Fuck Buttons & Caribou @ Paradise Rock Club 3.26.08
(All pictures in this post provided by Alex Burack; Contact Alex at alexATprmphotoDOTcom. To see more of Alex’s pictures from this show, visit the Pitchfork post)
I knew going into the week that I was going to see at least two shows so when I found out that the first show of the week was going to actually start at 8:15 and not 10 pm, I was pumped. Thank you Paradise.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Fuck Buttons (sorry dad but normally my language isn’t this vulgar), they recently hit the scene with some props from the overlords in Chicago. I got my hands on their upcoming release, Street Horrsing, about a month ago and have popped it in on various occasions. Usually right after I come home from work and I need to, um, relax. I paused for a reason for if you’ve had the pleasure to hear their music, you’ll know that most human beings probably would not have the capability to relax. However, for me, this style of noise electronica can be soothing. Especially when their native chants and drum beats take over. If there is one thing the F-Buttons should be known for it should be their conscious effort to squeeze as much noise into one song as possible.
This rings true during their live show. I have some pretty nice ear plugs and they weren’t even doing the trick. For the first fifteen to twenty minutes of the show I wasn’t too impressed. The trance like feeling I got while laying in my bed, contemplating my recent work day, was not felt. Instead I found myself wondering why I’m staring at two guys pushing buttons on a computer. When the drum was hit a few times I got excited but then the drum was looped and took a backseat to more noise. I was a little bored to say the lease. But after those first twenty minutes they turned it up a notch (Not the volume. I don’t think it could go up any louder). More melody started to creep in and the beats began fluctuating. In fact, my head even started to bounce.
They ended the show after about 45 minutes of straight noise by basically unplugging their instruments during the hight of what I’m assuming was a song, creating this empty feeling in the audience. I suspect that this is something they do at all their shows; go all nuttso on you for a long period of time with loud and crazy noise, at times throwing in some melody, and then, just as you start to feel the music taking a new turn, they shut down all communication and walk off stage by essentially telling the audience, “you’ve just been ‘f-buttoned’”.
Myspace Page: http://www.myspace.com/fuckbuttons
Official Website: http://www.fuckbuttons.co.uk/
Listen: “Bright Tomorrow” (Download this MP3 and others at HYPE Machine)
Continue on after the jump to read the Caribou review
Guest Post: Review of Bishop Allen
You should make plans to see Bishop Allen play at the Middle East. Not because Bishop Allen will be on the Best of Pitchfork, the AV Club’s top music of the year, the New York Times, the Village Voice, or any other trusted source for new and talked about independent music.
You should see Bishop Allen because you’ll enjoy the show. By enjoy, I mean, you’ll have a smile on your face and so will your friends that have never heard the band. If a typical indie rock show is to be compared to a night at the cool, 40-beers-from-all-around-the-world, up-and-coming-part-of-the-city-bar, a Bishop Allen show would more closely resemble drinking domestic beers on a summer day at the beach. It’s like returning to your friends and family after an extended bout of traveling. Good, clean, un-pretentious fun lyrics. Not quite a sing-along, thank god, but you hear enough to know that the song isn’t about killing people.
Post by Tim “Sammy Adams” Baker
Their myspace site: http://www.myspace.com/bishopallen
Official Website: www.bishopallen.com
Next Boston Show: May 15th @ Middle East Downstairs ($12)
Kips Notes on “Click Click Click Click”: The simplicity of both the song and the video create a lasting effect on the listener, quite similar to that of a good photo taken. I find the video to be ingenious. You take a simple concept like that of the animated flip book and give it a tiny twist.
MP3: “Rain”
MP3: “Click Click Click Click”
Video for “Click Click Click Click”
