Record Label: Warp Records
Release Date: June 7, 2011
Parental Advisory?: No
Saying that the band Battles is experimental doesn't really do them justice. It's like saying the gamma bomb that turned Dr. Bruce Banner into the Hulk was experimental. While it is an honest statement, it doesn't quite sum up the true scope of things. Although "Atlas," their first single from their debut album Mirrored, did find its way into a couple of ad campaigns as well as the hit video game Little Big Planet, for most people the band's disarrayed song structures are pretty out there.
Drummer John Stanier (Helmet), guitarist/keyboardist Ian Williams (Don Caballero) and guitarist David Konopka (Lynx), borrow elements of prog-rock, post-rock and math rock, and fuse them into an alien conglomeration of technical instrumentation and poly-rhythmic melodies. While other experimental rock acts feel it necessary to inject their sound with a large amount of brooding and solemn introspection, Battles sidesteps that pitfall. Their product is largely upbeat and downright catchy, albeit filled with a dissonant tunefulness and off-key harmonies. If Philip Glass, Frank Zappa and Chick Corea all co-wrote pop songs for Disney films, their final product would sound something like a Battles album.
The band's recently released LP, Gloss Drop, is their second full-length and the first recorded as a trio after the departure of member Tyondai Braxton in 2010. Braxton, an established solo musician and composer, was the band's keyboardist and an undeniable force in the group's creative process. Battles' remaining members hide the loss well, however, unleashing their brand of controlled chaos as skillfully as ever, and covering their bases with a few strong collaborations. The first track "Africastle" is an instrumental that sounds like it would have been right at home on Mirrored. Full of jangly guitar arpeggios and not quite real vocalizations, the opening track is strongly reminiscent of the band's earlier work, as if the trio is trying to assuage any fears the listener may be harboring about Braxton's departure. Later instrumentals vary a little further from previously tread areas: succeeding with tracks like my personal highlight "Inchworm," but occasionally falling flat, as in the case of "Toddler." Here the less is more approach reveals that, in this band's case, less is less.
While often Battles' earlier work had vocal elements, the collaborations on Gloss Drop see the vocals higher up in the mix than in any of their previous recordings, and most of them work quite well. "Ice Cream" with Chilean producer and vocalist Matias Aguayo is one of the more hook laden tracks on the album and has one of the best keyboard mini-breakdowns since the opening to the Beastie Boys' "So What'cha Want." "'My Machines" with Gary Numan is as close to ominous as Battles gets, with a low end guitar drone pulsating under Numan's wailing vocals. "Sweetie & Shag" with Blonde Redhead's Kazu Makino is a nearly straightforward indie rock affair, putting Makino's reedy, saccharine vocals on center stage. The only real disappointment here is "Sundome" with Yamantaka Eye. While the song in and of itself is all right, the vocal effect they used on Eye's caterwauling starts to grate a bit by the seven minute mark.
Ultimately, the album is entertaining and fans of the band will be mostly pleased with what they hear on Gloss Drop. Aside from an occasional miss, the album is nearly as strong as Mirrored. Equal parts demented cartoon soundtrack, other-dimensional carnival music, and catchy pop from the next universe over, Battles has produced a sophomore effort that's worth checking out if you have a tendency to listen to bands that are at the outer limits of "genre."
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