Fuck Buttons | |
|---|---|
 Fuck Buttons members Andrew Hung (left) and Benjamin John Power (right) in 2007 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Bristol, England, United Kingdom |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 2004–2015 |
| Labels | ATP Recordings |
| Members | Andrew Hung Benjamin John Power |
| Website | fckbttns |
Fuck Buttons was a British electronic music duo formed in 2004 in Bristol by Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power. [1] Their noise-influenced work [2] received wide critical acclaim in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
Hung and Power grew up in Worcester. [3] [4] Hung was influenced by Aphex Twin, while Power was a fan of Mogwai. [4] They developed a friendship in 2004 while attending art school in Bristol, [3] and began working together, initially to create the soundtrack to a film made by Hung. [4] Immediately after forming, they played live whenever possible, and soon gathered a cult following. The duo use a variety of instruments including Casiotone keyboards and children's toys such as a Fisher-Price karaoke machine. [4] Their name was chosen to sound "playful and abrasive". [4]
Time Out magazine described the band's live sound as an "adrenaline pumping, ear purging slab of towering, pristine noise". [5] The duo signed to All Tomorrow's Parties-affiliated ATP Recordings in 2007, and released a limited-edition 7" single named "Bright Tomorrow", [6] which received complimentary reviews from such sources as Drowned in Sound , Pitchfork (who described it as "something like the sun rising over the ocean... then going supernova" [7] ), Mojo (it became their No. 1 Mojo Playlist Single for that month) and Stereogum.
Combined with an upsurge in reviews of their live performances at the Supersonic, Truck and Portishead-curated ATP festivals in the second half of 2007, this attention resulted in Fuck Buttons being included in many end of year newspaper, magazine and online articles predicting them as a 'Hot Tip' for 2008. These included New-Noise, who said that "rarely have two men sounded so much like the end of the world" [8] and British newspaper The Observer , which called their sound "a joyous racket of swirling atmospherics and percussive gunfire" in an article highlighting them in a new wave of intelligent, literate British pop music. [9]
They started the year with a tour of slightly larger UK venues, supported by label-mate Alexander Tucker. This was done to build anticipation for their debut album, Street Horrrsing , which was released on 17 March. Produced by John Cummings of Mogwai [6] and mastered by Bob Weston of Shellac, it was promoted through festival appearances (including a slot at the ATP vs Pitchfork festival) and a North American tour with Caribou.
Early reviews of Street Horrrsing were very positive; it was named Underground Album of the Month by Mojo Magazine, who called it "a 50-minute melange of iridescent synths, psychedelic drone, distorted vocals and tribal rhythm". Pitchfork awarded it with an 8.6 out of 10 rating which placed it in their "best new music" section. Positive reviews also featured in The Times , The Observer , The Wire , NME , Rock Sound , Kerrang! , Uncut , Sydney Morning Herald , and many other music publications and websites. It was also chosen for the shortlist of The Guardian 's First Album awards. [10]
In 2009, the band appeared at the Australian All Tomorrow's Parties event. They released their second album, Tarot Sport in October 2009. [6] It has been well received, with Rock Sound giving it an 8 out of 10 rating and hailing its consistency ("the continuity gluing them together confirms a genuine full-length article to brandish at all those gun-jumping 'The album is dead' doomsayers"), [11] while AllMusic gave it a 4-star rating, describing it as "an impressive step forward for Fuck Buttons". [12] Discussing it with Exclaim! magazine, the band admitted that "direction is not something we are conscious about because it doesn't fit into our creative process. We just want to keep being content and surprising ourselves". [13]
"Surf Solar" and "Olympians" featured separately during the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony on 27 July 2012. "Sundowner" from Power's solo venture Blanck Mass was covered by the London Symphony Orchestra during the raising of the Union Jack. [14]
For the Guardian, Louis Pattison described Fuck Buttons' style prior to the release of Slow Focus as being inspired by My Bloody Valentine, Spacemen 3 and Mogwai, noting, however, that what distinguished them from their influences was the lack of prominent or traditional use of guitars; Pattison described this as "a sustained battery of fuzzed-out drones, crashing drums, and a cacophony of shrieks and cries". [2]
Fuck Buttons released their third album Slow Focus on 22 July 2013.
A new track recorded with electronic musician Jean Michel Jarre entitled "Immortals" was released on the Jarre album Electronica 1: The Time Machine on 16 October 2015. [15]
After an extensive world tour in support of Slow Focus, the band went on hiatus while Power and Hung pursued solo projects. [16] Following years of silence regarding new music, Hung made the confirmation on his Twitter account in 2022 that the duo had officially broken up. [17]
In 2012, Andrew Hung founded a new project called Dawn Hunger with vocalist Claire Inglis and musician Matthew de Pulford. [18] He also released his solo debut EP called Rave Cave in 2015. Hung released his first solo debut LP Realisationship (Lex Records) on 6 October 2017.
Hung also works as a producer. In 2016 he co-wrote & co-produced Beth Orton's new album Kidsticks. [19] 2020 saw the release of the debut album by Aimee Osbourne under the name ARO, Hung co-wrote and produced three of the tracks on the album.
Hung has also worked on scoring music for television and films. Working with Director Jim Hosking on cult film The Greasy Strangler, An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn and the series Tropical Cop Tales for Adult Swim.
Power founded his solo project Blanck Mass in 2011. [20] He has been on tour with Sigur Rós [21] and the track "Sundowner" was used at key points during the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Olympic games. It was first heard as the Union Flag was brought into the stadium by members of the Armed Forces. [22]
Power has released five albums to date as Blanck Mass: Blanck Mass (Rock Action Records, 2011), Dumb Flesh (Sacred Bones Records, 2015), World Eater (Sacred Bones Records, 2017), Animated Violence Mild (Sacred Bones Records, 2019) and In Ferneaux (Sacred Bones Records, 2021).
Sigur Rós is an Icelandic post-rock band that formed in 1994 in Reykjavík. It comprises lead vocalist and guitarist Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, bassist Georg Hólm and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson. Known for their ethereal sound, frontman Jónsi's falsetto vocals, and their use of bowed guitar, Sigur Rós incorporate classical and minimal aesthetic elements. Jónsi's vocals are sung in Icelandic and non-linguistic vocalisations the band terms Vonlenska. They have released eight studio albums, and attracted critical and commercial attention with their second album Ágætis byrjun.
Mogwai are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite, Barry Burns, Dominic Aitchison, and Martin Bulloch (drums). Mogwai typically compose lengthy guitar-based instrumental pieces that feature dynamic contrast, melodic bass guitar lines, and heavy use of distortion and effects.
Rock Action Records is a Scottish, Glasgow-based independent record label, founded and maintained by Scottish post-rock band Mogwai. The label has showcased such diverse talents as Part Chimp, Errors, Chris Brokaw, Trout, The James Orr Complex and Kling Klang, has licensed music for UK release from Torche, Envy, Afrirampo and Growing, and in the past represented Papa M and The Zephyrs. As of 2010, Mogwai have released their own records on the label in the UK and Europe.
Rock Action is the third studio album by Scottish post-rock band Mogwai. The album was produced by Dave Fridmann of Mercury Rev in New York.
Joyful Noise Recordings is an independent record label from Indianapolis, Indiana. The label was founded in 2003 in Bloomington, Indiana by Karl Hofstetter, who also played drums on many of the label's first releases. Joyful Noise maintains an active roster of over 30 bands playing various musical styles, though according to the label, each artist "in one way or another bridges the gap between pop and noise."
Hvarf/Heim is a compilation album by Sigur Rós. Its original CD release comprises two discs: Hvarf contains studio versions of previously unreleased songs, while Heim contains live acoustic versions of songs already released. The songs on Heim are the same recordings found in the documentary Heima. In 2008 EMI released a single-disc version in which Heim is simply tracklisted to follow Hvarf. In 2012, the albums were issued on vinyl for the first time to be sold on Record Store Day.
Dear Science is the third studio album by the band TV on the Radio. It was released on September 16, 2008, digitally through Touch and Go Records, with the physical release coming a week later through Interscope Records and DGC Records in North America and 4AD elsewhere.
Street Horrrsing is the debut studio album by Fuck Buttons, released on 17 March 2008. It peaked at number 23 on the UK Independent Albums Chart.
"If I Had a Heart" is a song performed, written, and produced by Swedish recording artist Fever Ray. It was released as the lead single from their self-titled debut album, Fever Ray (2009), marking Ray's debut single as a solo artist, after their work with their previous band, The Knife. The track was first released digitally in Sweden and across Europe on 15 December 2008 by Rabid Records, followed by a digital EP release on 26 January 2009. It was later released on CD, 7", and 12" formats in early 2009. The single's B-side premiered three days prior to the single release on Stereogum and is a remix of the track done by English experimental duo Fuck Buttons, the duo's maiden work as remixers.
Tarot Sport is the second studio album by Fuck Buttons, produced by Andrew Weatherall. It was released on 14 October 2009 in the UK and on 20 October in the US. It peaked at number 79 on the UK Albums Chart.
Blanck Mass is a British electronic solo project by Ivor Novello Award-winning composer Benjamin John Power. He is a founding member of Fuck Buttons.
No Joy are a Canadian shoegaze band from Montreal formed in late 2009 by Jasamine White-Gluz and former member Laura Lloyd.
Valtari is the sixth studio album by Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. It was released on 23 May 2012 by Parlophone. The album reached number eight on the UK Albums Chart and seven on the Billboard 200. The album was met with positive reviews as well with Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 74, based on 36 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Kveikur is the seventh studio album from Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. It was released 12 June 2013 in Japan, on 17 June internationally, and on 18 June in the United States through XL Recordings. It is the only album to be fully released through XL after the band departed EMI and Parlophone during the label's acquisition by Universal Music Group in 2012. It is the only album since their debut, Von, not to feature Kjartan Sveinsson, following his departure in 2012, and the last to feature drummer Orri Páll Dýrason before his departure in 2018. The cover is a photo by the Brazilian artist Lygia Clark.
Slow Focus is the third and final studio album by Fuck Buttons, released on 22 July 2013. It peaked at number 36 on the UK Albums Chart. It was the first album released by ATP Recordings to reach the top 40 of the UK Albums Chart.
Dumb Flesh is the second studio album by the English experimental musician Blanck Mass, released on 11 May 2015.
World Eater is the third studio album by British musician Benjamin John Power, under his musical project Blanck Mass. It was released on 3 March 2017 by Sacred Bones Records.
Violence is the sixth studio album from British band Editors. It was released on 9 March 2018 by PIAS Recordings. The album features a new studio recording of "No Sound but the Wind", a track previously released in a different version on the soundtrack to the film The Twilight Saga: New Moon in 2009 and as a subsequent live recording in 2010. The band produced the album themselves with Leo Abrahams, and were assisted musically by Benjamin John Power, also known as Blanck Mass, who is half of the drone music duo Fuck Buttons. The initial recording sessions with Power yielded the companion release The Blanck Mass Sessions, which features alternate recordings of songs from Violence, and was first released on 13 April 2019 for Record Store Day.
As the Love Continues is the tenth studio album by Scottish post-rock band Mogwai, released on 19 February 2021 on Rock Action Records in the UK and Europe, and on Temporary Residence Limited in the US. Its UK release date marked the 25th anniversary of Mogwai's first single, "Tuner/Lower". It was preceded by the single "Dry Fantasy", and the streaming of a live concert of the album played in full.
Blanck Mass is the eponymous debut studio album by British musician Benjamin John Power, under his musical project Blanck Mass. It was released on 21 June 2011 by Rock Action Records. The album was re-issued as a deluxe version through Sacred Bones Records in 2020.
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