I like it, its like a busy, Mr Bungle vs Reguritator romp. I always liked the precise whimsy under their structure.
― one time, something happy craz (Trayce), Monday, 14 March 2011 07:28 (thirteen years ago) link
I was always more a fan of their music (and structure) than Ty's singing anyway.
― one time, something happy craz (Trayce), Monday, 14 March 2011 07:29 (thirteen years ago) link
hmmm. loooved mirrored, but not keen on ice cream at all. feels a little dry without tyondai (no rhyme intended). it also sounds weirdly nondescript, like it could be any one of hundreds of other post-animal collective US indie bands. maybe it's those lacklustre vocals.
comparing this with tyondai's solo album, it seems he brought the vast majority of the fun and invention to this band.
it's not fair to judge the album on the basis of one song, though. be interesting to see how it pans out. particularly keen to hear the eye tune.
― m the g, Monday, 14 March 2011 09:28 (thirteen years ago) link
The one with Matias Aguayo should be fun.
― Matt DC, Monday, 14 March 2011 10:30 (thirteen years ago) link
6. My Machines (Featuring Gary Numan)
^^^ ws
― hipsters be comin' to the hipster-hop store (bernard snowy), Monday, 14 March 2011 10:33 (thirteen years ago) link
The Matias one is the one linked upthread matt! and it is!
― one time, something happy craz (Trayce), Monday, 14 March 2011 10:40 (thirteen years ago) link
Its gonna piss off a lot of mathrock battlez fans tho, I can see that
On paper, Tyondai was just a very small part of this band. Ian used to be in the mightly Don Caballero, Dave was in a great band called Lynx and then there is John Stanier. I doubt they are struggling for invention. That being said, Ice Cream is terrible and I didn't think much of Mirrored, this band are awful.
― historyyy (prettylikealaindelon), Monday, 14 March 2011 11:43 (thirteen years ago) link
It's a great album. Much better than Mirrored from start to finish. I can see why they chose Ice Cream as the lead single but it's not really indicative of what the rest of the record's like (that said, I also think Ice Cream is a good song). The Eye track is brilliant and so is the Numan one.
― Chap With Wings... Five Rounds Rapid (Doran), Monday, 14 March 2011 13:45 (thirteen years ago) link
I guess atlas wasn't particularly representative of mirrored – and I really didn't like that on first listen, either.
― m the g, Monday, 14 March 2011 13:58 (thirteen years ago) link
(subsequently did a total 180 on that one, obv.)
― m the g, Monday, 14 March 2011 13:59 (thirteen years ago) link
Mirrored is all about "Race-In" IMO
― ancient, but very sexy (DJP), Monday, 14 March 2011 13:59 (thirteen years ago) link
race in, race out, ddiamond, tonto.. although, aside from atlas, it's difficult to listen to tracks from mirrored in isolation. I kind of think of it as one long song.
― m the g, Monday, 14 March 2011 14:03 (thirteen years ago) link
Well this is disappointing on many levels (mostly because I'll have to keep looking at it all year, and then see it a zillion times on eoty lists).
http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/battles_1.jpg
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 22 March 2011 17:45 (thirteen years ago) link
Ice Cream!
― Davek (davek_00), Tuesday, 22 March 2011 17:45 (thirteen years ago) link
Looks like silly spray to me.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 22 March 2011 17:46 (thirteen years ago) link
'An artist's impression of the listener's brain on exposure to Gloss Drop'.
― Davek (davek_00), Tuesday, 22 March 2011 17:47 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah it's silly string
― blingee cummings (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, 22 March 2011 17:48 (thirteen years ago) link
Bad composition, harshly lit, terrible kerning...hoping they put a little extra effort in the actual music portion of this album.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 22 March 2011 17:48 (thirteen years ago) link
you really seem offended
― groovemaaan, Tuesday, 22 March 2011 20:53 (thirteen years ago) link
As an armchair graphic designer, I'm kind of "eh, whatever" about all this
― mh, Tuesday, 22 March 2011 20:55 (thirteen years ago) link
love these guys. "futura" is kinda sorta like magma on happy pills. still, i miss tyondai's weirdo "vocals"
― reggie (qualmsley), Saturday, 9 April 2011 17:51 (thirteen years ago) link
This is excellent. Ice Cream works better in the context of the album.
― Touch of Death, Saturday, 9 April 2011 20:33 (thirteen years ago) link
"futura" is kinda sorta like magma
no shit, these zany guys just love to make clever references.
― historyyy (prettylikealaindelon), Saturday, 9 April 2011 22:43 (thirteen years ago) link
Really wish that Dominican Fade was longer, but mostly feeling this a lot.
― o0o00h really? (boxedjoy), Sunday, 10 April 2011 10:59 (thirteen years ago) link
this album is great, the sleeve is also great
― Republicans voiced concern about young pages hearing the word uterus (stevie), Sunday, 10 April 2011 11:28 (thirteen years ago) link
i'm really liking this so far. i agree that it's not as mathy, but it's a good thing.
― borntohula, Sunday, 10 April 2011 19:14 (thirteen years ago) link
the synths in this make me want to vomit
― merked, Thursday, 14 April 2011 12:31 (thirteen years ago) link
these dudes still 100% mathematical live
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Tuesday, 3 May 2011 16:59 (twelve years ago) link
haven't heard any of the songs off the album but don't let no tyondai make you miss these dudes
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Tuesday, 3 May 2011 17:00 (twelve years ago) link
yep, they totally killed it at the london show recently.
― reallysmoothmusic (Jamie_ATP), Tuesday, 3 May 2011 17:01 (twelve years ago) link
Seeing them tonight, v. much looking forward.
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 3 May 2011 17:03 (twelve years ago) link
Really anxious to hear the full-length.
― 'what are you, the Hymen Protection League of America?' (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 3 May 2011 17:09 (twelve years ago) link
Tried this, really didn't like it. Didn't love the last one either, but this one really left me cold.
― that's not funny. (unperson), Tuesday, 3 May 2011 17:47 (twelve years ago) link
Show was great- as far as I could tell they played all new stuff. The prerecorded vocals threw me at first but it seemed ultimately like they treated them as just more samples. Incredibly tight playing, very loud.
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Wednesday, 4 May 2011 17:17 (twelve years ago) link
ok having now listened to the album, it seems that they improvise way more in their live show than they did before
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Wednesday, 4 May 2011 19:26 (twelve years ago) link
I was wondering about that--it seemed like there was either shitloads of improv or none at all.
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Wednesday, 4 May 2011 19:27 (twelve years ago) link
I remember on the mirrored tour they pretty much played the songs note for note (but still really well), but I can say w/ a fair amount of certainty that they really change up how they play all the songs w/ vocals live, and although they didn't out and out change the sound of the instrumentals, they were at least much much looser in how they played em
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Wednesday, 4 May 2011 19:36 (twelve years ago) link
it's funny, I'm not a huge fan of these dudes or anything, but this show was so good that I keep thinking about/listening to/posting about them
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Wednesday, 4 May 2011 19:37 (twelve years ago) link
they're probably my favourite live band. seen them four times, first time in 2006 i think. not seen them since tyondai left. i pretty much don't like live bands all that much and i hardly ever listen to mirrored or the eps and haven't even bothered to download this album yet. they just are great live.
― tending tropics (jim in glasgow), Wednesday, 4 May 2011 20:04 (twelve years ago) link
Didn't like Ice Cream at all which is weird because I usually love everything Matias Aguayo collaborates in and Mirrored was amazing. This just sounds like 311 or Goldfinger or whatever being weird for the sake of weird. I can't make it past the middle of the song. Hopefully the full album has higher standards.
― Moka, Wednesday, 4 May 2011 20:24 (twelve years ago) link
Also yeah they're brilliant live and that's where their songs shine. Saw them for the first time at the primaverasound in 2007 and I can safely say they were my favorite act of them all. I hope they've been recording their performances of the past few years for some sort of dvd or live album before their energy inevitably spikes off in a couple of years.
― Moka, Wednesday, 4 May 2011 20:29 (twelve years ago) link
hoping mirrored gets a vinyl re-release when gloss drop drops
― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 4 May 2011 20:40 (twelve years ago) link
i have mirrored on vinyl and it just sits in my parents' house gathering dust.
bragging
― tending tropics (jim in glasgow), Wednesday, 4 May 2011 20:54 (twelve years ago) link
I was driving into downtown Austin last week via I-35 and there was a giant billboard for this album on the side of the highway. It was kind of a scratch your head type of moment.
― Moodles, Wednesday, 4 May 2011 21:08 (twelve years ago) link
when they had that, imo shitty, song on youtube and it said in the name that it was from the soundtrack to a twilight film i was a bit like wtf.
― tending tropics (jim in glasgow), Wednesday, 4 May 2011 21:09 (twelve years ago) link
I was driving into downtown Austin last week via I-35 and there was a giant billboard for this album on the side of the highway.
they had it up around sxsw time but without the text -- just that glob of playdough brains -- and even more confusing then.
― city worker, Wednesday, 4 May 2011 21:15 (twelve years ago) link
"ice cream" is really fucking cool, like two entirely different songs coming to blows and then deciding they'd rather make out
― normal_fantasy-unicorns (contenderizer), Wednesday, 4 May 2011 21:23 (twelve years ago) link
nah i think thats just a sample of two people having sex & grunting
― flopson, Wednesday, 4 May 2011 21:32 (twelve years ago) link
lawl
― normal_fantasy-unicorns (contenderizer), Wednesday, 4 May 2011 21:39 (twelve years ago) link
should be seeing them on saturday if i'm in town
― hardcore oatmeal (Jordan), Thursday, 14 July 2011 21:06 (twelve years ago) link
Are they still using the big twin monolith video screens to project various singers (bar Eye) onto?
Apart from Gary Numan (looking like the Goth Dot Cotton, as my friend pointed out) I didn't think this worked and preferred hearing Sun Dome without a weirdly outsized, messianic Japanese dreadhead peering over them. Although it was a good idea in theory, I hope they ditch it.
― Rebekah Brooks Hardsonned My Hamster (Doran), Thursday, 14 July 2011 22:02 (twelve years ago) link
I will let you know!
― mh, Friday, 15 July 2011 02:47 (twelve years ago) link
P.s. So far Futura is my favorite album track on this one
― mh, Friday, 15 July 2011 02:48 (twelve years ago) link
numan track is the best http://i.imgur.com/zi7hd.gif
― beaster eggs: a thread for rad sugar puns (dave cool), Friday, 15 July 2011 06:58 (twelve years ago) link
Futura is def my fav but the vocal tracks are all awesome too (save Numan's). I'm liking how Gloss Drop focuses on pleasant guitar tones over intricate math-rocky sounds like Mirrored.
― The Sunspots In Your Eyes Are Actually Cataracts, Mr. Rudich (AWALL), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 00:31 (twelve years ago) link
That's mad. Numan's vocals are brilliant.
― Rebekah Brooks Hardsonned My Hamster (Doran), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 08:30 (twelve years ago) link
Not literally mad. It's just a vaguely different opinion to my own.
Sundome is the best track on here imo.
― Rebekah Brooks Hardsonned My Hamster (Doran), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 08:31 (twelve years ago) link
numan track sounds sort of like queens of the stone age
― sonderangerbot, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 11:13 (twelve years ago) link
love the entire album so so so so much, but ice cream is the track that gets me madddd excited.
― i'm not a lawyer, but i play one on a messageboard (stevie), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 17:30 (twelve years ago) link
Its funny because I found myself creating a playlist that skips just that track and I love the entire album even more then.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 17:38 (twelve years ago) link
I guess with me being a die hard Numan fan since the early 80s, I may be slightly prejudiced.
― Rebekah Brooks Hardsonned My Hamster (Doran), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 20:20 (twelve years ago) link
been ignoring this band since overly math-y stuff usually bores me to tearsbut saw the Ice Cream video randomly last night and totally loved ithmmm
― you will always be wrong (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 9 September 2011 23:13 (twelve years ago) link
They are very humorous! It's like math rock but with silliness.
― mh, Friday, 9 September 2011 23:32 (twelve years ago) link
yeah they're very fun, totally not your usual po faced post rock
also this video is great
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkgQ88G8Hj8
― Jamie_ATP, Friday, 9 September 2011 23:51 (twelve years ago) link
feeling "wall street" these days. still miss tyondai
― reggie (qualmsley), Tuesday, 11 October 2011 15:32 (twelve years ago) link
Saw these guys live last night, fantastic show, a lot more playful and freeform than the last time I saw them (which was a really "by the note" faithful repro of "mirrored"). Lots of segues and jamming and the neat trick of keeping the guests vocalists in with the screens. Loved it!
...my perforated eardrum HATED me last night tho :( ow.
― thanks to denial, I'm immortal! (Trayce), Saturday, 28 January 2012 22:54 (twelve years ago) link
At one point one of them (Ian I guess?) went off on a very strange ramble about how he was standing under a waterfall in tasmania staring into some guys eyes wondering if he could bury him under a pile of boulders... um.
― thanks to denial, I'm immortal! (Trayce), Saturday, 28 January 2012 22:56 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah that sounds like them all right
― mh, Saturday, 28 January 2012 22:57 (twelve years ago) link
Heh. I think he also said some kind of "we made that joke up last night... eh it was funny at the time!" thing.
Goddamn the mathrocky bass sounds kicked serious ass. They didnt play "Race:In" tho :(
― thanks to denial, I'm immortal! (Trayce), Saturday, 28 January 2012 23:01 (twelve years ago) link
their show in barcelona at primavera last year was one of the best things i've seen.
― dave cool it (stevie), Sunday, 29 January 2012 09:41 (twelve years ago) link
can't say I miss Tunde at all, was weird at first but i think if anything they're better than they've ever been live
― Jamie_ATP, Sunday, 29 January 2012 09:54 (twelve years ago) link
You mean Tyondai, right?
― mh, Sunday, 29 January 2012 16:03 (twelve years ago) link
exactly why I can tolerate these guys a lot more than most anything else under the "math rock" umbrella. they've got a bit of the Magma/Ruins thing going on and really have some amazing grooves underneath everything. plus the Numan track is awesome all around (I'm a Numan fanboy though so maybe I'm biased)
― frogs you are the dumbest asshole (frogbs), Monday, 30 January 2012 20:48 (twelve years ago) link
excited for DROSS GLOP
from today's pfork review: Everyone knows by now that Tyondai Braxton left on bad terms in the middle of making what became Battles' second album, Gloss Drop
i didn't know this! someone tell me about it.
― the late great, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 16:12 (twelve years ago) link
I had no idea there were bad terms, either! Is this some inside loop thing or just a reading of tea leaves by a pitchfork writer?
― mh, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 16:16 (twelve years ago) link
yeah, i didn't realize there was bad blood there either!
― heated debate over derpy hooves (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 17 April 2012 16:17 (twelve years ago) link
saw a target ad w/ a battles song in it during the golden globes
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Monday, 14 January 2013 20:42 (eleven years ago) link
lovelovelove this album. hope they do another.
― I had such a fontasy (stevie), Monday, 14 January 2013 21:40 (eleven years ago) link
I didn't play this nearly as much as Mirrored. I liked alot of the material but I thoughth the production job was quite muddy. The sound overall seemed kind of flattened out.
― WARS OF ARMAGEDDON (Karaoke Version) (Sparkle Motion), Monday, 14 January 2013 21:51 (eleven years ago) link
is there a more recently updated thread for Battles? this new song with Shabazz Palaces is greathttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd9ulSsQ2-I
― mizzell, Tuesday, 22 October 2019 13:01 (four years ago) link
Is it just me or does the "Titanium 2 Step" vocal sound like Adrian Belew circa King Crimson's "Discipline" album?
― Wally P. Doyle, Tuesday, 22 October 2019 15:59 (four years ago) link
Yes yes, excellent selection of guests, also incl. Xenia Rubinos, Jon Anderson, Sal Principato, tune-yards, swimming this brewful stew, which b chock-full of op art pop cuckoo clock functionality. Don't sleep on the video album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE9riaWiLb4
― dow, Tuesday, 14 January 2020 21:11 (four years ago) link
yeah this new one is a blast, I much prefer it to their earlier work
― The Squalls Of Hate (sleeve), Tuesday, 14 January 2020 21:14 (four years ago) link
great album, I threw it some points in the EOY poll
― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.), Wednesday, 15 January 2020 18:28 (four years ago) link
It's sad when bands are doing their best work after no one cares
(jk I'm sure they're doing fine as a hyped '00s legacy band, and it's just an illusion based on perceived critical/media attention)
― change display name (Jordan), Wednesday, 15 January 2020 18:43 (four years ago) link
Can you live off being a hyped '00s legacy (minor) band?
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, 16 January 2020 10:23 (four years ago) link
There should be a catch-all Battles thread, I almost missed this because I assumed the revive was just someone posting "still dope" or something about a Gloss Drop track
― Paul Ponzi, Thursday, 16 January 2020 13:26 (four years ago) link
Excellent question but my guess is yes, as long as you're still touring?
xp
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 16 January 2020 14:42 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNAgOXFv1RE
this video is sickk, esp the 2nd tune
― adam, Thursday, 16 January 2020 15:47 (four years ago) link
Susumu Hirasawa opened for them in Japan, which seems significant since Hirasawa draws a pretty big crowd on his own. so they're definitely still popular somewhere
― frogbs, Thursday, 16 January 2020 22:03 (four years ago) link
here's something fun: the LP of Juice B Crypts is meant to be played at 45 RPM, but if you accidentally play it at 33 1/3 I can pretty much guarantee you will not notice until the vocals come in
― frogbs, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 04:29 (three years ago) link
Hahahahaha this happened to me the first time I played it too
― Ray Cooney as "Crotch" (stevie), Tuesday, 2 March 2021 07:55 (three years ago) link
yeah if you go on discogs all the comments are about this as well
I've heard the "you can play it at 33 and 45" thing on a number of albums (particularly Autechre) but this is the only one I've heard where it legitimately works both ways. you wonder if it was intentional
― frogbs, Tuesday, 2 March 2021 14:27 (three years ago) link