Fuck Buttons | ||
| Allmusic Biography : The Bristol, England-based experimental duo Fuck Buttons -- Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power -- formed in late 2004 and signed to the ATP label, releasing the "Bright Tomorrow" b/w "Little Bloody Shoulder" 7" single during the fall of 2007, with live dates throughout England (with Liars, Stars of the Lid, and Deerhunter, to name a few) following soon thereafter. They released their first album, Street Horrrsing, which was produced by Mogwais John Cummings, in 2008. The duo drafted Two Lone Swordsmens Andrew Weatherall to produce the following years Tarot Sport, which found Fuck Buttons moving in a blissful, more overtly electronic direction. That albums "Olympians" was used during the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony along with the track "Sundowner" from Powers solo project Blanck Mass. He and Hung self-produced Fuck Buttons expansive third album, Slow Focus, which arrived in July 2013. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 3 Title: Street Horrrsing Released: 2008-03-17 Tracks: 6 Duration: 49:48 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Sweet Love for Planet Earth (09:40) 2 Ribs Out (04:06) 3 OK, Lets Talk About Magic (10:07) 1 Race You to My Bedroom / Spirit Rise (09:18) 2 Bright Tomorrow (07:41) 3 Colours Move (08:54) |
| Street Horrrsing : Allmusic album Review : Some bands with a name like Fuck Buttons would go for a raunchy approach, but on their debut Street Horrrsing, the Bristol-based group focuses on messing with layers of sounds instead of anything sleazy. Fuck Buttons collage of brittle electronics, post-rock epics, and blistering noise recalls more than a few other bands -- theyre capable of raging like Wolf Eyes, conjuring Aas dead calm, echoing Mogwais majesty and mining similar territory to tourmates like Stars of the Lid and Deerhunter -- but they put these elements together in their own beautiful, and often unsettling, way. Street Horrrsing opens with "Sweet Love for Planet Earth," a nine-minute epic that starts off twinkling like a snow globe (or the theme to The Exorcist), then swells with thick clouds of distorted synths and bass. Despite the layers of noise, the song radiates an intense, cathartic, and remarkably subtle beauty, even when fuzzed-out screaming cuts through the haze like a dream pop take on Wolf Eyes. Its pulsing bass morphs into rattling percussion as "Ribs Out"s tribal terror takes Fuck Buttons music in a very different direction, trading oddly comforting sheets of distortion for stark, unyielding rhythms, and feral yips and wails. The rest of the album lies somewhere between these extremes, flowing as one long piece while the band finds a surprising amount of variety in the blunt rhythms, penetrating electronic haze, and distorted vocals that make up Street Horrrsings main motifs. Fuck Buttons use noise richly and expressively, but theyre far from a noise band; even on the densest, most frantic moments like "OK, Lets Talk About Magic," a striking melodic sensibility guides these songs. Conversely, the prettiest moments still have a scary streak: "Race You to My Bedroom"s dense atmosphere has a glowing, sunset loveliness, but its wordless chattering makes it equally rapturous and ominous. Fuck Buttons sound gets more unique when they add some unexpected twists to it, as on "Bright Tomorrow," where a four-on-the-floor beat transforms the song into noise-house. Before it ends on the same sparkling melody that opened Street Horrrsing, "Colours Move" closes the album by reprising everything that came before it with a strangely jubilant air -- or maybe not so strangely, because this debut is as satisfying as it is promising. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 3 Title: Tarot Sport Released: 2009-10-12 Tracks: 7 Duration: 58:39 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Surf Solar (10:34) 2 Rough Steez (04:44) 3 The Lisbon Maru (09:19) 4 Olympians (10:54) 5 Phantom Limb (04:49) 6 Space Mountain (08:44) 7 Flight of the Feathered Serpent (09:31) |
| Tarot Sport : Allmusic album Review : Fuck Buttons Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power cant be accused of repeating themselves on Tarot Sport. Post-rock, noise, and electronics lived in perfect (dis)harmony on their debut, Street Horrrsing, but here the duo channel their intensity in a focused, rather than explosive, way. Hung and Power drafted Andrew Weatherall, who remixed Street Horrrsings "Sweet Love for Planet Earth," to produce Tarot Sport; while the album is more overtly electronic than Fuck Buttons previous music, Weatheralls influence is felt more in Tarot Sports precision. Laser-guided beats and drones propel these songs on linear trajectories, most strikingly on the opening track "Surf Solar," which shoots listeners into space with a sleekly pumping four-on-the-floor beat and sparkling electronics that give the impression of stars streaking by. The track is so aerodynamic that it doesnt get truly combustive until two-thirds of the way through -- an approach Tarot Sport repeats often, and a markedly different one from the duos debut. Not knowing when or whether Fuck Buttons were going to drape listeners ears with celestial drones or assault them with demonic, Wolf Eyes-style shrieks was a significant part of Street Horrrsings thrill. While it was probably a smart move on Hung and Powers part to not try to recapture that tension, occasionally its missed. However, Tarot Sport may actually succeed the most when Fuck Buttons make the biggest departures from their debuts territory. "Olympians" euphoric loops have a heady, heavenly quality all their own, while "The Lisbon Maru" is the musical equivalent of a wide plain: vast and majestic, even if the scenery doesnt change much. When Fuck Buttons revisit their dark side, they make it count, and they make it fit the rest of Tarot Sports aesthetic. "Rough Steez" turns their first albums evil drum circles into something metallic and automatic, with pistons and pinions pumping and creaking. "Phantom Limb"s writhing layers of dripping electronics dont just sound like music for aliens, they sound like music for Aliens. Hung and Power unite the albums often polarized sounds on the finale "Flight of the Feathered Serpent," which balances its elongated organ drones with flashy drums worthy of Carnaval. A more hypnotic and lulling ride overall, Tarot Sport may lack some of Street Horrrsings pure visceral impact, but its just as satisfying on its own terms, as well as an impressive step forward for Fuck Buttons. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 3 Title: Slow Focus Released: 2013-07-21 Tracks: 7 Duration: 52:08 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Brainfreeze (08:33) 2 Year of the Dog (04:38) 3 The Red Wing (07:48) 4 Sentients (06:24) 1 Prince’s Prize (04:22) 2 Stalker (10:08) 3 Hidden XS (10:12) |
| Slow Focus : Allmusic album Review : After working with Mogwais John Cummings on Street Horrrsing and Andrew Weatherall on Tarot Sport, Fuck Buttons John Power and Andrew Hung chose to produce Slow Focus themselves. While traces of those other artists influences linger here -- most notably on the gorgeous album closer "Hidden XS," which recalls Mogwai in its heartbreaking melody and exquisite tension -- Hung and Power spend most of their third album proving how much theyve come into their own. The duo manages to pack more beauty, menace, and melancholy into fewer songs, and the contrast between the implosive moments and soaring ones is sharper than ever. Indeed, the inclusion of Tarot Sports "Olympians" in the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony was the most prominent kind of validation for Fuck Buttons way with a grand statement. Its reinforced here by the sheer size and sweep of "Brainfreeze," where the huge drums and swarming synths the duo has been known for since the beginning combine into Power and Hungs version of a rock anthem. Slow Focus is Fuck Buttons in supernova mode, with songs exploded into epics covering several emotions in their long-reaching arcs (the relatively petite "Year of the Dog" is the exception that proves the rule with its close-up on the duos details). While several songs pass the ten-minute mark, they never feel bloated -- if anything, Slow Focus is some of Fuck Buttons most vivid, kinetic music, moving in ways that feel completely natural, if not exactly expected: a distantly wailing soft rock saxophone joins the ricocheting beats and electronics on "The Red Wing," elevating the song in a way thats both dazzling and befuddling. But as impressive as Slow Focus opening salvos are, fittingly enough it takes some time for the albums peaks to reveal themselves. "Sentients" wrecking-ball rhythms and android mutterings are hypnotically eerie, echoing and magnifying some of the territory Boards of Canada covered on Tomorrows Harvest; "Princes Prize" seems to be content undercutting its elaborate and slightly crazed arpeggios with blasts of noise until a clapping-driven beat adds a bizarre -- but not unwelcome -- dancefloor element; and "Stalker" manages not only to be propulsive and droning at the same time, but also avoids being slavish in its homage to John Carpenter. With each album, Power and Hung have taken Fuck Buttons in many more directions post-Street Horrrsing than could have been imagined, and Slow Focus delivers some of their most masterful and seemingly effortless music yet. | ||