After seeing Fuck Buttons live, cialis I felt like Andrew Hung and Benjamin Power had spent the last hour and fifteen minutes punching me straight in the smile.
Hung and Power, story natives of Worcester, England, have meticulously crafted noisy, unique electronic tones under the name Fuck Buttons since 2004. Without being aggressive, Fuck Buttons pummeled my pearly whites with their soaring, often shimmering sound. The enormous scale of Fuckbutton’s music flattened me into a Zen-like trance. As part of a North American tour to promote 2013’s LP Slow Focus, Hung and Power unleashed their diverse, colossal, experimental sound on Monday night at Brighton Music Hall.
Two openers, DJ Carbo and Holm, paved the way for Fuck Buttons. Unfortunately I did not arrive early enough to catch DJ Carbo’s set, but he’s opening for Craft Spells on June 23rd at Brighton Music Hall.
When I arrived, local trip-hop/electronic solo artist Holm sang with a somber energy as he made full use of a simple three-piece drum kit. Combined with ambient, airy loops, Holm’s percussion and vocals created a calm, melancholy atmosphere. Holm, whose amiable stage presence lacked any pretense, greatly impressed me with his droning, explorative set. Before leaving the stage, Holm invited the crowd to chat after plugging his upcoming EP, Ithaka, which should become available via bandcamp later this week. He began with slower tracks, and closed with faster, not-quite-but-almost energetic tunes to leave a warm resonance that Fuck Buttons would obliterate.
The crowd, mostly guys in their late 20’s, cheered as Fuck Buttons silently assumed the stage. Hung and Power stood facing one another, away from the audience, at opposite ends of a long table, which was propped up by empty kegs. Their silence characterized an unobservant stage presence that persisted throughout their set. Five fingers are enough to count the number of times Power looked at the crowd, whereas Hung occasionally glanced towards the audience. At most shows a vacant stage presence such as theirs would frankly bore me, but Fuck Buttons’ sound held my attention throughout their set with help from a beautiful AV projector.
Two Kinect sensors captured Hung’s and Power’s silhouettes then projected them against a shifting display of geometric patterns, colors textured with glitches, vibrant static, and mountain ranges symmetrically collapsing into themselves. The visual changes synced with Fuck Buttons’ fantastic sound, fading in and out alongside sampled drum kicks, synth lines, and droning bass tracks. Patient, abrasive waves washed over the crowd as Fuck Buttons opened their set with Slow Focus’s first track “Brainfreeze.”
The sheer sonic magnitude of a live Fuck Buttons performance cannot be overstated. With a venue’s sound system, Fuck Buttons sound absolutely colossal.
Unfortunately, and a frequent issue at Brighton Music Hall, the audio levels neglected to catch a lot of the higher pitch tones, which became problematic on lighter songs like “Surf Solar.” Deeper, more nocturnal tracks like “Sentients” sounded more natural with the bass heavy audio levels. Nevertheless, “Brainfreeze” opened with booming percussion that hit me like a kaleidoscopic bulldozer. Fuck Buttons play with a slow, methodical progression that magnifies their sound to an epic scale. Each song melted into the next and even during their softer moments, Fuck Buttons carried their grand scale through consistent melody. The seamless transitions highlighted the repetitive nature of Fuck Button’s songs, but their droning reflects Fuck Buttons niche in the experimental electronic scene. Fuck Buttons makes music to furiously meditate to as you fume on the T.
Hung and Power intensely stared into their synths, samplers, and keyboards throughout their set, and amazed a crowd without even needing to engage with them.
Photos by: Ty Ueda
You can find Fuck Buttons onilne at: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6tCENAD2FBfIMyygJMeOJV
You can find Holm online at: https://soundcloud.com/holmmm
Holm
