BattlesUSA 18 Mar 09, Wed, 7.30pm $58*, $78**
"New York quartet gives ancient prog-rock moves a makeover - and a kick in the pants." - Rolling Stone
Think helium-voiced gremlins singing wordlessly to a rollicking military stomp-beat, overlaid with electronics and crisp keyboards cutting across precise electro-acoustic guitar riffs in a tight, slick and utterly riveting grid of interlocking rhythms, hard-driving beats and unexpectedly gleeful, persuasive melody.
This is the electro-rock sound of Battles, described by fans and critics as "techno-rock", "experimental robot rock", "math rock" but more than that, really.
In 2004, the New York band's enigmatic EP C announced Battles' arrival like a blinding succession of Morse Code strobes across an aphotic landscape. It was clear that members Ian Williams, John Stanier, Tyondai Braxton and Dave Konopka had established something utterly unique. Having served time in seminal acts Don Caballero, Helmet, Tomahawk, Lynx and The Mark of Cain amongst others, Battles draws from a sprawling range of styles and sounds and distils this erratic static into the tightest jams to be committed to playable format. Closely following EP C, Tras/Fantasy served as another definitive dose of labyrinthine, juggernaut rhythms and equilibrium-shifting textures that would safely place the band outside the orbit of any contemporaries.On this first pair of EPs, Stanier's drumming is like pinpoint buckshot, Williams' guitar is sharpened schizophrenia, Braxton's sound manipulations are fragments focused and Konopka's guitar is malleable granite. Late in 2004, Battles unleashed B EP and set its cryptic marks in stone.
In 2007's Mirrored, Battles' first album demonstrates a significant measure of evolution. With snaking, entrancing harmonies and thundering percussive force, Battles is a distorted reflection of an entire musical diaspora...a view of innovation and tension reverberated as a flash, mirrored.
75mins, no intermission
Limited concessions for students, NSF and senior citizens: $40* and $60**