When I imagine what a fuck buttons is, I picture the experiment in which scientists rigged a rats’ brain to emit doses of serotonin every time it hit a button. As to be expected, the rat continuously hit the bar — over-and-over again — foregoing all food and drink for a quick-fix brain orgasm endlessly until it died. So, what would a band like this sound like? Probably somewhere between Abba and Junior Senior.
But UK’s Fuck Buttons (Benjamin John Power and Andrew Hung) do not sound like that, at all. Not anywhere near it. It’s more likely someone pointed out to Benjamin or Andrew that they missed a button on their shirt, and his straight-faced reply was “fuck buttons”. This disregard, or at least challenge, of the “norm” sounds closer to what could be FB’s sonic approach.
Their sound is one of static, overdrive guitar layers, and distorted vocals out of which gasps of harmony and rhythm emerge. In 2008, F.B. unleashed Street Horrrsing to near universal critical acclaim — an unlikely feat for a six track, 49-minute endurance test whose first discernible beat begins after the 30-min mark. The coarse fuzz was dotted with keyboard peaks, tribal polyrhythms, indecipherable chanting and contorted screams — no one was sure what they were getting at, but were enjoying the trip.
The first discernible beat on their Sophomore album, Tarot Sport, enters at about 1:30 on the first track “Surf Solar”, followed quickly by a club worthy cut-up female vocal sample. So… the Fuck Buttons can throw a change-up as well as a screwball. It’s a pleasant surprise though; an apt introduction to the more accessible, more immediately pleasurable follow-up LP.
The highlight is the LP’s centerpiece, “Olympians”, whose gradiosity should soundtrack a slow-motion marathon montage. Clocking in at nearly 11 min, the track itself is a rewarding endurance challenge. Closing the album is equally epic “Flight of the Feathered Serpent” with drum machines, keyboards, and Zinner-like guitar squall creating what a mounts to an exultant sonic victory lap after an intriguing two year 15-track output.
While the first album felt more organically distorted, the Fuck Buttons’ more electronic approach this time around still reaches for a familiar goal; transcendence through pattern and repetition. Tarot Sport will be a different experience if you loved with their debut, but there is nothing you can really get upset about here. The base materials are still there — distortion, rhythm, synth – it’s just in a more structured form.
Imagine taking a weighty, imposing piece of abstract art and dividing into a more-manageable triptych. Arguably, the new form could make for an equally enjoyably aesthetic experience (perhaps even moreso), but those enamored with the original may still cry foul.
We Can Tell How Good A Band Is Without Listening to Them! On Tuesday we blindly picked a band to unfairly judge based on things aside from their music. Today we look at photos of the band but still refuse to listen to their music.
The Band We Are Blindly Judging This Week:
The Library is on Fire (now with photos!!!)
Araceli: They don’t look like complete dirt bags, but I’m only stating that because I’ve become immune to that look: dark rimmed glasses (got a pair), fingerless gloves (got those too), “messy hair” (yup), sedated-eyes, with a shimmer of malnourishment (check). All of these characteristics are equivalent to a typical hipster, my counterparts. Though on behalf of of the Library Is On Fire, I’d like to add that anyone under 40 who is an “artist” doesn’t have any other option but to wear rags and look greasy––doing otherwise takes too much effort, and we all know that our generation lacks motivation, but I digress. Rating:6
Lille: As a collective the band looks a little bit like a team of janitors. Maybe that’s why they’re called Library on Fire. Maybe they were bibliotheque custodians who set books on fire. And then they have to expose their photos in weird manners, or wear white paint to camouflage themselves and not get caught by the authorities. For some reason these photos REALLY REALLY REALLY make me want to listen to their music. Not. Rating: 3
Brian: Okay, well. The first pic they look inoffensive enough (wait… is the guy on the left wearing a janitor jumpsuit?). But THEN the second pic, egads, there are so many cliches going on. I see two questionable hats, a suitcoat-over-blazer, wayfarers, skinny jeans, and Pumas. Not to mention, the photo’s colors are inverted. Here, let me un-invert the image…
not so cool anymore right? Hipstah Pleeez. My Rating: 4
On Friday, we will actually listen to the music and give ‘em a fair shot.
In the club world, getting your song remixed by Fred Falke is the equivalent of Jesus himself descending on your warehouse party and licking your eyeball in appreciation of good electro.
Such is the honor bestowed on BURNS, who’s track “First Move” off of the Tecknique EP, received the Falke-First-Ask-Questions-Later treatment earlier this year. BURNS is doubly-blessed by touring with Deadmau5, whose reputation for killer beats was substantial enough to draw Lollapaloozers away from Sunday night headliners this year to the consistently impressive DJ Tent.
But BURNS himself is no Extenze — that is, all hype with questionable results — he has a killer feel for club music. He deftly swaps genres with a turgid middle-finger to dance label snobs. “Tecknique” starts the EP with loops you’d expect from a Matthew Dear track, while the bass and obligatory femme vocal sample fit it squarely in modern House. Two tracks later “In My Eyes” illuminates its thumps with enough funky clips and cuts that make you think he threw his turntables out the window and bought a laptop… because he wanted to make something real.
It occurs to everyone that listens to music… It happens when you’re scanning the paper to see who’s playing next weekend or when co-workers give you their demo CDs…
You Can Tell How Good A Band Is Without Listening to Them! But is this true? We are here to test it out. Araceli has chosen a band that all three of us have not heard of. We will proceed to rate the band (1-10) based on their name alone. We’ll get a look at the band, and then eventually actually judge their music.
The Band We Will Be Blindly Judging This Week:
The Library is on Fire
Lille: Where is this band from? It sounds like a name picked out of a hat, like it’s forced. That, or someone has a hatred of books and a love of fire. Since I love books AND fire, that’s one out of two. It sounds like this could be a teenage emo band that will be forgotten like my favorite band of 2005 (the Futureheads, anyone?). Rating : er, 3
Araceli: I have no idea where this band is from, a friend from Chicago suggested them, so perhaps Brian will have some inkling on these folks. Obviously this band is trying to ride the Arcade Fire wave. In order to have a supposed “cool” demeanor, they intentionally chose to burn a sacred establishment. Why can’t they burn a liquor store? 7Eleven on Fire? Now that sounds promising. I think they’re trying to build on the lit crowd and cater to the bookish types of Brooklyn. I find this marketing scheme repulsive.
Perhaps they appreciated Kings of Leon’s “Sex On Fire” phrasing, as to say “damn, that girl is hot, she’s on fire!” Again, fronting on the intellectual realm: that library is smokin’! my rating: 4
Brian: While I’m relieved the band had the restraint not to add an exclamation to the end of their name, I’m with Araceli on this one — conjuring images of our temples of learning set afire is a pretty high precedent for rock music. Does their sound topple the towers of rockness that we’ve built up in the last 75 years? Do they deconstruct what it is to be a rock band? Probably not. I believe the last popular anarchic band was actually Chumbawumba. My Rating: 4
On Thursday, we will look at photos and update our increasingly superficial opinions of mystery band, The Library is on Fire.
*cough* Hi… well, um, Twee is back, sorta. You know?
Depending on which circles you hang around in, Twee is either hailed as “punker-than-punk“, or maligned as “music for bedwetters.” Nevertheless, the most misunderstood pop genre continues to tout cuteness over coolness and has the market cornered on Growing Up Awkward.
Twee has always been the most unapologetically emasculate sect of “Indie”, but it always seems to hover, smirking, just on the outskirts of popular music. It’s too catchy to ever be marginalized, but it’s just too fey for the trampy-or-macho American taste. Pitchfork’s excellent essay of all things Indie Pop, “Twee as Fuck” said it well:
…”indie” and “alternative” became popular in precisely the hard-rocking, masculine, centralized form that indie pop usually shied away from. The mainstream honed in on the underground’s hard-rock side, and, acts like Superchunk and Modest Mouse would go on to become Important Bands; acts like Tiger Trap and Heavenly would, for good reasons and bad, fade into history. And there on the television, ironically, was the K-tattooed Cobain, still wearing his cardigans and covering songs by the Vaselines.
So there twee sits, like the kid not picked at recess, rewarding anyone willing to seek it out.
Maybe it’s because of the excellent Juno soundtrack, but twee artists seem to be on the rise again. The playfull Architecture in Helsinki, sallow Vivian Girls, the spider-fearing Boy Least Likely To, and the self-referential spunk of Los Campesinos!, have all attracted the blogosphere masses in the past few years (and, oddly, a large number of television commercials to boot). Fast on their heels are artists like New Jersey’s When I Was 12– producing the sonic equivalent of a painfully joyous (or joyously painful?) prolonged adolescence.
I ran across WIW12 searching a now-defunct music site and really enjoyed their aesthetic. The endearing strum-hook-and-harmony style burrows deep into your head and doesn’t go away — like a library volunteer into Franny & Zooey.
Earlier this year their principle songwriter, Adrianne, was nice enough to swap a few Q&A emails with me before their first non-basement gig of her young career:
Brian B (BemBang): First things first… Who’s in the band, or is it a “swinging door” type thing where there’s a core and people come and add vocals and accompaniment etc?
Adrianne Gold (When I Was 12): First things first… When I Was 12 consists of two main members: Adrianne Gold and Camille Bayas. Then some other beautiful revolving members; our friend Brianne Evans did some harmonies on “Dear Eskimo” with her angelic voice, and my guitar teacher, Mike Yelle assisted with lead guitar. When we play live friends Jenn Diaz plays bass, and Will Samtur on drums. We are so lucky to know so many wonderful people.[ ...] It’s been a little hectic we’ve been getting offered shows and things lately!.
BB: Good to hear you’re busy… I hope things are going well. Is there some sort of tour in the works? When I hear the name “When I Was 12″, I immediately think of both the charming and awkward aspects of that transitional age… was that the aim?
AG: We still have two more months of high school so we’re not exactly planning a tour but we’ve been getting offered a lot of shows lately! I suppose so about the name, I mean we definitely try to be charming and I definitely am a bit awkward!
BB: Ha. Since there’s not much info about you guys online I couldn’t tell if you were in high school, or if you were just channeling your inner-highscooler to write the songs.
Your music, lyrics, production, etc seem very attuned to what I would consider classic indie-pop/twee. That is to say; sweet, clever, and fixated on youthful experiences… even when the person singing may be 30+ years old.
Ha. You’re the real deal, apparently.
What inspiration do you draw from … musically or otherwise?
AG: We are the real deal! We write about things on a high school level because it’s what we know! It’s what we are familiar with. But like I said only until June! We are so excited for summer and then of course for college! We are inspired by so many things.
Camille really likes bands such as: Los Campesinos! Beirut, The Submarines, and Seabear. I on the other hand am insanely inspired by Bright Eyes (of course, who isn’t!) Tilly and the Wall, Mates of State, and Saturday Looks Good to Me. We were actually just featured on an online mix CD, “Birdsongs, Beesongs - Eardrums Spring Compilation 2009″ and so was Saturday Looks Good to Me! So that was exciting to see!
Inspiration otherwise would of course include every boy i’ve ever known, even if only for five minutes. The boys who’s hearts I’ve broken, the boys who have broken my heart, and the boys who have yet to break my heart. Boys in bookstores, coffee shops, New Brunswick basements, and any other place you can imagine. However! I did write about my grandmother, “You Me & Symmetry” is about my grandmother, I love her. We still do arts and crafts together.
We Can Tell How Good A Band Is Without Listening to Them! Probably not. But we’re going to try. Last Friday we blindly chose a band off of Last.FM’s “Hype List”. We will now judge (from 1 to 10) how good a band is based soley on their name and photo. After harsh (empty) judgment, today we’ll actually listen to their music to see how wrong/right we were.
(Joining us is L.A.-via-Milwaukee’s Adam Lovinus )
The Band We Are Judging Today:
Mercedes Sosa
And now… the moment of truth… feast your ears on THIS! (Last.Fm, MySpace)…
Brian: Well shit, now this experiment has made me feel like a fat, conceited American-centric jerk for not knowing what she’s saying, or who the hell she is. (Listening to “Mi Cajita de Music”). Very nice… a lovely slightly-hefty voice. Definitely 60s era folksy latin classical acoustic. I very much enjoyed those tracks, though, I won’t be guilted into giving her a 10 because I know nothing about the Argentinian Folk Tradition, or what the hell she’s saying. Final Rating: 8 (Previous Superficial Rating: 7)
Lille: I knew this had something to do with my grandmother. It’s exactly the kind of music I’d hear in her souped-up Lincoln. At first I wasn’t incredibly impressed by her songs, but I started listening to her whole catalog, and for some reason she reminds me of Leonard Cohen, but Argentinian and female. It’s perfect early morning listening; it transports me to a place that’s foreign, sad and beautiful at the same time. I googled her after listening to a couple of songs and found out she just died. I am humbled by the fact that Mercedes Sosa is not, in fact, a drain cleaner. And while I have an excuse not to like world music (I’m ethnic, give me a break), I think I would like to put this on my iPod in a playlist with the Buena Vista Social Club (heh). (Superficial Rating: n/a)
Adam: Indeed, she sounds as authentic as she looks. She’s NPR World Cafe all the way. The fine Spanish guitar work scores high on my nerd index. But it’s nothing I haven’t heard before, and it’s hard for me to get too excited about traditional music. As an unapologetic American, I can’t fully appreciate anything sung in a foreign language that’s not produced by Ry Cooder. My rating remains an 8. (Previous Superficial Rating:
And there you have it. We were relatively on-the-mark with this one.Tune in soon when we take on a much more terribly named artist.Oh, and if you’re curious (via Last.fm):
Mercedes Sosa (born 9 July 1935, died 3 October 2009 in Buenos Aires) was an Argentinean singer inmensely popular throughout Latin America. With her roots in argentineanfolk music, she became one of the preeminent exponents of nueva trova (new song). Sosa is greatly admired for the depth and beauty of her contralto voice. She is nicknamed “La Negra” by her fans for her long, jet-black hair.
We Can Tell How Good A Band Is Without Listening to Them! Probably not. But we’re going to try. Last Friday we blindly chose a band off of Last.FM’s “Hype List”. We will now judge (from 1 to 10) how good a band is based soley on their name and photo. Tomorrow, we’ll actually listen to their music to see how wrong/right we were.
(Joining us is L.A.-via-Milwaukee’s Adam Lovinus )
The Band We Are Blindly Judging Today:
Mercedes Sosa
Alright, now we will look at a few pictures of the band….
(after seeing photos) Brian: Wow. I’m humbled. Not only is M.S. not a band, but an older lady who, apparently has been around forever based on the photos I looked at. It also appears she is playing one of those stand-up tambourine/drums. She may actually be an authentic latina folk singer! Good for her. My rating bumps up one to 8, because I respect my elders… and Spanish. Rating: 8 (7+1).
(after seeing photos) Lille: Well, she’s an old lady. And she could be mind-blowing like Manu Chao, or she could be boring, like most ethnic folk music that plays in my grandma’s Lincoln. Or, she could ACTUALLY be my grandma. Rating: ? (?+ possible genetic relationship).
(after seeing photos) Adam: Good heavens! She looks like Antony Hegarty. The uglier an artist is, the more authentic he/she/it seems to me. Typically. So this suggests she’s authentic-core <enter strain of Latin music here>. Good for plus-two. Rating: 7 (5+2).
On Wednesday, we will actually listen to her music, and update our opinions of mystery artist, Mercedes Sosa.
It occurs to everyone that listens to music… It happens when you’re scanning the paper to see what shows are going on, or when your you’re reading your nephew’s band’s liner notes:
You Can Tell How Good A Band Is Without Listening to Them! But is this true? We are here to test it out. We have blindly chosen three bands off of Last.FM’s “Hype List”. We will now judge (from 1 to 10) how good a band is based soley on their name. We will then look at their pictures, decide further if that changes our opinion. And then, finally, we’ll actually listen to their music to see how wrong/right we were.
(Joining us is L.A.-via-Milwaukee’s Adam Lovinus )
The Band We Will Be Blindly Judging Today:
Mercedes Sosa
Lille: There was a drain cleaner brand called Liquid Sosa that we used in college to clean our sinks instead of throwing garbage out. That’s what this band name reminds me of. Like a Mercedes Benz going down the drain. I get the impression that the lead singer of this band fell in love with a girl named Mercedes and stalked her outside her apartment for months and sent her paintings about the Iraq war. And that they play haunting goth music. Rating ?
Brian: The words “Mercedes” and “Sosa” immediately make me think of the douches that inhabit Wrigleyville. I get the impression that this band is either global-beat, or wants people to think they are ( a-la Brazilian Girls who are neither Brazilian, nor girls). I’m going to give them a 7. I’d like to support global beat music, if it turns out it’s five crackers doing slowcore on Moogs, I’ll be very disappointed. Rating: 7
Adam: Either a poppy, faux world-beat starlet a la Nelly Furtado, or a luxury automobile that runs on ethanol and steroids. The name-alone rating is a 5. Neither clever nor annoying.Rating: 5
On Monday, we will look at photos and update our increasingly superficial opinions of mystery band, Mercedes Sosa.
After reading about Lille and Araceli’s favorite love songs, I realized I was in trouble. Despite a healthy amount of loves, most of them fizzle before I have been properly introduced — failing to reach the apex of significant songwriting territory by a longshot. Not to be outdone, there are songs which I most-certainly attribute to romance, or, at least what I would interpret love to be in that particular era.
1992: Love is A Capella
I distinctly remember junior high gym dances being awkward in every way. Kids both obsessed and terrified of the opposite sex… and also sweaty from playing pick-up basketball in between dances. All I know is that slow-dances, complete with bad cologne and flat-bottom woven ties, were always made better by Boys II Men. Aside from that Motown/Philly gold, I was particularly fond of Shai’s “If I Ever Fall In Love “. I remember being outraged when I saw their video on MTV and it was the instrumental reprise! WTF. Acapella 4 Life, yo.
1997: Love is Swing-Techno-Ska
People do stuff for people they like. But, when you’re an impressionable teen, you don’t pretend to like stuff that a girl is interested in, you actually will yourself to like it. For real. This is the only reason I can come up with for me to dive headfirst into bands that included (but are not limited to) The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, Underworld, and Less Than Jake… in the same year. Not that they were all terrible bands (I actually still like Underworld), but the only reason I can explain jumping from my favorite musicians in Junior High (Peter Gabriel’s US, and whatever was played on party radio B96) into Prodigy’s Fat of the Land would have to be girls.
2002: Love is a concept
Everything is difficult. The older people get, the more complicated they like to think life is. It’s like history class. When you’re 6, love is candygrams and the Civil War freed the slaves. When you’re 15, love is pure infatuation — ever-forgiving and evergreen — while the Civil War was the result of tension between the Industrial North and Agricultural South. When you’re older than 22 you have decided that the more you know, the more you’re aware of what you don’t know.
Love is all Conor Oberst talking about a mirror, or a girl (or a dream or something) and we are aware that the Civil War is called “The War of Northern Aggression” in the South, Northerners had no real interest in abolishing slavery, and Abe Lincoln temporarily disbanded congress and may or maynot have been bisexual. Here’s a song about Jeff Tweedy doing the dishes, or touring Japan, or drug addiction, or an aquarium.
To Recap: Drink Up Buttercup was fan-fucking-tastic. If you missed them on Saturday, you’ll have to catch them when they come back our way post-CMJ, though they’ll most certainly be filling a much larger venue than their Ronny’s gig last weekend.
It was stellar. A loose, pop-inflected, bedraggled, harmonious cacophony of a show. If there was ever a band that exemplified the need for universal health care, it’s D.U.B.. They’re erratic, they’re thrashing, they self-affectedly fall all over each other, they dispose of their instruments by dropping them on the floor, and the quartet (who all quit their jobs to tour) will almost certainly injure each other eventually. Obama! We need a public option!
My pal Pegs took some swell photos. One of which is above, a few more below. You get the idea.
