Battles
La Di Da Di (Warp)
After the departure of lead singer Tyondai Braxton following their debut album forced the band to rely on guest singers for 2011’s Battles’ third full-length album, La Di Da Di, sees the band, somewhat predictably, go fully instrumental.
While the band may have experimented with traditional pop song-structures on Gloss Drop, such familiar forms are rarely seen this time out.
On La Di Da Di, Battles’ sound owes as much to Ian Williams’ former band Don Caballero as it does to post-rock innovators like Tortoise and krautrock pioneers Neu and Can.
Strong repetitive beats propel the songs forward into jazz-influenced electro spazz-jams. The staccato discordant synth riffs collide with effect-drenched looped guitars creating a kind of 22nd century prog rock for the MDMA generation.
“FF Bada” is the album’s high-water mark; a pulsing, shape-shifting, four-and-a-half-minute space-age afro-funk tune that – like so many of Battles’ songs – is held in place by John Stainer’s exceptional drumming. Creepy organ sounds compete with glitched-out synths on “Megatouch”, while album opener “The Yabba” builds from a meditative pace into a propulsive crescendo.
Battles chart their own course, creating music that music that sounds like nothing else being made. For that alone they deserve careful consideration.
