more dense layers of swirling drone.

The thing is, I eventually realised I was approaching Tarot Sport from the wrong perspective. It’s no longer about adorning noise with subtle melodies to expand its horizons; Fuck Buttons have been there and done that. Now they’re taking the decay and erosion of drone and its noise brethren, and attacking popular forms of music from within. Tarot Sport mixes Post Punk extremes with the manic euphoria of Acid House. The four-to-the-floor rhythms that drive most of these tracks might be straight out of the nightclub scene, but the blown-out, in-the-red tones and the mantra like repetition won’t appeal to mindless bunnies.

It’s a much more cinematic record than its predecessor, especially on tracks like Olympia and Space Mountain with their soaring crescendos and bombastic beats. It’s not hard to see these tunes framing the finale to a sci-fi flick or British heist movie, albeit of the independent kind. At the other end of the spectrum, Fuck Buttons channel the playfulness of Black Dice on Phantom Limb and Rough Steez by hurling around sketchy rhythms and colourful squawks.

Rhythm is the key differentiator between Street Horrrsing and Tarot Sport; it’s a much more propulsive record. And maybe it says something that my favourite parts of Tarot Sport are the moments between each track, where the sound is ephemeral, weightless and blurry. It’s easy to lose yourself in these dreamy moments, before the boys get back to baking a spongy, layered cake smothered in colourful icing. And it isn’t the sugar high that keeps me coming back for more. It’s Tarot Sports’ sly ability to make every climax a penultimate one, so that euphoria is always enticingly out of reach.

This was for a double-page feature in the mag. Andrew Hung was pleasant enough to talk to, but not the most garrulous of interviewees. I think it shows to an extent in the piece, but I hope it was successful anyway.

Back for another assault on our ears with a towering second album, erstwhile noise duo Fuck Buttons tell AU about working with Andrew Weatherall, ignoring the hate and the love, and why making music is nothing more than child’s play.

The day before we finally pin Fuck Buttons’ Andrew Hung to a phone line, his band’s new album leaked in a big, messy splurge all over the internet. Or at least, that’s what it seemed like, since regular visits to the band’s last.fm page over the preceding weeks had yielded comment after comment from fans frothing at the mouth, thrilled by the video for first single ‘Surf Solar’ and desperately pleading for a leak of the whole album. And then, one Monday in September, BAM! The same page was suddenly full of those selfsame fans falling over themselves to declare that album, Tarot Sport, a masterpiece.

So, given the timing of our interview, it’s tempting to quiz Hung on the fans’ reaction so far. And, as we suspected, he has been keeping an eye on it. However, he insists it’s had zero effect on him and bandmate Benjamin Power. “Yeah, it’s really pleasing to hear,” he allows, “but it’s just been important for us to enjoy this time and to appreciate what we’ve done, so at the moment we’re not really taking in all the criticisms or praise.”

Perhaps, we are forced to wonder, it’s just that Hung and Power don’t care what anyone else thinks. “I can’t really remember anything that’s had any lasting impact on our working practice,” he says. “For one reason, it might not be beneficial for us to take in criticism because I guess the work is more to do with us than other people. For sure, we do listen to everything, but I’m not sure how much impact it’ll have in the long run.”

Hung may be unmoved so far, but it must be said that the fans aren’t far wrong. Though it’s easy in hindsight to downplay the significance and originality of last year’s debut album Street Horrrsing, Tarot Sport feels like a major step forward. Street Horrrsing, though superb, was a difficult beast. Though the band have only rarely indulged in the all-out noise they are often associated with, the debut was noted for its huge waves of fuzz, synths piling on top of one another in a wall of disorienting sound. The lack of any beats on several tracks heightened the effect, and the vocals, screamed by Benjamin Power into a cheap toy karaoke machine for added lo-fi value, sealed the deal. If Street Horrrsing was a great but potentially impenetrable debut, Tarot Sport addresses that balance, coming on like some sort of mutant techno record, and the aforementioned ‘Surf Solar’ is a perfect example of that.

‘Epic’ is a word too often used to describe music, so we do it advisedly, but it’s impossible to avoid here. A twitchy synth is joined by the relentless thump of a kick drum, and eventually by a sweeping synth melody the size of a Midwestern sky. Which is then joined by another, even bigger one. This is huge, dramatic music, with song titles to match – ‘Olympians’ and ‘Flight Of The Feathered Serpent’ (we know, worthy of Yes) are similarly unstoppable, both pushing the 10 minute mark and never shy to throw their weight around. Four-to-the-floor beats dominate, vocals appear to be completely absent, and the sound palette is infinitely more rich and varied than the debut, as repeated listens bring out motifs and sounds that you’d never noticed before. Sure, it’s long (seven tracks in almost an hour) and fearsomely intense, but it’s also – whisper it – tuneful and even danceable.

“I don’t think there were any conscious decisions with regard to the aesthetic of the music,” says Hung, acknowledging the new sound but denying any new approach. “I mean, we were aware of not wanting to produce the same document as Street Horrrsing, but that was our only consciousness this time round.”

With a bit more prodding, though, Hung outlines his own reaction to the record, and why it sounds as it does. He argues – not wholly convincingly, it must be said – that it’s more a case of other sounds and ideas coming to the fore than the distortion and aggression of Street Horrrsing being jettisoned completely.

Fuck Buttons – ‘Surf Solar (edit)’. Video directed by Andrew Hung

“I think there are components of the last record that are present in this one,” he says carefully, “but I don’t think they are given the prominence that they had [on Street Horrrsing]. I think this record is a multi-limbed kind of [production], whereas on the other album there was a lot of space that surrounded the sounds. So I guess other elements are placed with equal prominence to the components from the first record. But they’re still present, I think.”

Beats weren’t completely absent on the first album. The formidable ‘Okay, Let’s Talk About Magic’ was driven by a strangely lurching snare tattoo, while the closing duo of ‘Bright Tomorrow’ and ‘Colours Move’ started to hint at what Fuck Buttons might do next. But, to the outsider, the most obvious bridge between the two records came with another man’s production – Andrew Weatherall’s remix of Street Horrrsing opener ‘Sweet Love for Planet Earth’. It was the first time a steady techno pulse had been anywhere near a Fuck Buttons track, and it suited it rather well, marrying a utilitarian beat to the original track’s shape-shifting momentum. It also went off in the clubs – when David Holmes played it at Belfast’s Radio K club one night last summer, the place went ballistic. So when news emerged of Weatherall’s involvement in Tarot Sport, the portents were good.

Hung says of Weatherall that the remix “highlighted his ability” and prompted the Bristol pair to approach him about working together, but the veteran’s vast back catalogue as a producer of other acts (including Primal Scream’s era-defining Screamadelica) and his own projects Sabres of Paradise and Two Lone Swordsmen – not to mention a legendary reputation as a DJ of everything from techno to rockabilly – should have been enough to recommend him.

“The sound was going to be a little bit more complex,” says Hung, “so we knew Weatherall would have a good idea how to embellish those textures, and also he was extremely sensitive to keeping intact the vision which we thought he would understand, and he did. It was just a really satisfying experience working with him.”

Hung insists, however, that Weatherall’s role was as much as a sounding board and ideas man than the kind of producer who would leave his stamp all over the record. “He certainly contributed a lot of ideas and it was great to work with him in that respect. There were three people in the room articulating with each other, and with that came the possibility of not needing as much space and time to discern what was good or not, because we could bounce ideas off each other. It made for an exhausting experience because we could work at tremendous speed, but at the same time it was extremely satisfying as well.

“He didn’t radically change the music – the vision was kept intact, like I said before – but it’s like what he said – if there’s a person in the studio, then they’re going to affect the dynamic of the working relationship, and he was a really good person to be in that environment. So he definitely left his mark on the work, but I couldn’t give you specifics.”

Although Hung is serious and thoughtful in conversation, it’s obvious to anyone even vaguely familiar with Fuck Buttons that they are a playful band. The name is the first clue – combining the shock of the expletive with such a prosaic word, conjuring some surreal and confusing images. Is ‘fuck’ a verb – do they hate buttons? Are the buttons pornographic? Is it just supposed to be a weird juxtaposition, or a childish statement? Then there’s the artwork for both albums, lovingly crafted by Hung himself – psychedelic and completely original. And, of course the music and the means of making it – the band are well known for their kleptomaniacal approach to amassing musical machines, including children’s toys. And it seems that that’s no accident. Hung confirms that playfulness is “a very important component” in how he and Power make music, and he goes further.

“Recently, I’ve noticed it’s how children play with their toys,” he says. “They have all these toys spread around them, and I remember when I was a child it was the most comfortable time, having all this stuff around you so you could just choose what you wanted to play with, whenever you wanted to. I think that’s what we do, to put it in really simplistic terms. I’ll sit on the floor and Ben sits on the couch because he uses his feet for the pedals, and we surround ourselves with everything we’ve accumulated recently, and just play around with things. We’ve got our ears on the sounds we’re individually making and also the other person’s. And eventually, with our ears open, we’ll be able to find something.”

It’s a completely anti-intellectual, non-analytical approach to making music, whereby Hung and Power rely solely on their ears and instincts. That, rather than any kind of deep and meaningful manifesto, is the “vision” that Hung alludes to. “I think it’s really important for us to be satisfied with the work in a non-conscious way before and during the working process,” he says. “It’s really important that we don’t intellectualise anything or labour over anything, so that’s something that we place great importance on.”

To deal with things on a primal level?

“Absolutely, that’s it.”

Loud, urgent and impossible to ignore, primal is exactly the kind of response that Tarot Sport demands.

TAROT SPORT IS OUT NOW ON ATP RECORDS.

WWW.MYSPACE.COM/FUCKBUTTONS

wow. It’s been a while I know. I’m in exam mode at the moment so the whole blog thing has been put on the backburner. But, I figure I should at least get one post out there for you guys! And what better than an all encompassing New Music First post. Some pretty good stuff here – eclectic. All with an electronic tinge though which is always good!

First up is a local band called Goodnight Owl. These guys are from Melbourne and they produce some pretty nice guitar pop music. But then it has something else. It’s like a great sounding acoustic track but with this awesome glitchy electro stuff beneath it. It’s a really nice blend. Great lyrics too. If you’re in Melbourne also, you should check them out – they’re playing a few shows in early December. Check out the info here.

Goodnight Owl – Maps and Compasses

(iTunes)

Next up is a band that’s kinda exploded in blog land. They’re called Sleigh Bells and they’re…well…i don’t know. Apart from good, they’re definitely good. Already, you can see they’ve got two sides. A loud full on blown out distorted fucking great in your face style sound. They’ve also got a great nice, sweet pop sound. I like the loud abrasive sound the best. Crown on The Ground is definitely that. Oh…and just in time for Christmas! haha…sorry…had to get that in.

Sleigh Bells – Crown On The Ground

Third up on the list is Fuck Buttons. I got turned on to these guys through The Sound Lab on Triple J radio here in Australia. They produce some pretty awesome glitchy techno i suppose. I don’t know really, i’m no good with genre’s. I will say that it pumps, they all grow into something really big, they’re full of massive layers of sound, and the majority of their songs are pretty long. Including the track bellow, Space Mountain.

Fuck Buttons – Space Mountain

(iTunes)

Fourth on my little list of tricks is a band out of Brooklyn. Sensual Harassment are they’re name and they’ve been around for a short while. They cited (the M A A M F loved) Miami Horror as a band they like in the email they sent me so I thought I should give them a shot. They’re track, Daddy Long Legs is great. Is funky, slow groove, comes to an almighty climax mid way and keeps it going throughout.

Sensual Harassment – Daddy Long Legs

(iTunes)

Last on ze listo is The Swiss. You guys may have heard of these dudes before. They’re from South Australia but we won’t hold that against them because they produce some pretty awesome DISCO! Movement 1 has been around for a little while already and it’s part of a big Movement EP with three movements. Other than that, they’ve also remixed Ladyhawke’s Magic which I’m sure some of you have heard. Hell, they’re even supporting Ms Hawke on her current national tour. Must be love. Anyway, you should all check these dudes out. They’re the Next Crop feature artist today for Aus Music Month on Triple J too. Check out a new track called Bubble Bath on the Next Crop/Home & Hosed blog too. Bloody killer.

The Swiss – Movement I

(Really Real Records)

Anyway, that’s it. Mammoth post, so hopefully that will do you for a while and I can get back to my study. Last exam is on the 23rd, so expect a lot more amazing sounds after that.

K. That’ll do the ramble for now.

Have you ever felt the urge of being catapulted into orbit with a fire cracker shoved up your rear ?

Now’s your chance!

Electronic pioneers – Fuck Buttons - have for long experimented with breaking boundaries of electronic possibilities. Some good, some bad, some unlistenable and some like beamed from another planet to wreak havoc on us mortals.

Admittedly I found their last album – “Tarot Sport” – hard going. To sit through the entire thing will definitely challenge you. Nevertheless – it does contain this giant juggernaut of celestial celebration – or is it a homage to Disney World ? – which is exactly the equivalent of said above.

“Space Mountain” touches on the same soundscapes as Detroit legend – Jeff Mills – has been experimenting with for years, and it bears an extremely close resemblance to Track 4 on Jeff Mills’ multi limited – and dead hard to get – Axis 9 release or even on his production of “Enforcement” on the even harder to get Basic Channel #1!

In short – “Space Mountain” – is complete spellbinding experimentation. A lesson in restraint, and a lesson in taking a sound, and drive it to the point of no return…….and that’s without ever bringing in a kick!

If you’re a DJ and you’re searching for the perfect drop………this it!

If not – take the trip anyway…….enjoy your ride!

Mp3: Fuck Buttons – Space Mountain

Hello

Today when I got back from school well I checked my email. After that I browsed the web, and as I browsed there I found an interesting name “Fuck Buttons“. Well to my experience interesting names usually mean something cool and I was right. This group originates from Bristol, England. It is composed of Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power and they started out in early 2004. To me this is very chill electric music and I like all of their tracks, even though some of them are long. Anyway hope you enjoy this as much as I am enjoying.

You can find music of them on YouTube, or support them by buying their album.

To visit their website click here.

Discography

• Tarot Sport
• Street Horrrising

Singles

• Bright Tomorrow
• Colours Move
• Surf Solar

A quick 20 most recently played (so this is over the last 2 days). I’ll be doing day 2 of Dubai SoundCity 2009 whilst I’m waiting in Doha airport at 7am tomorrow morning.

1. Today 3 – Part Chimp
2. Spiders, Snakes – A Weather
3. Rough Steez – Fuck Buttons
4. Alhazred – Team Brick
5. Witching Stone – The Black Heart Procession
6. Thriller! – Pere Ubu
7. I Lived My Life To Stand In The Shadow Of Your Heart – A Place To Bury Strangers
8. Biodh An Deoch Seo ‘n Láimh Mo Rúin – Julie Fowlis
9. Genesis 30:3 – The Mountain Goats
10. The Faint Horizon – Piano Magic
11. Wild Wolves – Athlete
12. Recovery Position – Piano Magic
13. Left For All The Strays – Grand Archives
14. Hurricane Drunk – Florence And The Machine
15. Lost Feeling – A Place To Bury Strangers
16. You Can Always Have More – The Longcut
17. We Almost Had A Baby – Micah P. Hinson
18. Don’t Hold Your Breath – Athlete
19. Find Me A River – John Head
20. Last Chance – The Black Heart Procession

So there it is. P

So the name should catch your attention and have one of two effects:

1.  You would be so drawn to the name that you would just want to listen to them because the name is just out of the ordinary.

2.  Or you would just feel flat out offended.

I was drawn to this England-based duo the second I read the name.  Their music is a very interesting form of electronica. Based on a few Youtube videos, they use a lot of keyboards and synths, as well as a few toys here and there.  I recently purchased their album, Street Horrrsing (yes, it is spelled with three r’s). The thing that I think I admire most about this particular album is the obscure vocals in a few of the songs.  The vocals sound like something being played through a static CB radio, and it’s more like someone screaming for help in a plane crash or recording a desperate SOS message.  The music is very ambient with some percussion in the background.  Similar to the vocals, they make it sound as though there is tragedy and they are playing the theme song to a dramatic moment in a story.

So if you can just get pass the name, you just might enjoy this.

Fuck Buttons have been on my radar a while, but I have firmly labelled them “plingy-plongy” music in my head, so despite outside pressures I have not given them proper consideration until now. Until I saw this video that is. I have a secret to confess… I really like penguins and wurlitzer jukeboxes, and this video really blends the two well… Plus the song is not as noisy as one would expect of a “noise” band – what a ridiculous label anyway. “Surf Solar” is a pretty beat driven tune, which surprised me, and though it’s probably very uncool to say I didn’t think I’d like the music much. But there you have it, turns out Pitchfork and every other music blog was right, and I was wrong (again), and since they are friendly with the boyfriend I should also tell you that Ben and Andrew are very nice boys, Ben even has a striking resemblance with American Idol winner David Cook (true story). Fuck Buttons are currently touring with Growing (or Groaning as I like to call them), but will be playing Blå in Oslo on the 5th December. Pitchfork, and now also Styletastic, say be there or be square.

Tarot Sport, the new album from British electronic duo Fuck Buttons, is not for the faint of heart.  Buzzes, screeches, bleeps, and other jarring, harsh sounds populate a record on which most of the songs are over nine minutes in length.

Nevertheless, once you get past that initial “ugliness,” this is a gorgeous album.  On songs like “The Lisbon Maru” and “Olympians,” the waves of droning synthesizers and discordant tribal drum beats part, to reveal lovely, lavish melodies. These moments are made all the more beautiful by the fact that they only happen towards the end of a song.  It’s like how a sunny day is even more dazzling when it’s been proceeded by a week of rain.  Tracks like “Flight of the Feathered Serpent” and “Surf Solar” take this even further, by shifting the songs’ harsh beginnings so subtly that the listener doesn’t know where the noise starts and the music begins.  These are the songs Sigur Ros would write if Sigur Ros used drumbeats and synthesizers, rather than guitars and orchestras.

– Marc Sollinger