MIRRORED

Battles is a band that takes math rock to the extremes. When I listen to math rock I hear bands that try to eliminate the human factor in their music making it sound mechanical and cold (in a good way though). The only band that I can say that achieved that perfectly is Battles. The music sounds so precise that it sounds like it was made by computers! In many ways this reminds me of minimalist composers such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass with their errorless and tight compositions, but this is a rock band, better yet, this is a Math Rock band, and believe me when I tell you that you haven't heard anything like this before.

Yes, Battle's music sounds inhuman (void of any emotions or errors), but that doesn't mean that you can't enjoy it, its quite the opposite. One of the interesting things about the band's music is their machinelike playing and the fact that there are actually people playing it. The other thing is their knack of melody and playfulness which many Math Rock bands tend to ignore. Many people avoid the genre because of the lack of melody making the music hard to digest (not to mention their complex song-structures these bands have). On the other hand, Battles is an accessible band that haves a lot of catchy and playful melodies that will stay glued to your head for weeks. Atlas is a perfect example of what I'm trying to say. This song is the "single" of the album and it was a hit for fans of experimental music as well as mainstream listeners. So their formula of "catchy enough to dance to it" plus "complex enough to keep you interested" had great results and the band has a big cult following thanks to it.

As previously said, Battle's music is very motorik in nature. The drummer always has a steady and enticing beat while the rest of the band create the music around it. The rhythm section can't be completed without Dave Konopa on bass and guitar keeping a tight melody on either both instruments and even layering different melodies at the same time with his guitar effects. Ex-Don Caballero guitarist Ian Williams does the same thing, but also uses keyboards when not playing the guitar or if the music demands it he can even play the guitar and keyboard at the same time! Tyondai Braxton does the same as Ian, but also sings (and whistles). All of the members are an integral part of the band and without the sound of one of them the music won't be as full or even as good as it is now.

Accessible, complex, unique, enjoyable and new. Battle's style of prog rock is something that has never been seen before taking the ugly, hard and rough edges of the genre and shaping them into an appealing and captivating sound that can easily be enjoyed by all music fans alike. They're one of the new bands that are showing prog rock to the masses while branching out and making new sounds at the same time. Easily one of the best albums of the year and it can be clearly seen reading reviews and listening to the high remarks the band has got ever since the release of the album in May.

Don't miss one of the newly acclaimed and innovative bands of the year!

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