Holy Fuck! Fuck Buttons Are Out There, Close To The Ruby Sun

Fuck Buttons - Colours Move

It feels weird to be talking about albums of the year in mid-February, but it’s going to take something astronomically incredible to knock Fuck Buttons from the top of my pile come the end of the year. ‘Street Horrrsing’ contains just six songs, but proceeds to pummel your synapses into a bloody pulp through a vast armoury of distorted, repetitive pulsing drones, a cacophony of sonic fuzz, tribal drums, church organs and what sounds like Satan himself broadcasting evil diatribes direct to your brainbox from a detuned, smashed-up radio at the bottom of a quarry. There’s even a deranged chimp kicking off during album closer ‘Colours Move’. Think Spacemen 3, think Swans, think Suicide, think Pan Sonic – just thank the fucking Lord that the Bristol duo of Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power still give a shit about taking risks and doing something different. ‘Street Horrrsing’ is a sonic breath of fresh air, if that breath was exhaled by a gigantic fire-breathing dragon that has just swallowed Antarctica.

‘Street Horrrsing’ is released by ATP/Recordings on 17th March 2008 – pre-order it from Norman Records
Fuck Buttons My Space
Fuck Buttons website
Fuck Buttons at ATP/Recordings



The Ruby Suns - Kenya Dig It?

Running Fuck Buttons pretty close come the end of the year, will be ‘Sea Lion’, the latest album from the Ruby Suns; brainchild of New Zealand-based Californian ex-pat Ryan McPhun. The last time I encountered McPhun, he had a healthy Brian Wilson obsession, which is still present and correct for ‘Sea Lion’, but the palate is now broader, with the net of influences spread wider. So this time it’s ‘Pet Sounds’ (the use of space echo and echoplex make these comparisons lazy, but inevitable) by way of ‘Graceland’, as the Ruby Suns follow Vampire Weekend, Yeasayer, Beirut and erm, Damon Albarn, in adding elements of world music into the indie-pop mix. This time it’s Polynesian folk and Maori influences that come to the fore, rubbing shoulders with Animal Collective-esque experimental psychedelia, electro-pop and stuff that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Disney soundtrack. The 24-year-old McPhun is a prodigious talent, and ‘Sea Lion’ bursts with the sunny delight that comes with boundary-free experimentation. Somebody buy the man a sandpit…

‘Sea Lion’ is released by Memphis Industries on March 4th 2008 in the UK, and on Sub Pop in the States. Pre-order the album from Norman Records
The Ruby Suns MySpace
The Ruby Suns at Memphis Industries



The Heliocentrics - Distant Star

When the next generation of MCs are on the rob for killer breaks to loop up and rap over, they need look no further than The Heliocentrics’ ‘Out There’ LP. The Heliocentrics are lead by part robot / part human drummer extraordinaire Malcolm Catto. Always metronomically bang on the beat, but with a rhythmic, funky warmth, Catto is the man DJ Shadow turns to when he performs live, or when his fingers tire of digging in the crates. Of the 20-plus tracks, a selection are short interludes or skits, but there is much to be said for the longer, meatier tracks. Catto has assembled a band so accomplished and tight you get the impression they wouldn’t slip out of synch even under the influence of a monster dose of LSD. With the exception of a handful of vocal samples, ‘Out There’ is an instrumental opus, packed with Eastern influences – a sci-fi concept album of sorts, documenting an imaginary voyage into space. All that's missing is Kool Keith to pop up and drop some of his crazed science all over one of the tracks, and this could have been an album worthy of the tag ‘vintage Mo Wax’. As it stands, it’s a fine fusion of hip-hop, funk, jazz and all things psychedelic – a brilliant fusion of Sun Ra, Axelrod and Morricone, driven into outer space by Catto’s exemplary stickmanship.

‘Out There’ is out now on Stones Throw offshoot Now-Again. Buy it from Norman Records
The Heliocentrics at Now-Again Records



Holy Fuck - The Pulse

One of my greatest fears as a music obsessive is that I'll miss something brilliant. Of course, it's inevitable that this will happen - there's so much music out there, and my ears aren't capable of hearing every single second. It's a bit like trying to catch an entire shoal of fish with just a float, line and bit of cheese on the end of a hook. So that's why it's great when something that almost slipped through the net (or ignored the cheesy hook, to continue that rather poor analogy) is brought to your attention. This is the case with Holy Fuck. I've seen the name around a bit, but made no effort to find out what they sounded like. Then, a colleague leant me a CD of their latest self-titled album, which came out on Young Turks/XL Recordings in October last year. Thank fuck - I love Holy Fuck. I still don't know that much about them - they're Canadian and they're aiming to recreate modern electronic music without using any modern equipment, like laptops. So as it says on their MySpace page: "Find something in the trash... plug it in!" This is a fairly good summation of what they do, but it doesn't quite do justice to the incredible racket they concoct. Bendy, throbbing, pulsating instrumental electro rock; like a more organic and funksome Add N To X. From the propulsive, krauty opener 'Super Inuit' (recorded live), the relentless pounding doesn't cease until the 9 track album comes to a rousing climax with the metallic thrash-jazz of 'Choppers'. Along the way 'Milkshake' digs out an 808 for an old-school electro inspired thrash out, while 'The Pulse' kicks off with bleeps and develops into a wigged out, frenzied post rocker with an octopus on the drums, bashing the crap out of anything he can whack with his sticks. 'Lovely Allen' is euphoric space rock, and sounds like that Sigur Ros track popularised by the BBC ident being savaged by wolves. Magic. I'm off to find out more - I suggest you do the same.

Buy Holy Fuck from Norman Records
Holy Fuck MySpace
Holy Fuck website

Joe.