Tony Vickers
Pushing Buttons EP
Friday 25th of January 2008
As you may now be aware, electronic music and experimental music are two things I love. Bearing this in mind, you can imagine my excitement when Tony Vickers' EP, Pushing Buttons, landed in my CD player with an intro that promised me both.
Sadly, the image lasted for about fifteen seconds before it all descented into a disappointing cliché. Sticking a talky-vocal through a fuzz-box just doesn't cut it anymore. It's an experiment only in terms of GSCE science, where pupils duplicate a well established test to produce a widely known result - and often fail despite the simplicity of the lesson.
Yes, the record was clearly conceived as a form of expression, but it just isn't a spectator sport. Specifically, 'Panic Stations' sees vocal and guitar bleed together until the lyrics are lost in the fuzzy rasp. The synth does exactly the same thing as the guitar, which isn't much, creating a one-dimensional phrase that isn't strong enough to carry the whole track.
'Def By Disco' is a bit better, a bass riff, a keyboard solo and almost no vocals. It's got more going on and is ten times better, but certainly not at atmospheric as it ought to be.
'Heat Of The Night' suffers a similar fate to 'Panic Stations', for many of the same reasons. It's not as facetless as the opener, but the vocal is doused in the petrol of distortion while the guitars get ready with a box of matches.
Final song and title track, 'Pushing Buttons', has so much squelching reverb it sinks into its own echoes, ruining the one possibly 'concept' song on offer, which mixes electro and ska.
I don't enjoy slamming a record as much as this, I like to focus on a redeeming feature or latch onto some eclectic-genius or unrealised potential. In this case, though, I just can't find anything I like.
Author: Saur
Label: Powtones
Found in: Record Reviews
Official Rating
We rated this record 1 out of 5.