Bristol, UK noisemakers Fuck Buttons are back with Tarot Sport, the follow-up to last year’s Street Horrrsing. Andrew Weatherall has been brought in to produce this time round and his touch is evident in a few places. 
Fuck Buttons’ post-rock sound is akin to bands like Mogwai, which makes sense as their first album was produced by Mogwai’s John Cummings. The textures on Street Horrrsing fell on the experimental end of the spectrum, the duo not going in for the ecstatic build-up model, but instead sticking with noise and drone and indecipherably distorted vocals, with organ washes being one of the few concessions to warmth in their sound. Tarot Sport retains some of those elements, while expanding on certain motifs. The distorted vocals have been reduced and the tribal aspect apparent on some of the Street Horrrsing tracks is entirely absent here.
“The Lisbon Maru” is probably the most familiar-sounding track; soft organ overlays the militaristic drums while layers are added on, leading the track to culminate in feedbacky guitar squalls. The sounds on “Surf Solar” seem cleaner, the beat a bit meatier, and it all sounds a bit more digital, with shades of Weatherall’s Sabres of Paradise coming through to my ears. The Sabres touch is also there on “Phantom Limb,” with it’s very processed beats and chopped up synthy sound — not a bad thing at all, especially if you miss that Sabres/old Warp sound. Other tracks trade the more chopped and complex beats for something straighter and more repetitive, giving the tracks what I (probably mistakenly) think of as a Krautrock sound.
Overall, things are a little less rock and a bit more toward the more skewed-yet-warm side of electronic music (meaning it’s pretty undanceable). Think Autechre, Aphex, et al. Having said that there is still liberal use of guitar feedback to be found amongst the autobahn beats and glitchy beeps, and the album is one of those rare birds that works together as one concept and one piece of music. Final track “Flight of the Feathered Serpent” exemplifies that by echoing sounds used throughout the album and synthesising them into an uptempo and positive finale.
Track Listing:
01. Surf Solar
02. Rough Steez
03. The Lisbon Maru
04. Olympians
05. Phantom Limb
06. Space Mountain
07. Flight Of The Feathered Serpent
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