For more than a year, Battles have been making a name for themselvesfor their live shows, by both supporting major players (like Isis,Lightning Bolt, and Fant?as) and headlining tiny sweatholes. Thefourseome hasn't had much trouble packing tight audiences in withouthaving a full-length album out nor having hipster critics gush overthem. It's easily the buzz from feverish fans as Battles could beconsidered the newest supergroup to emerge out of a nameless scene thatreally doesn't exist. Tyondai Braxton is probably the least known ofthe crew, but his brilliant 2002 album, History That Has No Effectis embarassingly underlooked, David Konopka has played with Lynx, IanWilliams with Don Caballero and Storm and Stress, and John Stanier hasdrummed for Tomahawk and Helmet. Together, the sound is diverse,forceful, unavoidable, and their first two EPs are short but strong andsoon to become legendary.
"Tras" opens the two-song single. At under four minutes, it's a perfectintroduction to the band as it's both rhythmically challenging andcatchy as all hell. The precise guitar riffs combined with a TVtheme-like keyboard ditty are a perfect fit for drums that areaggressive enough for a metal record, but, as the drums come equippedwith a super slick sound and an occasional shuffle, are way too cool tobe wasted on brainless hair tossing. "Fantasy" is almost a throwback tothe sampled staccato sounds of Ty Braxton's album with echoesreverberating in time with the rhythm. It's boldly almost completelyabsent of melody yet rich in beats, provided by drum machines, punchysamples, and live percussion. At the eight-minute mark when that 808kick comes in, any speaker in its path is in trouble.
Together with Tras, EP Ccould easily form a complete album. The repetition on the opener "B +T" is deceptively simple: it's pretty and layered with differentmotives, occasional breaks and samples, all which keep the song inperpetual motion. After the short drumless "UW" that could makeKraftwerk blush by its atmospheric twittering, the band comes back infull swing with "Hi/Lo," substituting a low end synth where a bassshould be. "Hi/Lo" may be slower than some of their other loud numbersbut it's no less grand, building in intensity gradually over the nearlyeight minutes, from a small pile of rubble to a mountainous beast.Finishing off the disc are the short "IPT-2" and "Tras 2," eachincorporating what seems like a bit of digital fuckery at first, withthe second one ending with the drummer trailing off on his own. It'shard to not admit that Battles are flirting with traditionally nerdyinstrumental alt-rock/post-whatever styles, and, as a number of groupsthat each member was in before Battles, they are admittedly crafty. Thetrick to the craft is making something interesting enough for the bandto play and attractive enough for the audiences to enjoy it, and withthat, mark my words, Battles are something to watch.
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