•
Rating: It is becoming increasingly rare and difficult for me to find an album to listen to from start to finish without feeling an irritating sense of deep boredom. And so I feel like a sort of miracle has happened when I put on the freshly released new album by Battles, 'Mirrored,' and I experience a surge of amused excitement.
To tell the truth, the reaction came on the second listen; on the first, the opening of "race in" left me with the bitter taste of the usual self-referentiality that, even though post rock is 15 years old, still tries to pass off as innovative. But then, on the second listen, I get to touch "atlas" and "ddiamondd," the second and third tracks, respectively. And I can't detach myself from the album anymore; I go straight to the end because here, we're actually talking about something else. The problem with "Race in", a fitting introduction, is that it hearkens back to the past. It still references Math as the undeniable base of Battles, but they have evolved. Indeed. What remains is that explicitly rationalistic approach, the systematic framing and squaring, that almost twelve-tone transporting of harmonic intervals as such. But now, there's also intent in the programmatic, not just the language. And in intent, Battles become the very concept of destabilization.
They take funk, electronic, hardcore, post, and destroy them under the ax blows of a serial killer who is also a typical obsessive maniac, one who wears a suit and tie by day. Their sound is not, in fact, auditory violence, but the dark side of unpredictability, of the sound you don't expect, of dynamic or tempo changes. Yet, it is never freewheeling but always constrained within the theme, forced into repetition. Thus their music is an attempt at control that fails, a system that flaws, an appearance that always implies a dark side, even more terrifying because it is never free, never truly unconscious or instinctive. In other words, this rational/irrational contrast, both imperfect and incomplete, can be found in the clash and fusion of synthesized and human sounds, the former always imperfect in their attempt to square and thus rationalize everything typical of electronics because they are mixed and dissected by a human hand that is always perceptible, the latter in turn stripped down by a paroxysmal attempt to always bring them back to a "robotic" interpretation, indeed squared and "monotimbral".
It is music that SEEMS reasoned, but always denies its expressed rationality. In essence, the intrinsic essence of Battles is to be profoundly anti-positivist. For this reason, they are absolutely contrary to tendencies and uncomfortable. Their music is, first and foremost, mocking, and philosophically the opposite of everything that justifies itself only by its existence in other times.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
02 Atlas (07:07)
People won't be people when they hear this sound
that's been glowing in the dark at the edge of town
People won't be people, no
the people won't be people when they hear this sound
Won't you show me what begins at the edge of town
The singer is a crook
The singer is a crook
The singer is a crook
The singer is a crook
The kitchen is the cook
The scissors are the barbers
The singer is a crook
The chorus, full of actors
People won't be people when they hear this sound
that's been glowing in the dark at the edge of town
People won't be people, no
the people won't be people when they hear this sound
Won't you show me what begins at the edge of town
The singer is a crook
The singer is a crook
The singer is a crook
The singer is a crook
The kitchen is the cook
The scissors are the barbers
The singer is a crook
The chorus doesn't matter
People won't be people when they hear this sound
that's been glowing in the dark at the edge of town
People won't be people, no
the people won't be people when they hear this sound
Won't you show me what begins at the edge of town
03 Ddiamondd (02:34)
The diamond that was stolen held the code that melted
water into letters spelling where it had been taken to.
In fact, I had a vision of the numbers corresponding with
the letters T-H-E-D-I-A-M-O-N-D.
They're suspended like a prism splitting floodlight to
poles of primary colours clawing the veil of the vacuum.
There's a picture of this given to authorities, the
sentence,"I'm an architect and here's my prison" written
on it.
With schematics so meticulous the measurements of
superimpositions of a room within the window make a
dream that ends up being such an entity in your
reflection, you are the dream to it, you are the prism.
The mirrors in the corner throwing images against the
other mirrors made counting corners impossible the
breaking news had counted one, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven corners of the
mirrored corners.
Why have you done what you have done something is so
sinister when staring at the diamond something you
have done sinister why have you done this am I in the
mirror am I what you have been staring at am I a
diamond?
Just like a reflection of a friend of mine, I am a
reflection of an enemy, am I a reflection of an enemy,
just like a reflection of a friend of mine?
06 Rainbow (08:11)
ONCE
ONE TIME
I WAS AMAZED
NATURAL DELAY
AND YOUR WIDE VOICE
GOT OUT OF PHASE
I COULDN'T EXPLAIN
WHY
WOULD SOME
ECHO OUT RACE
A STATEMENT AS VAGUE AS
"ONCE
ONE TIME
I WAS AMAZED"
I WAS AMAZED
07 Bad Trails (05:18)
THE NIGHT
THE NIGHT IS STILL
THE NIGHT IS STILL CALM
STILL COMBATIVE
BUT NEVER ATTACKS
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By easycure
This album is intrinsically the total negation of post-rock, not its evolution.
Their alteration of perspective lies in considering what is complex and programmatic in their music not as the future, but as tradition.
By stargazer
Battles can safely be defined as a supergroup, featuring 4 prestigious and talented musicians.
'Atlas' is a robotic ride built on an obsessive and cadenced drum rhythm with an irresistible groove.
