Release Date: July 23, 2013
Based noise is often left out of the modern conversation of popular EDM. It’s a shame, really, as the hyper-stimulator, four-on-the-floor, steroid-taking pop electronica of today literally drowns out anything else substantive or creative that the middle class of electronic music is exploring.
It is in this space that Fuck Buttons attempts to pulsate through the noise with, well, more noise. This is in no way a slight; the group’s third full length, Slow Focus, is its most realized yet.
It is a practice of the weirdest maximal electro on this side of 2013, where waves of synth swell over more waves of synth, where drum machines and odd sounds dance around each other in the night sky, careening toward a seemingly chaotic end that is both constructivist and disastrous.
Still, there is a sense that Slow Focus is unaccomplished. We as listeners are given what Fuck Buttons does best, groove and sound, but not much more. The album works through variations of volume quite comprehensively, but in doing so sacrifices elements of creativity and melodic dynamism.
Perhaps the duo, comprised of Benjamin Power and Andrew Hung, exists as a techno “vigilante,” trolling the entire EDM upper and middle classes with a sound that purposefully counters what listeners have been trained to enjoy.
This is particularly evident on the longer tracks of the album, especially the closer, “Hidden XS.” A rather beautiful, blockbuster soundtrack-worthy, cathartic groove is encompassed by slow-moving chords and billowing synths. Then, not much else happens. For 10 minutes.
Maybe this is truly where the duo’s “slow focus” comes in. Power and Hung form a stunning frame for this messy, dubstep-tinged snippet, then meticulously investigate its entire sonic capacity.
Maybe our collective post-internet, post-there’s-an-app-for-that mental capacity just can’t sit still long enough to interpolate what Fuck Buttons is really trying to do. Some of the blame must rest on the musicians, though; blocks of sound can be captivating and engaging if chiseled in the right way. Slow Focus certainly is a big enough block, only its shape doesn’t really turn any heads.
To be fair, there are some moments of maturity and mastery on Slow Focus that make the album appreciable. Funky flows are designed with the most novel sounds, each more factory-imagined that the last. “Prince’s Prize” races through the most interesting of these sounds; almost cheesy, haunting flutes, smoothed out 8-bit arpeggios, and buzz-saws frantically jitter about in what the world of Tron actually (probably) sounds like.
Rhythm and groove are natural to Fuck Buttons, and the best (and shortest) tracks on Slow Focus prove it.
“The Red Wing” is an exercise in a groove as gritty as is it weird, where somehow chirping chimes and heavy distortion blend coherently. “Sentients” is both epic as a work of experimental electronica and as a hip hop-tinged lesson in industrial dance.
Slow Focus as a whole exists as a logical stop on the road that is the musical progression of Fuck Buttons—not a particularly noteworthy stop, but a stop nonetheless. While ambitious in its attempts to master sound and volume with sheer expansiveness, Slow Focus just doesn’t command enough attention with dynamic variation that could have made it unforgettable.
Fuck Buttons – Slow Focus tracklist:
- “Brainfreeze”
- “Year of the Dog”
- “The Red Wing”
- “Sentients”
- “Prince’s Prize”
- “Stalker”
- “Hidden XS”
