Battles
Live @ Jail Legnano 03.05.06

THE REVIEW

Battles - Jail Legnano 03.05.06

A rare opportunity for lovers of post rock, for those who have followed the exploits of Don Caballero and Storm&Stress. Jail in Legnano offers us yet another great opportunity to get to know the latest creation of Ian Williamson, accompanied by Jon Steiner, ex-Helmet and Tomahawk on drums.

They have been working together for 3 years and present their only work released to date, a double EP entirely instrumental released by Warp. A beautiful creation, where guitar interplays leave room for the use of electronics, and as they tell me after the show, to "break the barriers of post rock." One can only agree with them. We are not talking about June of 44, but neither are we talking about Tortoise. It is the drums, literally assaulted in strictly uneven times, worked essentially on the snare and hi-hat that allow the percussive power and polyrhythms of Shellac to intertwine with electronic experimentation.

I ask at the end how the compositional process takes place and I understand that there is nothing improvised on their part and that everything is written to allow the entrance of the rhythm section only at the last moment.

Great concert, generous and engaging. Until that moment, I thought the sweatiest man in the world was Henry Rollins. I was wrong. In the end, Jon Steiner, thoroughly exhausted, looks like he just stepped out of a pool.