Have you ever gone on a tour of a brewery/factory/etc and seen how something you appreciate gets made? Isn't it fascinating to see the process, to see first hand the amount of love that gets put into it? Well that's what I experienced up at the front of the stage seeing Battles last night.
Listening to Battles on record is already fascinating. Trying to separate out what is actually happening can be daunting. With all the layers and loops, it gets very complicated. Which is fine. Listening to Battles, you don't have to separate out what comes from where. The whole is so cohesive that it just sounds like a machine chugging along. Every element is in its right place, moving this body of sound forward, demonstrating Newton's law that objects in motion stay in motion. The mechanics are not important.
But that's not to say they are not fascinating. I had the distinct pleasure of being right up in front of Dave Konopka, guitarist/bassist and chief loop operator. I imagine that the loop-oriented stuff was handled by Tyondai Braxton in the past (he exited the band last year) but Dave certainly had no trouble managing the assortment of distortion petals, loop machines, and other sound manipulators while rocking the guitar/bass as well.
To use more physics terms, I always viewed Battles as a band of pure kinetic energy. But seeing the sound manipulation, there is a lot of stored up potential energy that is released only when it is allowed to. As the chief mechanic rhythmically pounded on those buttons, turned those knobs, and otherwise adjusted the settings on the devices, I could almost see the sound building up, impatiently waiting to be let out of those speakers.
The departure of Tyondai Braxton from the band last year left me a little nervous. I had little doubt that the remaining three members had all the talent and creative energy necessary to keep the band going, but it was still taking a cog out of the perfect machine. In addition to perhaps allowing for more complicated loops to complement the more complicated guitar playing, Tyondai was the only member of the band contributing vocals. Not that Battles has any need for vocals. But they brought in some guest vocalists anyway for the album. So the question you may have: what about the live setting? They're not going to be able to take Matias Aguayo, Kazu Makino, Gary Numan, and Yamantaka Eye on the road with them. Would they just sing? Or play the songs without vocals? Will it just be a ghost recording?
Yes! Gary Numan, Kazu Makino, and Matias Aguayo appeared in ghost form to add their presence to the proceedings. I don't have anything very important to say about this, I just had to find an excuse to post this picture. Look out! It's two Gary Numans!
So who else is in this band? Well, that drummer that impressed Questlove so much that he had to tweet about it twice is certainly central to the band, and not just because he was center stage. John Stanier is one of the most talented drummers I have ever had the great fortune to see perform. With a relatively sparse drum set (raised cymbal notwithstanding), he played it fast, hard, and with incredible sense of time (well I mean, I would hope so). As the band is primarily a rhythm band, just listen to one of their songs and you will understand Stanier's prowess. It's true that many of the rhythms are created by looping machines, but Stanier's layers of rhythm on top of rhythm are so complicated yet so natural, that he is a crucial piece of the machinery that is Battles.
And then there's Ian Williams. Next time I see Battles, I will have to be on the left side of the stage so I can see what he's up to. He is the only member of the band with whose previous projects I was familiar before hearing Battles. Don Caballero is perhaps the greatest band in Math Rock history, and that is in large part due to the incredible Ian Williams. I could not see his activities very well from where I was standing, but he played keyboards and guitar, and was the main melodic presence of the band (which should never be downplayed as an important piece of this largely rhythmic machine).
So put all of this together and you have one of the most incredible live music experiences you are likely to encounter in this world. If you get the chance to see them, do not hesitate to take the opportunity.
If my words did not convince you, here is video proof (from Paris!) of what they can do.
