Battles - Gloss Drop [2011]

i have mirrored on vinyl and it just sits in my parents' house gathering dust.

bragging

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.

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.

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.

"ice cream" is really fucking cool, like two entirely different songs coming to blows and then deciding they'd rather make out

nah i think thats just a sample of two people having sex & grunting

lawl

I'm betting the track from the Twilight soundtrack was from their aborted record--it sounds about as mediocre as they described the tracks from it.

it's weird - "ice cream" sounded so strange and disjointed to me the first time i heard it. not bad at all, but baffling. now that's i've listened a few more times, it sounds perfectly natural, like a rock band rocking out. i'm constantly surprised by this, the ways that context and time spent can change the sound of music.

just heard "ice cream" for the first time—strange and disjointed indeed. the album better step it up imo

ice cream sound pretty rad, wish the vocals were higher in the mix, the video is cool

since it got posted in the el guincho argument thread:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FsvMyQeC-Q&feature=player_embedded

uh, vaguely NSFW

not nsfw enough, needs more boobs.

relative to other canada videos, it is sadly boob deficient

Streaming from Primavera on WFMU as I type. Sounds good.

This is a great running album, btw.

Granted this is pretty much advertised right from the start given the lead single and the colorful album art but while I'm really enjoying this on first listen, I'm feeling like this one is a little too "fun". I miss the hints of darkness and mystery creeping in around the corners of Mirrored.

Seeing them tonight. I've purposefully avoided hearing Gloss Drop. I'd like to make my mind up after seeing them play.

I don't think this is materially different from Mirrored in tone at all.

Seriously? There is definitely more playfulness this time around.

Actually "playfulness" might not be the best description for the difference I hear between the two, because there was a lot of that last time. I think this one is just a lot more quote-unquote fun sounding, a lot of brightness and sunshine as opposed to moments of doubt and creepiness last time around.

"Sweetie & Shag" is the first one I've encountered that makes me think of brightness and sunshine and it comes across as a straightforward song drawn from the same inspiration well as "Ddiamondd".

You don't hear brightness and sunshine in "Ice Cream"?

I hear hints of creepiness in the guitar interjections in that song.

"ice cream" a bit of an anomaly on this record tbf

I mean, I'm not saying it's a doomy, unhappy album... but neither is Mirrored!

Oh I wasn't saying Mirrored is dark or doomy, they are both relatively upbeat experiences. I just find the new one to be a little more bright and shiny.

found a copy of this at home and it's great!

i'm in the didn't really connect with mirrored but think the eps are incredible camp

Do you live in a record store?

mirrored is awesome. love this too. can't wait to see this stuff live

this album is fantastic from front to back and i'm surprised by all the grousing upthread. love the tropical touchstones, the relative emphasis on pop, lightness and groove. the band are still going at it like motherfuckers, but rather than making jaw-dropping complexity the focal point, they let the machinery serve the tunes & propulsion ― a good strategy, imo. "futura"!

heading to see them on sunday!

they're really great live even though I think they fall flat on record

I think this is the... fourth time I'll see them live? I love the new record, though.

should be seeing them on saturday if i'm in town

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.

I will let you know!

P.s. So far Futura is my favorite album track on this one

numan track is the best http://i.imgur.com/zi7hd.gif

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.

That's mad. Numan's vocals are brilliant.

Not literally mad. It's just a vaguely different opinion to my own.

Sundome is the best track on here imo.

numan track sounds sort of like queens of the stone age

love the entire album so so so so much, but ice cream is the track that gets me madddd excited.

Its funny because I found myself creating a playlist that skips just that track and I love the entire album even more then.

I guess with me being a die hard Numan fan since the early 80s, I may be slightly prejudiced.

been ignoring this band since overly math-y stuff usually bores me to tears
but saw the Ice Cream video randomly last night and totally loved it
hmmm

They are very humorous! It's like math rock but with silliness.

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

feeling "wall street" these days. still miss tyondai

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