The Biltmore Cabaret is one of my favorite venues in Vancouver, in part due to the three block walk from my house, and tonight I was thankful for that. Sporting a slight limp we made our way the club to see the Fuck Buttons (with Guest).
I never did find out who “with Guest” actually was, and to be honest I’m not too interested to find out. While he proved himself good at mashing stuff up, he simply provided a tease, a building to something that never really materialized. It was a point that was brought up by a friend and I had to agree. There were times where I wanted to dance, and move, but the sounds and the music never really built to anything that got me able to overcome the pain in my knee, it was only at the end of the set, the build to climax that I felt the deep bass, and throbbing beat was good enough to get out on the floor, but it simply ended too quick, but after all it wasn’t the main event, it was “with guest” or as I liked to call him, “boy with laptop”.
After a brief intermission the boys from Bristol took the stage. Fuck Buttons consist of Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power, and like so many groups before them, they formed in Art School. The boys are a talented duo of knob tweekers and button mashers, I’m sure getting much practice in a youth spent in front of a video game console, but they do it oh so well. A blend of howling monkey, slick beats, and grinding, dirty, crunchy bass sounds that are reminiscent of Download, Aphex Twin and Autechre.
Apart from all the plaid, and the thinly mustachioed kids, looking barely old enough to grow facial hair, I was transported back to the 90’s and all my time spent at raves. The music tried and often did manage to get it’s hold on me, and found myself riveted to the side of the stage, swaying back and forth, and letting the beat take hold and dancing as best I could.
The style that Fuck Buttons have evolved on their latest album “Tarot Sport” lends itself much better to a live show, it’s more danceable, and approachable than their first album “Street Horrrsing”, yet it still retains much of the experimental sound and the noise that they introduced on that freshman outing. As far as their performance goes however, Fuck Buttons provided minimal interaction with the audience. Standing across from Andrew Hung, he very rarely lifted his head, and only a couple times during the set did he look to the audience, and even though Benjamin Power came to the front of the stage on a couple of occasions to beat his drum, his low brim on his hat made any real contact with the audience impossible. This lack of interaction is not unusual for this type of show, they are the band without the frontman.
The only thing I might be critical of might be the audience at the Biltmore this evening, but they seemed uninterested at times, especially when it came time to call the duo back for an encore, there appeared to be a lack of enthusiasm. I don’t know whether it was the droney nature of Fuck Buttons music, or perhaps it was the drugs that much of the crowd was on, or maybe I wasn’t on enough, but regardless of the crowd, Fuck Buttons certainly delivered.
Originally appeared on Vanmusic.ca