sleight of hand and daring feats

In 2004, Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power formed Fuck Buttons with the goal of creating pain-inducing noise music.
They soon, however, became interested in combining pretty sounds with the harsher ones, adding more structure and melody to their songs. Hung and Power combine a number of makeshift synthesizers (remember the Fisher Price karaoke machine?), casiotone keyboards, mixers, hand held instruments, and distorted microphones to create their music. The result is something between gorgeous and terrifying.

Timing is of utmost importance for Fuck Buttons. Unlike some other noise groups, they're not afraid to let a beat drone on forever or to play a pedal loop for 10 minutes straight. While more traditional sound artists (let's take "traditional" with a grain of salt here) may worry about loops going for too long, Fuck Buttons intentionally drones on forever. The duo is clearly interested in what happens when they just let sounds ride out indefinitely, allowing their songs to go on just past an expected point before reaching a sudden switch. The music thus constantly builds upon itself while adding a considerable amount of tension for the listeners.

This is what I love most about Fuck Buttons: they are constantly messing with their listeners. The music incorporates complete predictability in its loops but forces listeners to be patient and expect an abstract unexpected. Listeners are pulled in and hooked through the entrancing rhythms and made intentionally uncomfortable at the same time. This creates an interesting relationship between musician and listener, one that almost could be compared to that of master/slave. Overall, the band reclaims what is sound, what is beautiful, what is pain, and what is pleasure.

Above is a video of Fuck Buttons performing their song Ribs Out from their first full length album, Street Horrrsing.

Photo/video credit:
top photo: taken from Stereo Jealousy
top video: Fuck Buttons, Surf Solar, 2009 courtesy of youtube
bottom video: Fuck Buttons performing Ribs Out, April 7, 2008 at the Club Downunder in Tallahassee, FL, courtesy of youtube.