Review Summary: Overloaded karaoke amps, blown speakers, thumping basslines with a teensy hint of chaos. Welcome to Fuck Buttons.
Let's get his over with now. *** Buttons is not for those whose musical taste stops at whatever is on the Top 40. (That's not to say nothing good is on the Top 40, but that's an entirely different rant.) To put it bluntly, Tarot Sport is not going to be something that everybody is going to enjoy. Hell, it's not something that many people are going to enjoy. Nonetheless, I cannot say this enough: give it a spin. Look past the accusations that this album is just “noise-” because while it IS noise, it's GOOD noise. If that makes little sense, try to listen to the album. Its sound is rather hard to explain.
The first track, Surf Solar, is a good indication of what awaits the listener. Ten minutes and thirty-five seconds of constant build-up to a rousing climax, of pure, pulsating beats. It's within this song that *** Buttons' strength is revealed- to take stylistically simple concepts- a drum loop, the sound of a karaoke amp being overloaded, etc..., then working said sample into a song. It's a formula that relies on experimentation, and a patient, open-minded listener; and for the most part, this formula produced pure, musical gold.
Surf Solar's formula is followed in the next two songs, Rough Steez and The Lisbon Maru. That's not to say they are boring and inexpressive- there is a defined shift in tone. Where Surf Solar is the bastard child of noise and progressive house, Rough Steez stays more in the “noise” realm of music, and The Lisbon Maru has a strange, almost reggae-like downtempo feel.
Unfortunately, by Olympians, the album begins to sag. Clocking in at just under eleven minutes, the song has its high points, but follows the basic formula established by the first half of the album a tad too closely. This downward decline continues until the closing track, Flight of the Feathered Serpent, which manages to finish the album off with a thumping bassline and endless torrents of noise.
Compared to Street Horrrsing, *** Buttons' previous effort, Tarot Sport is a far more listenable and accessible- *** Buttons has decided to place far more emphasis on actual song structure and melody, rather than just dicking around and seeing what happens. The result is an album that is definitely worth the purchase. Despite a couple of slow points in the latter half of the album, the overall product makes up for these missteps by FAR.
4 ½ stars out of 5.
Recommend try, then buy.
