Tarot Sport
The Age
Friday October 16, 2009
Tarot Sport F--- Buttons (ATP/Inertia) Rating: 4/5THE music of experimental electronic duo Andrew Hung and Benjamin John Power €” a.k.a. F--- Buttons €” often draws a critical response based upon digital obliteration or natural rhapsody; the world is either coming to an end or a new day is dawning. Such extremes of interpretation, drawn from daunting instrumental tracks the pair constructs with layer upon layer of phased frequencies and deftly manipulated beats, reflect a desire for closure, for certainty, but that's precisely what Tarot Sport refuses to grant. The disc is open-ended, with the seven tracks merging from one into another and not resorting to easy, euphoric finales. Extensive touring following the release of 2008's Street Horrrsing has hardened their feel for velocity and when they lock into a groove, as with the galloping, blissful The Lisbon Maru, there's a centrifugal push that strikes a balance between overwhelming force and liberating beauty. Elsewhere there's the stately Olympians, the antagonistic Phantom Limb and cinematic Space Mountain but the true worth here is collective. Tarot Sport is a fascinating, rapturous album.
© 2009 The Age
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