Tarot Sport by Fuck Buttons

Fuck Buttons Tarot Sport

80
ChoruScore
25 reviews
Established consensus
Oct 20, 2009
Release Date
ATP/Recordings
Label
Established consensus Broadly positive consensus

Fuck Buttons's Tarot Sport announces a bolder, more disciplined phase for the duo, where DIY electronics, propulsive percussion and trance-inducing instrumentals coalesce into widescreen, dance-primed noise. Across professional reviews, critics point to the record's momentum and cinematic synth compositions as its chie

Reviews
25 reviews
Last Updated
Mar 23, 2026
Confidence
89%
Scale
0-100 critics
Primary Praise

“Surf Solar” is best for its compelling opener that makes its ten-minute span feel swift and repeatable.

Primary Criticism

“Phantom Limb” is the clearest moment where Fuck Buttons' scale peeks through before being smoothed over.

Who It Fits

Best for listeners looking for futurist noise and progressive dance, starting with Surf Solar and Olympians.

Standout Tracks
Surf Solar Olympians The Lisbon Maru
Full consensus note: Fuck Buttons's Tarot Sport announces a bolder, more disciplined phase for the duo, where DIY electronics, propulsive percussion and trance-inducing instrumentals coalesce into widescreen, dance-primed noise. Across professional reviews, critics point to the record's momentum and cinematic synth compositions as its chief strengths, arguing that patience rewards listeners with cathartic climaxes rather than confrontational feedback. The question of whether Tarot Sport is good is answered in the affirmative by much of the press: the album earned an 80/100 consensus score across 25 professional reviews, with many reviewers celebrating its balance of harsh texture and melodic payoff.

Critics' Top Tracks

The standout songs that made critics take notice

1

Surf Solar

8 mentions

"From the chugging drumbeat of opener "Surf Solar" to the chipped-up electro backdrop of finale "Flight of the Feathered Serpent"
Pitchfork
2

Olympians

7 mentions

"Olympians’ sticks with the keys but subtracts the martial pomp, diving into a bath of blissed out trancery"
Drowned In Sound
3

The Lisbon Maru

6 mentions

"the climactic builds of longer pieces such as "The Lisbon Maru"-- with its militaristic drumbeat and huge synth melodies-- conjure the excitement"
Pitchfork
From the chugging drumbeat of opener "Surf Solar" to the chipped-up electro backdrop of finale "Flight of the Feathered Serpent
P
Pitchfork
about "Surf Solar"
Read full review
8 mentions
90% sentiment

Track Ratings

How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.

View:
1

Surf Solar

8 mentions
100
10:34
2

Rough Steez

5 mentions
95
04:44
3

The Lisbon Maru

6 mentions
100
09:19
4

Olympians

7 mentions
100
10:54
5

Phantom Limb

6 mentions
50
04:49
6

Space Mountain

2 mentions
10
08:44
7

Flight of the Feathered Serpent

3 mentions
100
09:31

Get the next albums worth your time.

Critic-backed picks in one clean digest. No clutter.

What Critics Are Saying

Deep insights from 25 critics who reviewed this album

Critic's Take

Fuck Buttons stretch their sound further on Tarot Sport, and the reviewer's relish is clear when he lingers on “Surf Solar” and “Olympians”. The voice is exuberant and vivid, calling “Surf Solar” a ten-minute ride that "begs for repeat listens" and praising “Olympians” as the album's perfect crystallization of a progressive next-wave dance sound. The narrative keeps the same ecstatic metaphors and playful hyperbole - Tarot Sport is likened to the soundtrack an alien monolith might carry.

Key Points

  • “Surf Solar” is best for its compelling opener that makes its ten-minute span feel swift and repeatable.
  • The album's core strength is its vivid, futurist noise and progressive next-wave dance sequencing influenced by Andrew Weatherall.

Themes

futurist noise progressive dance sonic evolution producer influence
90

Critic's Take

Fuck Buttons take a subtler, more mature tack on Tarot Sport, and the best tracks show that shift clearly. Tracks like “Surf Solar” and “The Lisbon Maru” prove the duo can turn sweeping post-rock gestures into widescreen electronic drama, balancing menace and melody without resorting to shrieks. Joe Colly's ear for cinematic build makes “Flight of the Feathered Serpent” feel like a triumphant victory lap, the sort of closer that cements why listeners ask about the best songs on Tarot Sport. The record is also full of shorter wins like “Rough Steez” and “Phantom Limb” that redirect momentum and showcase inventive, dance-inflected textures.

Key Points

  • The Lisbon Maru is the standout for its cinematic, militaristic drumbeat and massive synth climaxes.
  • Tarot Sport's core strengths are its post-rock scale applied to electronic textures and clearer, more accessible songwriting.

Themes

post-rock influence electronic/dance textures cinematic climaxes maturation and accessibility

Critic's Take

Fuck Buttons make Tarot Sport feel like acceleration incarnate, and the best songs on Tarot Sport - “Surf Solar”, “Flight of the Feathered Serpent” and “The Lisbon Maru” - prove the point. The reviewer's delight is in the record's ability to take a simple motif and, as on “Surf Solar” and “Flight of the Feathered Serpent”, slowly build it into a euphoric, climactic payoff. The centrepiece pair “The Lisbon Maru” and “Olympians” supply triumphant drum tattoos and blissed-out trancery, showing how Tarot Sport marries dance uplift to contemporary noise. Ultimately the best tracks on Tarot Sport are those that convert repetition into momentum, hijacking the nervous system with joyous momentum rather than mere texture.

Key Points

  • The best song is the climactic “Flight of the Feathered Serpent” because it crystallises motifs into a euphoric payoff.
  • Tarot Sport's core strength is relentless momentum - motifs are patiently built into joyous, dance-tinged noise.

Themes

acceleration momentum dance influence noise-to-euphoria dynamics

Critic's Take

Fuck Buttons return with Tarot Sport, an album where abrasive drones yield sudden, revelatory beauty. The reviewer singles out “Olympians” as gloriously triumphant and calls the opener “Surf Solar” stunning, framing these as the best tracks on Tarot Sport. He also insists that “Rough Steez” keeps the duo from going soft, preserving the record's industrial density. Altogether the best songs on Tarot Sport balance Horrrsing-era grit with new danceable power, making them the album's emotional peaks.

Key Points

  • The best song is "Olympians" because the review calls it an epic that sounds triumphant.
  • The album's core strength is balancing abrasive drones with moments of atmospheric, revelatory beauty.

Themes

noise vs beauty drones and synths atmospheric triumph

Critic's Take

Fuck Buttons continue to sharpen their maximalist thrust on Tarot Sport, where propulsive percussion and anthemic melodies make the best tracks feel like pure adrenaline. The reviewer's voice revels in the record's sweaty, triumphant sweep, pointing to “Surf Solar” as a blistering opener and “The Lisbon Maru” for its gorgeous organ and driving martial snares. There's affectionate amusement for “Phantom Limb” as the tinkerer's joy, and a moonlit fantasy around “Olympians” that sells why these are the best songs on Tarot Sport. Overall the tone is celebratory and visceral, pitching the album as a workout-ready, crowd-moving set of noise-techno epics.

Key Points

  • The best song moments, notably "Surf Solar" and "The Lisbon Maru", succeed because they pair propulsive drums with anthemic melodic payoff.
  • The album's core strengths are its DIY electronic textures and triumphant, athletic momentum that translate to visceral, crowd-ready tracks.

Themes

anthemic grandeur propulsive percussion DIY electronics athletic mysticism

Critic's Take

Fuck Buttons’s Tarot Sport finally feels like a band claiming a sound of its own, and the best tracks on Tarot Sport prove it. The ten-minute sweep of “Surf Solar” builds a resounding beat of twisted vocal samples into an ascendant arc, while “Olympians” trades stridence for an insistent ringing pulse that barges in and takes over. Cataldo’s tone remains analytical but appreciative, noting how the songs’ crystalline brilliance and reduced nastiness make these the album’s clearest highlights. For listeners asking which are the best songs on Tarot Sport, it is those patient, ten-minute constructions that reveal the record’s subtle strengths over repeated listens.

Key Points

  • The best song is “Surf Solar” for its ten-minute ascendant arc and resounding beat.
  • The album’s core strength is trading confrontational nastiness for crystalline, balanced songs that reward repeated listens.

Themes

distinction from debut less confrontational noise crystalline brilliance balance of harsh and smooth

Critic's Take

Fuck Buttons sound like they have tightened their muscles on Tarot Sport, keeping the debut's weird pop heart but adding forward motion and drama. The review insists that the best tracks, notably “Rough Steez” and “Surf Solar”, marry ridged synth waves and four-to-the-floor propulsion, making them obvious answers to queries about the best songs on Tarot Sport. The writer's phrasing stays celebratory and slightly bemused, lauding cinematic expanses such as “Olympians” as melodies that resolve in galaxy-spanning orbits. Overall the tone is appreciative: these are long, tuned pieces built for both movement and widescreen feeling, which is why listeners asking for the best tracks on Tarot Sport will likely point to those songs above all.

Key Points

  • The best song is praised for marrying textured synth waves with distinctive robotic flourishes, making it the standout.
  • The album's core strengths are cinematic melodies and added dancefloor momentum under Andrew Weatherall's production.

Themes

cinematic synth compositions dancefloor momentum melodic noise producer influence

Critic's Take

Fuck Buttons produce on Tarot Sport long, trance-inducing instrumentals where the best tracks - notably “The Lisbon Maru” and “Phantom Limb” - act as the album's emotional centers. The record's blend of techno, noise and shoegaze yields moments of beautiful, organic sound that still carry a melancholic undertow and give these standout tracks their weight.

Key Points

  • The Lisbon Maru is the album's best track because Jonze dubs it a "new market standard bearer" for sad electronic songs.
  • Tarot Sport's strength is its trance-inducing, cathedral-like instrumentals that hide a persistent melancholic undertow.

Themes

trance-inducing instrumentals melancholic undertow techno and noise influences sonic exploration
Mojo logo

Mojo

Unknown
Unknown date
80

Critic's Take

Fuck Buttons take a more measured route on Tarot Sport, and the reviewer's eye latches on to the best tracks as the album's slow-burning highlights. The opening momentum of “Surf Solar” and the urgent blasts of “Rough Steez” are singled out as the best tracks on Tarot Sport, danceable and hypnotic even when restrained. There is tenderness in the way “Olympians” and “Phantom Limb” are described, their shimmer and vertigo giving the record emotional weight. The critic admits patience is required, but says those invested moments reward you, making these songs the clearest examples of the album's success.

Key Points

  • “Surf Solar” is the best song because it functions as the slowly unfurling single and organic bridge from past violence to emotional abyss.
  • The album's core strength is its patient, dense soundscapes that reward focused listening with hypnotic, danceable moments.

Critic's Take

Fuck Buttons do not so much progress on Tarot Sport as take a U-turn, trading their earlier molten noise for canned, 90s-flavored rave touches. Rob Galo finds the record streamlined and retro in production, where the pulverizing beats are reduced to bland, hands-in-the-air samples. The best tracks on Tarot Sport, including “Phantom Limb”, briefly recall the duo's capacity for scale but are undercut by the album's soft-loud-soft formula. Ultimately the album feels like a paint-by-numbers trek through rave rather than a daring step forward.

Key Points

  • “Phantom Limb” is the clearest moment where Fuck Buttons' scale peeks through before being smoothed over.
  • Tarot Sport's core strength is cleaner production and dance-floor accessibility, but it loses the abrasive imagination of the debut.

Sp

Spin

Unknown
Unknown date
60