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10:
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timeless/perfect
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9 to 9.9:
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significant past 10 years
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8 to 8.9:
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significant past 5 years
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7 to 7.9:
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memorable
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6 to 6.9:
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standard playlife
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5 to 5.9:
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good for now
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4 to 4.9:
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will get a few playthroughs
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3 to 3.9:
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won't intentionally listen to this
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2 to 2.9:
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strongly avoid it
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1 to 1.9:
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no reason to ever listen to this
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0.1 to 0.9:
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rage-inducing
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0:
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no merit whatsoever.
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 Fuck Buttons
"Street Horrrsing" (CD)
released in 2008
Label: ATP
http://www.fuckbuttons.co.uk/
Despite decades of underground development, it still comes as a surprise at how suddenly abstract, electronic subgenre of "noise music" (ever a difficult moniker) has become another facet of the media circles of independent music. Wolf Eyes are signed to Sub Pop, No Fun Fest draws bigger crowds every year, and movement grandfathers like Throbbing Gristle and To Live and Shave in LA are enjoying career resurgences, whether active or not.
Fuck Buttons are new, but the eardrum-blowing shards of noise they sculpt are not. The difference here is that, like (oddly enough) Holy Fuck, they drag melodies into the fray, kicking and screaming. Their songs unfold in the five to ten minute range, mixing hoarse screaming and harsh tones not unlike Prurient, with wistful bits of melody that float on the surface before being buried by static. Like the open-ended songwriting of most noise artists, the album flows as a single piece divided into distinct movements, though this conceptual conceit could all be in the mind of the listener. For the performer, each piece is a distinct assemblage; for all the improvisation at a Wolf Eyes show, it's possible to pick out the thudding intro to "Burn Your House Down" or the maddening screams of "Dead in a Boat." Though it's not exactly fair to expect the audience to understand the difference between a distortion pedal set at five and a delay pedal just barely adding slapback, the pieces of Street Horrrsing do proceed in a pretty straightforward manner.
A 50-minute album of six songs, it initially comes across as dense and difficult before the layers are peeled back and puzzled over. The tormented screams that pepper the album could be loops or a single performance, and the washes of feedback and static alternate between soothing and discordant textures. There's a certain upbeat aspect to the album, alternating the nightmarish with the psychedelic. That's the push/pull on this album, making initially dissonant sounds transform into delicate waves of melody.
Fuck Buttons seem to have hit a nerve with the public; by adding poppy tones to their usual arsenal of serrated edges, they come across as the demented cousins of current rock/dance acts like Justice. There're times when they sound like Boards of Canada and times when they sound like a clogged garbage disposal. However, judging by their sudden popularity on the festival circuit, they are a duo that needs to be seen live.
Review written on 2008/03/07 by Matthew Austin
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