they're really great live even though I think they fall flat on record
― relentlessly googling hipster (Hurting 2), Thursday, 14 July 2011 21:04 (thirteen years ago) link
I think this is the... fourth time I'll see them live? I love the new record, though.
― mh, Thursday, 14 July 2011 21:05 (thirteen years ago) link
should be seeing them on saturday if i'm in town
― hardcore oatmeal (Jordan), Thursday, 14 July 2011 21:06 (thirteen 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 (thirteen years ago) link
I will let you know!
― mh, Friday, 15 July 2011 02:47 (thirteen years ago) link
P.s. So far Futura is my favorite album track on this one
― mh, Friday, 15 July 2011 02:48 (thirteen 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 (thirteen 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 (thirteen years ago) link
That's mad. Numan's vocals are brilliant.
― Rebekah Brooks Hardsonned My Hamster (Doran), Tuesday, 19 July 2011 08:30 (thirteen 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 (thirteen years ago) link
numan track sounds sort of like queens of the stone age
― sonderangerbot, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 11:13 (thirteen 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 (thirteen 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 (thirteen 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 (thirteen 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 (thirteen years ago) link
They are very humorous! It's like math rock but with silliness.
― mh, Friday, 9 September 2011 23:32 (thirteen 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 (thirteen 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