Battles Defy Language Norms and Speak Universal Language of Rock

Battles’ Mirrored has made Top 2007 buzz conversations more difficult since it came out, forcing people to try and describe the music to those uninitiated using words like “jazz-prog”, “robot rock” and perhaps even more awkwardly “avante art jazz.” The record is worthy of all the trouble, though, as the seemingly complex descriptions tend to overshadow the fact that at its essence, Mirrored is a pummeling, head-bobbing album meant to make your heart race: it’s rock’n'roll.

The ultimate payoff for fans of the album, though, has got to be the fact that the band has toured relentlessly this year. I caught them earlier this summer here in Austin (at a magical show that involved a power loss in the middle of “Atlas” — the crowd sang the lyrics until the amps came back on, then the band started the song again to tremendous applause), and they’ve been going ever since. They gave a stunning performance at Pitchfork fest and they’re coming back to Austin in November for the Fun Fest, too.

But it’s not just their dedication to the road that generates excitement with the fans, it’s the fact that their live set is nothing short of brilliant. Battles execute elaborate processes involving loops, samples, pedals, computers, vocoders and more, and they do it perfectly every time. The complex mix of traditional chugging guitar, pounding kicks, and thick bass with the electronic components work, and that’s the huge relief for the Mirrored fan in the audience who hasn’t seen them live before. It’s not one of those situations where the live set has been dealt a blow from the outset by being impossible to perform live. The songs were born from live sets, adjusted for the studio, then returned to the stage to bloom. Mirrored is not a studio album, it’s a reflection of the intensity and brilliance with which the band performs. Mirrored.

Over at Stylus, Nick Southall wrote an incredible article about a live Battles set he caught in Bristol. He does a much better job than I in terms of describing the little miracle it is to see them play, and how that live set can be discussed in terms of the album. I highly recommend you check it out.