Battles are what I like to call a Kitchen Sink band, as in their craft involves the use of everything but... I'm taking credit for this right now, coined on the spot for this review with guaranteed repeated references for future richly equipped math-rockers yet to grace a stage near the Merry Swankster.

Listening to Battles' Mirrored and witnessing Battles live is reason #84932 why live music continues to pay off handsomely as my preferred method of entertainment. I was not really sure what to expect from the band. I approached the evening with the tepid enthusiasm of unknown expectations. The Larimer Lounge show being the nightcap to a busy weekend of toiling in my yard doing hard work (the horror), my legs pleaded unsuccessfully to stay home for an extended session of horizontal positioning. Instead we did the proper thing and mustered the energy for what turned out to be a sold out show. I was so proud of Denver for coming out in force on a Sunday night. Unfortunately for my aforementioned dead legs, we arrived for what was easily the longest soundcheck ever. Whispered restlessness could be felt from the crowd as the setup and microphone testing dragged on and on. I’ll confess guilt to most of the complaining as I badgered my girlfriend with morbid premonitions of amputated legs from the torturous effect of continued standing on already battered limbs. Before my exaggeration is called out for insensitivity, I’ll just say it all seemed perfectly reasonable at the time. Merry this Swankster was not.

Battles drummer John Stanier, finally got things going with a simple tease of his steady drumming, saving the more impressive virtuosity for subsequent songs. Ex-Helmet skin-keeper Stanier was magnificent and no amount of gushing could do justice to the remarkable finesse he showed keeping on beat for a group not shy about playing with electronics. This is what makes Stanier all the more impressive. Keeping rhythm with digitally unwavering samples, the man has no choice but to focus on keeping everything together. At this point it will take serious convincing for me to not believe the stability of Stanier’s skills stem from a bionic metronome somewhere in his body.

Battles stage was set up with a nod towards efficiency of space. Flanked on opposite ends by keyboard rigs and requisite Macbooks, a bright yellow drum kit on the inside of the stage right keyboards with a ridiculous towering Zildjian acting as sentry high above the action. My initial questioning of the awkward placement of the cymbal dissipated the more it became clear that reach was not a problem.

Describing the Battles music is its own challenge. For genre filing purposes do you go with neo-prog-rock? Math tainted jazz fusion? Rage Against the Machine influenced hippie jamband? Answer is: Yes. Seriously though, the tunes are too dry to be pigeonholed into any of those portrayals. When the guitars noodled it was not jazzy, or funky, when the ambitiousness led to complexity it was not self-indulgent, and moniker combined with scratchy guitar work was not strong enough to claim relation to RATM. Though urgency of some tracks reminded of Rage and the guitar work should give Tom Morello an ego-stroke induced boner. Homage to the commiest Rage member appeared everywhere, and like I stated above, the band’s name might reference this…or not.

In some respect, the Battles can be described as a related, yet diametric opposite force to recent Denver visitor Dan Deacon. While Deacon resorts to pre-recorded tracks for live assistance and the Battles choose to showcase live looping and sampling as integral parts of the show, both artists could not exist in their current form without the tools available to them today.

Battles were for the most part an impressive unit of synchronization considering the non-organic methods they employ. Everything from guitar and vocal samples were created on the spot and turned into loops. I’ve never seen the technique implemented with this much frequency, but it appeared to pose few challenges for the band. I’m no expert, but the robotic constraints of programming loops in a live setting has got to be at least more challenging for making adjustments than it is with conventional instruments. Again, successful for the most part but it should be noted that about fifteen minutes into the show disaster struck as half the band was off the beat by about a sixteenth note. One common criticism of the Battles is they often sound purposefully off, as Kitchen Sink bands often do, which was proven to obviously not be the case when they actually where off. All the alleged misconceptions of a band that confuses the ear with tenacity were wiped away when they lost their spot 30 seconds. It did not sound good by any means. Luckily they adjusted after a few nervous looks to each other before getting back on course.

While several songs could be counted as highlights of the show, I would be remiss not to describe the killer performance of “Atlas” as a bookend to this review. The song was everything the crawling monster from the record and much more. About 10,000 times more intense when you see, feel, and hear Stanier’s pulsing drums powering the Battles music. Like a robot controlled locomotive, it thundered with violent impulses, announcing arrival and pillaging everything. Welcome to the machine.

Battles on the Road

07-13 Milwaukee, WI - Stonefly Brewery
07-14 Chicago, IL - Union Park (Pitchfork Music Festival) *
07-16 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace
07-17 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa
07-18 Boston, MA - Paradise
07-19 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church Sanctuary
07-20 Brooklyn, NY - Studio B
07-21 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar !
07-29 Mt. Fuji, Japan - Fuji Rock Festival
08-10 Oslo, Norway - Øya Festival
08-11 London, England - Field Day Festival
08-12 Aulnoye-Aymeries, France - Les Nuits Secrétes
08-16 Hasselt, Belgium - Pukkelpop
08-17 Biddinghuizen, Holland - Lowlands Festival
08-18 Brecon Beacons, Wales - Green Man Festival
08-20 Cardiff, Wales - The Point
08-22 Liverpool, England - The Barfly
08-23 Galway, Ireland - Roisin Dugh
08-24 Dublin, Ireland - The Village
08-25 Reading, England - Reading Festival
08-26 Leeds, England - Leeds Festival
08-31 New York, NY - Seaport Music Festival
10-10 Bristol, England - Blerkeller
10-11 London, England - KOKO
10-12 Leuven, Belgium - Depot
10-13 Heidelberg, Germany - Enjoyjazz Festival
10-14 Amsterdam, Holland - Melkweg
10-15 Rouen, France - Club 106
10-16 Paris, France - Trabendo
10-17 Manchester, England - Academy 2
10-18 Edinburgh, Scotland - Liquid Room
10-19 Newcastle, England - Stage 2
11-01 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall

//Battles - Mirrored - buy
//Battles - site
//Battles - Myspace