Fuck Buttons

Sometimes somebody describes a band to me and I simply have to hear them straight away, almost as if my life will forever appear dull and meaningless if I don’t. Especially if the description contains the words Tibetan flutes, post jazz grindcore, New Wave Apocalyptic gangsta funk, or any other similar if somewhat far fetched genres almost certainly not found next to the 3 for £20 DVD sections in HMV. However as in the case of The Courteneers ("they're like a cross between Arctic Monkeys and Oasis") a small piece of my soul dies inside and I purposely go out of my way to avoid listening to dross like this.

Then not too long ago my eldest Brother advised me to listen to a band hailing from Bristol called Fuck Buttons. Now I know what your thinking "they've got a swear word in their name, oh how non conformist." Well technically you're right but in recent years bands such as Holy Fuck and Fucked Up also getting some sort of recognition, I was half expecting last years big Breakthrough band MGMT to actually rename themselves Fuck De Fuck Fuck.

No what made me want to listen to them was my brother’s description of their debut album Street Horsing . It was somewhere between the likes of "it’s the best, no worse album ever...aww this song is great, wait this one makes me feel physically sick when I listen to it. My brain hurts. This one makes me feel weird to my very core." This ever contradictive review goes on for about a fortnight so I’ll skip to the jist of what he though of the album. Listen to it, you might love or absolutely hate it, but the first thing you'll do listen to it again and then play it to a friend to get his opinion.

Well he was right. I did absolutely love it but this album is far from an easy listen. It is possibly the hardest album to categorize I’ve heard in a very long time and with only one song under seven minutes long it really isn't for the faint of heart or weak of mind.

The album opener Sweet Love For Planet Earth starts off with a echoing piano before what can only be described as doom synthesizer kicks in and takes bout four and a half minutes to really go anywhere, then when it does the vocals are just as upsetting and disturbing to listen to as the blackest of black death metal bands. Track two Rib's Out doesn’t get ant better. At a lean 3.57 minutes you would guess this is the albums 'pop' song. You would be wrong. The song consists of an African style drum beat played under what sounds like two Chimpanzees having rather violent sex which Sir David Attenborough recording with the reverb on max. It is possibly one of the most disturbing things I have ever heard coming through my speakers.

So far, so hellish, but you like an ulcer in your mouth that hurts when you touch it with your tongue you can't stop listening to it. From here on out the entire album is beautifully hypnotic and actually do contain some amazing fuzzy synthetic melodies, while at the same time nauseating. It all sounds like it should be played over a sunrise while the Earth is going through Armageddon, the excellent Bright Tomorrow being the perfect example of this.

If after all this you still don’t understand what it is like to listen to this album, well like my Brother said listen to it yourself because you could read a thousand reviews and not one will be able to do it proper justice. In my opinion any album that could provoke such strong opinions either side of the album review spectrum is just what music is about in a world of bland MOR drivel that constantly exists on the airwaves. Just listen to it.

I just can't promise you'll actually like it, or maybe you'll love it, here Dave what do you think, OH DAMMIT!