Push it real good

>> U.K. duo Fuck Buttons find the fine
line between fear and fun

RINGING TRUE: Fuck Buttons

by ERIK LEIJON

Lo-fi experimental noise duo Fuck Buttons may sound chaotic and disorganized on their debut album, Street Horrrsing, but considering the disc was completed after only a week in the studio—two days recording and five days mixing—the Bristol group’s approach to making music is anything but.

“We knew what it was going to be like before even going into the studio,” says Benjamin John Power, who along with Andrew Hung brought their Casios to North America for the first time to play six shows at this year’s South By Southwest. “The recording was a replication of the set we were doing at the time, so we didn’t add countless overdubs because we wanted to keep it as true to the live set as possible.”

Power also says it helped to have John Cummings of Mogwai as co-producer of the record. His background in experimental music meant he was a like-minded musician who encouraged them to keep the recording simple.

Comprised of six extended, unconventional tracks with hardly any vocals, Street Horrrsing has been described as loud, abrasive and even frightening in reviews. Created largely from the two members experimenting with a growing collection of analog equipment they’ve amassed since forming in 2004, Hung feels their sound straddles the line between the cardiovascular and the cataclysmic. “You can mistake the feeling of being fearful and feeling excited about something,” Hung says. “It can be very overwhelming for me to listen to it—I hope that’s what people are feeling too, and that that’s what they mean when they say it’s frightening.”

“It’s loud,” adds Power, “but it’s more uplifting than pushing away, more embracing than alienating.”

The duo’s dichotomy, reflecting their inclusive and abrasive sides, also explains their interesting choice of band name. Hung says they both liked the name because it coupled the confrontational with the playful. “It rings true for our music,” he says.

With Caribou at la Tulipe on
Sunday, March 23, 9 p.m., $18