Album Review: Tarot Sport

Fuck Button’s Tarot Sport is a mesmerizing exercise in electronic musical composition. The album displays an uncanny ability of the noisy electronic duo to do the impossible: transform indecipherable bleeps and glitches into highly accessible (even your Grandma might dig this shit), 10-minute instrumentals. Each track is repetitive but highly melodic and catchy. Andrew Hung and Benjamin Power build up each song  slowly and reward patience with hypnotizing crescendos that induce goosebumps on repeated listens. Imagine Sigur Ros and Aphex Twin collaborating on a album.

There are only seven tracks on Tarot Sport, but that doesn’t equate to a lack of material. Five of these songs approach or surpass the 10-minute mark effortlessly. Highlights include the epic “Olympians,” which features an addicting percussion loop that swells into inspirational synths. If the band removed the “Fuck” from their name, I’d vote for a radio-friendly version to be the theme song to the 2010 Winter Olympics. “Rough Steez” is a shorter track that takes several obnoxious noise samples and stitches them together into digestible form. The song represents why Hung and Power are  untouchable in the electronic music scene at the moment. Tarot Sport is one of the most epic and addicting albums to be released in the last few years. It’s an absolute masterpiece!

Fishpork’s 50 Favorite Tracks of 2009

This year really didn’t end up being that “greatest of the decade” as January-March may have suggested. With that said, our favorite tracks list became very album-heavy as it evolved throughout the year. With seven tracks from Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear in the top 20, you kinda get the point. Here is our very biased list of favorite tracks from 2009:

1. HEALTH – “Die Slow”
2. Grizzly Bear – “While You Wait for the Others“
3. Animal Collective – “Summertime Clothes”
4. Fuck Buttons – “Olympians”
5. Built to Spill – “Things Fall Apart”
6. Animal Collective – “My Girls”
7. Fever Ray – “Concrete Walls”
8. Grizzly Bear – “Ready, Able“
9. White Lies – “Farewell to the Foreground”
10. Moderat – “New Error”
11. Atlas Sound – “Attic Lights”
12. Grizzly Bear – “Two Weeks“
13. Animal Collective – “Guy’s Eyes”
14. Fuck Buttons – “The Lisbon Maru”
15. Atlas Sound – “Walkabout”
16. Animal Collective – “What Would I Want? Sky”
17. Dredg – “Information”
18. White Lies – “Death”
19. Fever Ray – “Coconut”
20. Animal Collective – “Brothersport”
21. Built to Spill – “Good Ol’ Boredom”
22. MC Rut – “I Don’t Really Know”
23. The Mars Volta – “Since We’ve Been Wrong”
24. Modest Mouse – “The Whale Song”
25. Dirty Projectors – “Cannibal Resource”
26. Deerhunter – “Game of Diamonds”
27. Morrissey – “It’s Not Your Birthday Anymore”
28. Animal Collective – “I Think I Can”
29. HEALTH – “We Are Water”
30. Dredg – “Mourning This Morning”
31. Sufjan Stevens – “You Are the Blood”
32. Fuck Buttons – “Surf Solar”
33. Phoenix – “Girlfriend”
34. The Flaming Lips – “Silver Trembling Hands”
35. White Rabbits – “Rudie Fails”
36. The Mars Volta – “With Twilight As Our Guide”
37. Radiohead – “These Are My Twisted Words”
38. Great Northern – “Fingers”
39. Royksopp – “Tricky, Tricky”
40. Dirty Projectors – “Useful Chamber”
41. St. Vincent – “The Party”
42. YACHT – “Ring The Bell”
43. Bat For Lashes – “Sleep Alone”
44. Atlas Sound – “Sheila”
45. Washed Out – “Feel It All Around”
46. Das Racist – “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell”
47. Dirty Projectors – “Stillness Is The Move”
48. Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs – “Skeletons”
49. Great Northern – “Driveway”
50. Morrissey – “I’m OK By Myself”

Video: Fuck Buttons Live in San Francisco

Yours Truly has posted a beautifully shot video of Fuck Buttons performing “Rough Steez” from their brilliant record Tarot Sport.  It was shot in San Francisco from earlier last month at the Bottom of the Hill venue.  

Watch and learn the true meaning of electronic performance:

The Fishpork 20: Favorite Albums of 2009

2009 started off as one of the strongest years for music in the decade but then slipped into a summer that left us scratching our heads and yearning for more. An impressive set of Fall releases surprised their way onto our Favorites List and cemented 2009 as a year that will impress music lovers in retrospect. These are our favorite albums from the past year:

1. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest

2. Fever Ray – Fever Ray

3. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

4. Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport

5. Built to Spill – There Is No Enemy

6. Atlas Sound – Logos

7. Morrissey – Years of Refusal

8. Dredg – The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion

9. White Lies – To Lose Your Life

10. Moderat – Moderat

11. The Mars Volta – Octahedron

12. MC Rut – Middle Class Rut

13. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca

14. Great Northern – Remind Me Where The Light Is

15. HEALTH – Get Color

16. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

17. The Flaming Lips – Embyronic

18. Bat For Lashes – Two Suns

19. Isis – Wavering Radiant

20. Royksopp – Junior

Most Disappointing Albums:

• Lotus Plaza – The Floodlight Collective
• Wilco – Wilco (The Album)

MP3: “Surf Solar” by Fuck Buttons

UK electronic duo Fuck Buttons release their highly anticipated sophomore effort in October. The new album is called Tarot Sport. Although it’s only a three-minute edit of the track, here’s a snippet of the first single, the 10-minute epic “Surf Solar.” If this track is any indication of the new release, we can expect equal or better than their magnificent debut Street Horrrsing. MP3 will be posted shortly. For now, you can stream it below:

The Fishpork 20: Favorite Albums of 2008

Remember this era in music. It’s a special one. We’re going to look back and talk about it like we talk about the 60s or 70s. I used to miss all the great bands that came out of the 90s, but my longing for the hay days of grunge and industrial has since dissipated. Go ahead and disagree, but this is a renaissance period for music. This year was no exception. In fact, it served as an endless discovery period of great bands and classic albums. However, our favorite album of 2008 was not a difficult choice at all. Here is our list of favorite albums of 2008:

1. Deerhunter – Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.
2. Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles
3. Of Montreal – Skeletal Lamping
4. TV on the Radio – Dear Science
5. Eric Avery – Help Wanted
6. Elf Power – In a Cave
7. Guns N’ Roses – Chinese Democracy
8. Nine Inch Nails – The Slip
9. Tapes N’ Tapes – Walk It Off
10. Atlas Sound – Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel
11. Girl Talk – Feed the Animals
12. Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts I-IV
13. Portishead – Third
14. Sigur Ros – Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
15. Vic Chesnutt & Elf Power – Dark Developments
16. Ladytron – Velocifero
17. The Notwist – The Devil, You + Me
18. First Wave Hello – God Bless, Devil You
19. Fuck Buttons – Street Horsssing
20. David Byrne & Brian Eno – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
    

Honorable Mentions:

• Dub Trio – Another Sound is Dying
• Amanda Palmer – Who Killed Amanda Palmer
• Health – Disco

Most Disappointing Albums:

• Beck – Modern Guilt
• SexTapes – SexTapes
• UNKLE – End Title . . . Stories For Film

Most Overrated Albums:

• Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
• Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend
• Cold Play – Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends

Fishpork will post our favorite songs and live shows of the year next week. Check back soon!

Animal Collective Reveal New Song Live

The Pitchfork Music Festival 2008 came and went last week in Chicago. For those lucky enough to attend, they witnessed the musical rapture of bands like Elf Power, Fuck Buttons, Bon Iver, Apples in Stereo and Public Enemy. However, one of the most anticipated performances was that from festival headliners, Animal Collective. Frequently described as unpredictable live, AC treated the crowd to a new tune called “Lion in a Coma.” You can watch the performance of the new song below. Animal Collective will release their ninth full-length on Domino Records late this year. The LP is currently being called LP9, which should change as we get closer to the release date.

July’s Fresh Pork Cuts!

Pete’s:

• Silver Jews- My Pillow is the Threshold
• The National – Mistaken For Strangers
• MGMT – Pieces of What
• The Helio Sequence – Lately
• Eric Avery – Philo Beddoe

Mark’s:

• Crystal Castles – Air Wars
• Sigur Ros – Gobbledigook
• Ladytron – Ghosts
• Fuck Buttons – Ribs Out
• Girl Talk – Set It Off

[audio:setitoff.mp3]

Light Hope and the Princess of Power

Crystal Castles got its start by remixing better known bands, such as Bloc Party and Death From Above 1979. Earlier this year, they released their first full-length album. But first, what’s up with that name? Due to an uncommon reliance on video game samples, you might think the band got its name from the popular Atari game with the same name. That’s actually not the case. Crystal Castles is named after the secret refuge of She-ra, from the popular 80s cartoon, and the following is my personal interpretation of the connection:

Vocalist Alice Glass plays the role of Adora in this two-piece electronic music outfit from Toronto. Her voice, usually heard in distorted fashion, is her Sword of Protection, transforming her into She-ra, Princess of Power, and preparing her for battle. What does that make Ethan Kath, the multi-instrumentalist wizard behind the deafening bass and Atari samples? No, he’s not He-man, She-ra’s twin brother. Instead, he assumes the role of Light Hope, a magical entity composed entirely of light. He is the protector of the Crystal Castle and serves as mentor to She-ra.

Ethan Kath is a light of hope, indeed, especially in an electronic music scene where the putting the word “fuck” in your band’s name seems like the best way to get noticed these days (see Holy Fuck and Fuck Buttons). Mr. Kath needs no such gimmick, as he has created 50-minutes of pure magic in his self-titled debut album. Within the album’s 16 tracks, there is a song that speaks to every emotion. Whether you’re enraged (“Alice Practice”), blissful (“Good Times”), frustrated (“Xxzxcuzx Me”), or reminiscent (“1991″), the palette of sentiments is full. Mr. Kath’s beats are oddly original but aren’t composed of original sounds, especially with his heavy use of sampling. The band’s producer has confirmed that Kath uses a modified keyboard that was found broken in the garbage with an Atari 5200 sound chip. The result is a twisted soundscape, supplemented by heavy, repetitive bass, and backed by the distorted pleadings and screams of Glass.

There’s not a moment on the album that feels slow or tedious, or a song that can be classified as filler. No wonder why Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) asked them to open up for a leg of his North American tour. From the original backbeat of the band’s first single, Crimewave, to the extremely chill electronic tinkerings of Magic Spells, a completely instrumental track, I was unable to find an ounce of fat. I can’t say the same for recent albums by others in the genre, including both electronic “fuck” bands, or even LCD Soundsystem’s instant classic, Sound of Silver. There are no songs here as impressive as “All My Friends” or “Someone Great,” but it just might be a better album. I haven’t decided yet. – Mark

RECORD REVIEW
Artist: Crystal Castles
Album: Crystal Castles
Release Date: March 18, 2008
Record Label: Last Gang Records