F--k Buttons, 'Street Horrrsing' (ATP)

Easy, it's not your mother's needle-in-the-red noise collage.

By Josh Modell 04.15.08 12:34 PM

Fuck Buttons linger on the edge of what safely can be called music -- your extended family would likely consider the majority of this British duo's debut "an awful racket" -- but when they ease back on the overdriven electronic intensity, Street Horrrsing works tribal, trancelike wonders. Its best moments (the dense, intense "Race You to My Bedroom—Spirit Rise") recasts John Cage as a metal fanatic, creating soundtrack sprawl that could pass as an alternate score for Apocalypse Now. Lesser tracks (like the squawking "Ribs Out") sacrifice groove for shock value.