Fuck Buttons


(Copyright © 2006 Piero Scaruffi | Legal restrictions - Termini d'uso )

Street Horrrsing (2008), 7.5/10
Tarot Sport (2009), 7/10
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Bristol's duo Fuck Buttons (Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power) debuted as the English equivalent of Black Dice, purveyors of the combination of electronic noise and arcane melody. While the idea was not terribly original, the implementation on Street Horrrsing (ATP, 2008) was flawless. Bright Tomorrow was the revelation single, but its disco beat and its humble church-like organ melody were misleading. Their aesthetic manifesto, the ten-minute Sweet Love For Planet Earth, is different things at different layers: ambient piano music, crackling guitar drone, pulsing industrial reverb. The latter evolves into a sort of heavy-metal riff before a distorted abominable voice starts vomiting (not quite singing). The rest is a well-groomed hell. The ten-minute Okay Let's Talk About Magic is little more than a jetstream of distorted electronics that mutates slowly, occasionally colliding with a wind of desperate voices. The same kind of abrasive drone constitutes the backbone for the nine-minute threnody Race You To My Bedroom/Spirit Rise, that resurrects Suicide's sinister/anthemic rituals minus the neurotic beat. A frenzied but irregular rhythm mauls the piercing drone of the nine-minute Colours Move while the organ intones a macabre hymn in preparation for the delirious shrieks that emerge from the darkness. The shortest piece, Ribs Out, is a surreal novelty with tribal drums and a monkey-like scream that bounces back and forth: the court jester entertaining the king while the guests of the orgy are being slaughtered. (Translation by/ Tradotto da Antonio Buono)

Il duo di Bristol Fuck Buttons (Andrew Hung e Benjamin John Power) si presenta come l’equivalente inglese dei <A HREF= http://www.scaruffi.com/vol7/blackdic.html >Black Dice</A>, fornitori di una combinazione di rumore elettronico e melodia arcana. Per quanto l’idea non sia terribilmente originale, l’esecuzione su <B>Street Horrrsing</B> (ATP, 2008) è impeccabile.

<I>Bright Tomorrow</I> è il singolo rivelazione, ma il suo battito disco e la sua umile melodia di organo quasi da chiesa sono ingannevoli. Il loro manifesto estetico, <I>Sweet Love For Planet Earth</I>, di dieci minuti, è un insieme di cose diverse a livelli diversi: musica ambient per piano, un drone scricchiolante di chitarra, un pulsante riverbero industrial. Quest’ultimo evolve in una sorta di riff di heavy metal prima che un abominevole voce distorta inizi a vomitare (piuttosto che cantare). Il resto è un inferno ben architettato.

<I>Okay Let's Talk About Magic</I>, sempre di dieci minuti, è poco più che un unico flusso di elettronica contorta che muta lentamente, di quando in quando entrando in collisione con un vento di voci disperate. Lo stesso genere di drone abrasivo costituisce la colonna vertebrale per la trenodia di novi minuti <I>Race You To My Bedroom/Spirit Rise</I> che riesuma i rituali sinistri/anthemici dei <A HREF= http://www.scaruffi.com/vol4/suicide.html >Suicide</A> privi della pulsazione nevrotica. Un ritmo convulso ma irregolare bistratta il lacerante drone di <I>Colours Move</I>, di nove minuti, mentre l’organo intona un inno macabro prima degli urli che sorgono dall’oscurità. Il pezzo più breve, <I>Ribs Out</I>, è una novelty surreale con percussioni tribali scossa da versi di scimmia: il giullare di corte che intrattiene il re mentre gli ospiti dell’orgia vengono trucidati.

Tarot Sport (ATP, 2009) is a spectacular compromise between atmospheric soundpainting and rhythmic expressionism. Olympians melds a relentless techno locomotive and a majestic organ melody. The gallopping Flight Of The Feathered Serpent, enveloped in a melodic distortion, represents perhaps the best fusion of techno and shoegazing. The Lisbon Maru is a simple rhythmic progression protracted long enough to be swallowed into a glacial distortion. The more sophisticated Surf Solar blends a galactic drone, a fibrillating polyrhythm and processed voices in a seamless disco orgy.
The shorter pieces tend to be even more inventive. The fractured android melody of Rough Steez is laid bare over a trotting syncopated beat. The android noise and samba-like syncopation of Phantom Limb decay into a disorienting helicopter-like beat from which Space Mountain emerges: it's another shamelessly propulsive bullet train. The dazzling elaboration of elementary ideas and the never self-indulgent rhythmic verve keep the Fuck Buttons racing against reason, even though this album is less cryptic and awe-inspiring than the debut.

(Translation by/ Tradotto da xxx)

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(Copyright © 2006 Piero Scaruffi | Legal restrictions - Termini d'uso )
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