Let the Adoration of Battles Begin
Mar 2nd, 2007 by Donagh
Listening to John Kelly on Lyric one afternoon recently I was surprised to hear Tortoise coming out of the car radio. It seemed appropriate music for the occasion as rain was streaming down the windscreen while I waited at a traffic light. It’s not surprising that John Kelly was playing Tortoise, it fits right in there with the still eclectic intermingling of music from classical, romantic and modern composers with the quieter, more sophisticated contemporary rock/pop/alternative musicians.
What surprised me was that it was so long since I’ve listened to Tortoise. Around TNT they were the shitniz (which is a positive thing) on my stereo and mobile music device and although closely associated with a particular ilk of music geek, it felt momentarily as if their music really was pushing out the borders of what was possible. I even went to see them once, in the Olympia. They were great.
However, after a time the whole Math rock thing got very boring indeed and now anything associated with John McEntire is smeared with the shitty stick of blandness and worst of all, is considered muzak for gormless head nodders.
And so went the trend for math rock, as I’ve heard it called now. It seemed at first that this complex, refined, wide ranging music was getting snuffed out by the back to basics rock outfits like Arcade Fire and TV on the Radio.
But then comes Battles, a New York group formed from bands I’m not really familiar with. Last year they signed to Warp and brought out a couple of EPs (tracks available on their myspace page) that had people like nialler9 ragging on about them in a particular persistent fashion.
He says that the track sz2 was his favourite of last year and well, putting aside my busy ears I decided to give it and a few other tracks a listen.
And lordy, it’s good. It’s long mind, at 9 minutes it ventures into prog rock territory, but the length is worth it with an accumulating noise and energy that is definitely not proggy.
sz2
Dance
B+T
And here they are live at Whelans last year
Thanks to Niall of course, for the info. Battles play Temple Bar Music Centre on the 25th of May. Battles are Hypemachined here.
Atlas, the new single is also steamed on pitchfork.
Funnily enough although I really like postrock I’ve never heard much of Tortoise, and then didn’t they go all electronic on us?
Must hunt them down. By the by good luck tomorrow.
Great, my work is done