Skip to main content

Battles

Liquid Room, Edinburgh
4 stars
Forget the unfortunate Math Rock tag. Battles are just King Crimson with cheekbones. Even when the American quartet’s guitarist Dave Konopka appears to be conducting the amplifiers at the start and close of the band’s set drawn largely from this summer’s debut album proper, Mirrored, released by electronic specialist label Warp, though, it’s done with ineffable cool and not a Prog cape in sight.

With members having served time between them in assorted stalwarts of America’s rock underground, Konopka, fellow guitarist/keyboardists Ian Williams and Tyondai Braxon and drummer John Stanier could qualify as a super-group. Especially given that Braxton is the son of avant-jazz composer Anthony Braxton.

Braxton junior is the nearest thing the band has to a focal point, his sampled vocals at times resembling the wordless classicism of Hocus Pocus by Focus as reimagined by the equally debonair Strokes. Williams, meanwhile, holds his red guitar high, as if Battles were the band imagined by Edinburgh’s Fire Engines thirty years ago. Its Stanier’s drums, though, complete with six foot cymbal stand, that drives them, and makes total sense of the band’s presence on Warp by putting a pounding pulse to the sort of baroque instrumental dance-scapes The Aphex Twin’s crazed composer shtick dreamt up through his lap-top.

Beyond 1970s wigginess, there’s everything tossed into the mix here from Charles Ives and American marching bands to wild west soundtracks and Glam rock stomp, all wrapped up in frantic Hardcore trappings, but with a regimented precision that leaves nothing to chance. Which, following previous Edinburgh outings at Triptych and supporting Four Tet, may take the edge off things a tad, but makes for a thrilling set nonetheless.

The Herald, October 22nd 2007

ends

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Losing Touch With My Mind - Psychedelia in Britain 1986-1990

DISC 1 1. THE STONE ROSES   -  Don’t Stop 2. SPACEMEN 3   -  Losing Touch With My Mind (Demo) 3. THE MODERN ART   -  Mind Train 4. 14 ICED BEARS   -  Mother Sleep 5. RED CHAIR FADEAWAY  -  Myra 6. BIFF BANG POW!   -  Five Minutes In The Life Of Greenwood Goulding 7. THE STAIRS  -  I Remember A Day 8. THE PRISONERS  -  In From The Cold 9. THE TELESCOPES   -  Everso 10. THE SEERS   -  Psych Out 11. MAGIC MUSHROOM BAND  -  You Can Be My L-S-D 12. THE HONEY SMUGGLERS  - Smokey Ice-Cream 13. THE MOONFLOWERS  -  We Dig Your Earth 14. THE SUGAR BATTLE   -  Colliding Minds 15. GOL GAPPAS   -  Albert Parker 16. PAUL ROLAND  -  In The Opium Den 17. THE THANES  -  Days Go Slowly By 18. THEE HYPNOTICS   -  Justice In Freedom (12" Version) ...

Myra Mcfadyen - An Obituary

Myra McFadyen – Actress   Born January 12th 1956; died October 18th 2024   Myra McFadyen, who has died aged 68, was an actress who brought a mercurial mix of lightness and depth to her work on stage and screen. Playwright and artistic director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, David Greig, called McFadyen “an utterly transformative, shamanic actor who could change a room and command an audience with a blink”. Citizens’ Theatre artistic director Dominic Hill described McFadyen’s portrayal of Puck in his 2019 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in London as “funny, mischievous and ultimately heartbreaking.”   For many, McFadyen will be most recognisable from Mamma Mia!, the smash hit musical based around ABBA songs. McFadyen spent two years on the West End in Phyllida Lloyd’s original 1999 stage production, and was in both film offshoots. Other big screen turns included Rob Roy (1995) and Our Ladies (2019), both directed by Mi...

Big Gold Dreams – A Story of Scottish Independent Music 1977-1989

Disc 1 1. THE REZILLOS (My Baby Does) Good Sculptures (12/77)  2. THE EXILE Hooked On You (8/77) 3. DRIVE Jerkin’ (8/77) 4. VALVES Robot Love (9/77) 5. P.V.C. 2 Put You In The Picture (10/77) 6. JOHNNY & THE SELF ABUSERS Dead Vandals (11/77) 7. BEE BEE CEE You Gotta Know Girl (11/77) 8. SUBS Gimme Your Heart (2/78) 9. SKIDS Reasons (No Bad NB 1, 4/78) 10. FINGERPRINTZ Dancing With Myself (1/79)  11. THE ZIPS Take Me Down (4/79) 12. ANOTHER PRETTY FACE All The Boys Love Carrie (5/79)  13. VISITORS Electric Heat (5/79) 14. JOLT See Saw (6/79) 15. SIMPLE MINDS Chelsea Girl (6/79) 16. SHAKE Culture Shock (7/79) 17. HEADBOYS The Shape Of Things To Come (7/79) 18. FIRE EXIT Time Wall (8/79) 19. FREEZE Paranoia (9/79) 20. FAKES Sylvia Clarke (9/79) 21. TPI She’s Too Clever For Me (10/79) 22. FUN 4 Singing In The Showers (11/79) 23. FLOWERS Confessions (12/79) 24. TV21 Playing With Fire (4/80) 25. ALEX FERGUSSON Stay With Me Tonight (1980) ...