It was rather ace of Danny Boyle and Underworld to open their wondrous Olympics opening ceremony with a track by Fuck Buttons. That pumping soundtrack set to visuals of young boys splashing merrily in the Gloucestershire source of the River Thames was by the naughtily named electronic duo.
Andrew Hung and Ben Power are Fuck Buttons, two art students who met at Bristol University with an apparent love for Mogwai and The Aphex Twin. It's an apt way to categorise their sound too - melodic though often discordant, beautiful as it often ugly, modern electronica drenched in white noise.
It was a reworked version of this album's opening track, 'Surf Solar', that was used by Boyle/Underworld to start proceedings but there were actually two other Buttons related tracks used within the ceremony; the iridescent 'Olympians' was used during the athletes arrival and also sampled for the breathtaking raising of the cauldron. Though not strictly a Buttons track, music by Ben Powers side project, Blanck Mass, was adapted and played by the London Symphony Orchestra during the raising if the Union Flag.
The sound of TAROT SPORT is a mix of experimental electronics, drones, blasts, scratches, samples and feedback, set to thumping beats. Industrial 21st century psychedelia and a joyful cacophony that relishes in its own noisy invention. It is at times euphoric and uplifting ('Space Mountain', 'Olympians') but can equally be equally evil and malevolent ('Rough Steez'). It's always mesmerising.
'SURF SOLAR'
'OLYMPIANS'
No comments:
Post a Comment