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.
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.
Dean Wareham read from his novel Black Postcards––as did other music aficionados /writers Dan Kennedy (McSweeney’s contributor, Rock On: An Office Power Ballad and Loser Goes First) and the extraordinarily charming Rob Harvilla (Village Voice music editor)––I was quite taken by the excerpt he read, in which he did so in a softly manner. Something about playing a gig in Spain and being awestruck by a dark-haired, big-breasted, olive-skinned beauty in the front row, who he ended up having an amazing night with, and then sort of felt guilty thinking about his son back home.
Sure he idealized the entire evening affair, but he did so quite brilliantly. So much in fact that I wondered why I had never heard of his bands–– Galaxie 500, Luna, and Dean & Britta.
Presumably since some of these former outfits bloomed in the early 90s, while I was just barely crawling out of my New Kids On The Block phase. I mostly blame my older siblings for not getting me into Luna, as their sole responsibility was to expose my eager ears to new music as they did with the Ocean Blue and the Sundays.
I suppose since Rolling Stone even penned Luna as “the best band you’ve never heard of”, I don’t feel entirely bad. I will just slowly get my feet wet with Wareham’s words and music through this read. So far, so good.
Bembang! is a music blog written by a trio of music nerds who live in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City.
