In their short history, Battles have made more people sit up and take notice of them than a Keeley Hazell sex tape. The hard-to-please instrumental kids love them, the indie scenesters name drop them, and even the electro kids can’t get enough of their math-funk (it exists, honest) vibes. They’re also a bit of a polarizing band. No one thinks Battles are ‘just ok,’ you either love them or hate them. With the first album proper, Mirrored, this New York four-piece are out to convert the haters and non-fussed with a sublime mix of funk, math-rock, electro, and experimentation. For me, I’ve always been a fan, since the moment I nearly wet myself upon hearing “SZ2” for the first time, and when I saw them give one of the most electrifying live performances since Patrick Bateman went to see U2 in American Psycho. What also helps is that Battles are cool as fuck.
After EP C and B EP were greeted with a near religious fervor back in 2004 by critics and the coolest kids in town, trusty Warp Records decided that Battles deserved a bigger audience and duly re-released both EPs together, unleashing them onto the world and leaving us hanging for a full length. It was worth the wait. Mirrored is the sound of the most ‘out there’ and innovative band pushing the boundaries even further, producing a more emotional and technically mind-bending set of tracks, resulting in a cohesion that was lacking in the EPs.
“Race In” is almost what we’ve come to expect from Battles -- fast off-kilter guitar hooks, computer enhanced melodies, and rhythmic jazz beats -- but it also contains the first hint of vocals that are littered throughout Mirrored. For most bands, this track would be their album highlight, but for Battles, this is just a warm up. Single “Atlas” really gets the party going, despite initial reservations. The first time you hear it, it’s not very good; the vocals sound like Pinky and Perky, and you’re left puzzled. After a couple more listens, it’s growing on you. By about the tenth listen, it’s the single of the year, you’re making up the words to the inane chorus, and you can’t stop bouncing around. It’s that fucking good. The appeal lies in the Krautrock beat mixed with The Knife-esque vocals, looped melody, and breakdown complete with glitching guitar riff, as it builds into a climax that leaves you twitching in the corner as your brain melts out from your ear. Most bands don’t cram that many ideas into an album, let alone one song. It’s simply not fair.
“Tonto” provides a relentless rhythm for the Battles to play around, whether that means Chinese style melodies, distorted guitar riffs, or vocals by the Seven Dwarfs on acid, it really doesn’t matter, as it all seems to fit. “Leyendecker,” complete with yet another distorted vocal, is more
Prefuse 73 than anything else: hip-hop without the gun crime, hoes and bling, but all of the beats. “Rainbow” is a jazz free-for-all, never settling in one place and going from A to B, to X, to M and sounding like something from an 80s Japanese arcade game, which is of course a good thing, since 80s Japanese arcade games are cool. So far, there’s been no real math-rock freak out to speak of, but “Tij” soon changes all that. Powered by an infectious jazz beat, looped vocal hiccups, and, gasp, dual rhythms, power chords, and synth melodies…you cannot listen to “Tij” without wanting to body pop, and it’s the closest thing to ‘greatest song of the last 10 years (copyright
Alex Bradshaw)’ “SZ2” on
Mirrored.
The progression from the EPs is what really grabs me. All of the tracks, even the short interludes like “Snare Hanger,” have something about them, and the inclusion of vocals, often unintelligible and warped, almost mechanical, seem to reinforce the sheer scale of experimentation conducted on Mirrored. This album certainly isn’t for everyone, and it will divide opinion, but if any other band produces a more refreshing and innovative record this year, I’ll be amazed. Even though listening to Mirrored makes my brain feel like it needs to be reset, you just want to put it on again and again. I guess in that respect it’s the musical equivalent to crack, just without the crippling and dehabilitating consequences. Like the slogan on their t-shirts, “I have Battles in my life”. Thank fuck.
-James Ould