Label: ATP Recordings Format: CD
Fuck Buttons are fucking great. They are Bristol-based Andrew Hung and Ben Power. Their début album is superb – a huge wall of big buzzing electronic drones with more distortion and screaming vocals that your average stoner/doom metal band. Unlike some (most?) noise electronica though, there is much more to Fuck Buttons than a wall of noise for noise’s sake. Using an eclectic collection of instruments, including toys, they build up big slabs of texture that are at turns melodic, harsh, and hypnotic. Texture is what they are after. There is a lot of control and restraint in their music. Asked if they improvise, Ben Power said “We’re not really interested in that. All the parts – as distinct from songs – are carefully planned.” And it shows, when I saw them perform Street Horrrsing live they did just that. They recreated all the gorgeously raw textures on stage.
Street Horrrsing as an album forms a wonderful cohesive whole, and all the tracks segue neatly into one another. A nice feeling of circularity is built up. Opener “Sweet Love for Planet Earth” begins with gentle tinkling melodies before being obliterated by buzzing distortion. Album closer “Colours Move” returns to the opening melodies as the wall of sound ebbs away. On their MySpace page they describe themselves as sounding like the universe. Yeah, a big buzzing universe.
-Gadshill-
