Battles 7.19.11: A Deconstruction of Carefully Controlled Noise

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.

Battles | Futura | A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

web | buy Gloss Drop | buy Mirrored

thinking about shabazz palaces

I've been wanting to write about this new album from Shabazz Palaces for awhile. I just didn't know what to say.

I feel like it is really the next step in hip hop's evolution, but I still feel like such an outsider when I listen to hip hop that I'm sure there have been steps taken that I was unaware of, that have already been here. But I don't know.

But for me, this is another example of music expanding right in front of me. My perception of what music can be. I have listened to a lot of hip hop but there have only been a few groups that have expanded my perception of hip hop's capabilities (please note that I didn't start paying attention until college or so). Beastie Boys, Jurassic 5, Blackalicious, DJ Shadow, Saul Williams, Guru (with Jazzmatazz), Outkast (with The Love Below), Kanye West (with MBDTF), and now this. (Please don't argue this list. It is just my personal perception that was expanded. For example, I know people were doing what J5 did before them, I just didn't know about it)

So what's special about this? What's new to me? Well, it seems to take its cues from modern cutting edge electronic music (such as Flying Lotus) and free jazz instead of hip hop. It's rhythmic poetry over music, meaning it probably fits most people's standard definition of hip hop, but it's completely different. And I've heard Antipop Consortium, DOOM, Kool Keith, etc but something about this seems different. It's more immediate to my ears.

It's also surprising to me given the dude's background. I didn't listen to Digable Planets much, but the little I heard didn't impress me that much. It honestly bored me a little bit. I'm sure if I gave them another chance I would appreciate them more. I really should knowing such a talent was involved in the crew. But they were so laid back (based on the little I heard) and this is so aggressive.

Will that do? Sure, that'll do. Check it out if you haven't yet.

And here's a daytrotter session if you want to hear some more.

Wash your feet

One of many repeated images of Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life.

So I guess that's as good a place to start as any. If you haven't seen this film, this post will not make much sense. If you have, it probably still won't make much sense. As I try to put together words about something that my friend compared to poetry in film form.

So...wash your feet. As the mother does. Cleansing that upon which we walk. Mankind's original form of travel. And almost all creatures share that mode. What am I getting at here? I don't know either. Just ride with me. Or walk. But wash your feet. Rinse them off with a hose. Feet tell us where we've been. OK now I'm getting somewhere with this. Cleanse your past by washing the dirt off your feet. Not something we can really do. They will get dirty again. But we won't track in the mud, we will maintain a clean house which will betray our dirty past, be it from ancient times or from minutes ago when our feet were filthy.

But that's not enough, is it? To keep the house clean? We must keep the outsides of our houses clean. The yard. Keep that grass uniform and make sure it grows under the tree, no matter how much it refuses to do so, because it is not in the grass' nature to grow under that tree. Control nature, control the trees as well. Hey, trees! That's from the movie title! We're getting somewhere now!

You take it from here. I want an essay about this. Explain to me how we control the tree of life.

**********

Family life. Follow what I say, not what I've done. Obey your father. Even though your father repeatedly explains how that's no way to get ahead in life, that you must betray people and be bad in order to succeed. So you get conflicting messages. That's how you grow up. Being pulled in different directions. To achieve that conflicting goal. Follow your dreams, don't be like your daddy who could have been a professional musician. But be mean to get ahead in the corporate world. Big buildings. Sean Penn.

Sean Penn?

********

When is the last time a film has been made with this amount of ambition, to be such a broad statement, that has actually succeeded in its statement? I had high hopes for The Fountain, but it seemed to shy away from what it could have been. Southland Tales turned into an epic joke of a film. The Tree of Life reaffirmed in me the power of cinema, the capabilities it has beyond telling a story or simply bringing up deep seated emotions (not exactly simple, but this concept has been achieved beautifully many times before). To be this all encompassing, to be as worthy of "the big screen," to be such a reason for "the big screen" to even exist...

...not that I won't fight tooth & nail for the cinema, for all great movies to be seen on the big screen ON FILM in a darkened theater...

...but to be as grand as the screen it should be seen on, to be a cinematic EVENT...is rarely achieved.

This is intimidating as an aspiring filmmaker. While I would be content to making small character pictures that speak to the simple truths of life, a film like this reminds me of the full scope of what it can be.

**********

Even this write up is way too short for what this movie deserves. But it's all I can say right now. It's too daunting to step up and try to say everything that CAN be said about it. So let's leave this discussion open.

losing my edge

...to the kids that just discovered lcd soundsystem.

errr...start over.

rant below.

last night i went to see the amazing tUne-YaRdS at the hi-dive. the show sold out and i didn't know anyone there. which was strange to me. to me, tUne-YaRdS is an act that is wholly original, uncompromising, just a complete expression of one's creativity. which, more often than not, does not lend itself to sold out shows.

so who are these people packing this (admittedly small) venue? people new to this whole music scene? i know that indie rock is getting more mainstream, more popular and accepted, but really?

it's the kids. these people are like a younger me. somewhat. what i'm getting at is that i'm getting older and people are catching up to me.

or we all just have the same sources. thanks to blogs, pitchfork's "best new music" tag, sirius xmu, this artist is getting her share of love and publicity. i may have seen her last year but that was just because they were talking about her on stereogum and she was opening for xiu xiu. i haven't really been ahead of the curve since the curve disappeared.

(not that any of that matters. listen to music you like and don't worry about how popular it is. obviously.)

my main problem is that i feel as though i have stopped progressing. in college i remember someone a couple years older than me being into anti-flag, and i laughed to myself about it because i am a jerk and because i felt like i was too mature for them in high school. i've always listened to more "mature" music than most people my age. at least up until around the time i got out of college. but since then i've liked the very loosely defined "indie rock" for longer than anything else. part of this is the fact that it IS loosely defined. and i've always leaned to the more experimental side of this. the side on which tUne-YaRdS resides. but i thought i had put in the work to get to this point. and people way younger than me are listening to the same thing? appreciating it on the same level?

but i was there!!

i know this is just an intersection. this is an example of what i've seen many times in my years, of popular opinion intersecting with mine. it passes. this is just the most avant garde point at which it has intersected. but are "they" going to pass me? by now shouldn't i be listening to nothing but ornette coleman, sonny sharrock, ken vandermark, etc? free jazz/noise? it's a pretty safe bet that these kids won't be listening to that. if this were a competition. but it's not. here is what is important:

-helping japan

-helping the south

-ending the wars

-civil rights

-etc

-AND: an artist i love and respect got to play a sold out show without compromising her artistic vision. the show was a lot of fun for the crowd and for her (the smile on her face was huge).

Review or something: TV On The Radio - Nine Types of Light

The following is less a review than an assessment of the artist at this time. Does that make sense? More of an essay than a review I guess. But the short answer is yes, buy this album. It is more than worth it.

I wish I could find that quote.

In my old Postmodernism in Film class, we were told a quote that I can't quite remember. Something beautiful. Speaking of how irony & cynicism had completely replaced authentic emotion, how pessimistic detachment was the new standard, the quote read something to the effect of "the solution is pure, unabashed romanticism."

This has always stuck with me. Well, the exact wording has not, but this idea. This is what we need now. And this was years ago! This was when we were discussing Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and this is why I still consider that film to be the greatest of the past 20 years or so. Because it had the courage to be unabashedly romantic without compromising on story, character, depth, or anything else that most optimistic movies (I'm looking at you, romantic comedies!) lack. It didn't undercut itself with a cynical joke, a sarcastic comment, or anything like that.

When speaking of TV on the Radio, I have always leapt to hyperbole. I have compared them to the other most influential artists of various eras (Radiohead, Pixies, The Clash). I said that their last album had "conquered art." That may have been a little much. But I remain steadfast that they are the most important band working today.

Back to my original point. Their previous albums always had an undercurrent of cynicism. Which is not a bad thing. Lines like "I was a lover...before this war" demonstrate a yearning for something romantic but unattainable. And here we are, our nation in a huge recession, three-ish wars going on, more divided than ever. We still live in cynical times. We need this. This is the only way out. Romanticism without irony.

So lyrically, that's what we have. Love songs. Optimism.

Now the other side. The music. TVOTR expanded their sound exponentially through each album up until Dear Science. But they have stopped expanding. They had to stop at some point. They are now just using the tools that they have. It sounds like an insult, and I don't mean it that way, but everything on here lies somewhere on the spectrum of what this band has already established. The most chaotic moments on this album do not reach the level of "Shout Me Out" or "Let The Devil In," and the most delicate moments do not match "Family Tree." But it is within these established boundaries that the band has really ripened.

This is exactly what it should be. One can't just keep expanding the hyperbole. TV on the Radio has established a playing field with enormous potential. It is time to explore this field. On Nine Types of Light, they have given us the romanticism we so desperately need as a society. I embrace this direction and look forward to further internal explorations.

Sequel to my birthday thing stuffs

a couple years ago i compiled this. it detailed some awesome people that share my birthday. yet somehow i always manage to find more when i look in subsequent years. here are some that are not on that list (which is awesome, by the way. billie holiday, francis ford coppola, jackie chan??). I also posted one two years ago, which included David Frost (of Frost/Nixon fame), and a dude from Kraftwerk.

-Will Keith Kellogg, perhaps the greatest cereals are Kelloggs?

-Buster Douglas, who knocked out Mike Tyson!

-Russell Crowe

-Karin Dreijer Andersson, also known as Fever Ray, also known as half of The Knife.

I'm starting to think I have the best birthday, at least as far as influential artistic figures goes.

So what about me? When am I gonna be a worth addition to the list? eh?

out of retirement?

i might start bloggin' again. friends tell me to write about music more. so maybe i'll do music reviews. and short fiction. and whatever else i want to write about. we will see. i have been putting some stuff on my facebook notes (such as my excellent top albums of 2010 piece, and my fabulous top albums of 2009 piece, both which i obviously didn't put here since i haven't updated this since mid 2009.

here are some thoughts on recent music releases!
*Beans: I dig it. production by Fourtet and Flylo? sold! Plus he is just a really fantastic MC.
*Lupe Fiasco: I kind of agree with everybody else. That MDMA dude ruins some songs pretty good. In addition to other suckinesses. Fans should have just let Lupe not release this. The few good moments could have been a good part of a good album but now they're just small oases in the desert of bad pop.
*DeVotchKa: Kind of boring compared to their good stuff
*Colin Stetson: awesome. Dig the Laurie Anderson contributions.
*Lykke Li: quite good as well.
*Deerhoof: I think my favorite album of the year so far.
*Akron/Family: missing something.
*Iron & Wine: takes some getting used to but then it's solid.
*Mi Ami: after one listen, I don't really like what they've done to themselves. But I still have some optimism that they'll refine this new sound into something interesting in the future or I will "get it" and like the new EP.

And the most eager of anticipations:
*TV on the Radio. If they disappoint I will swear I am in an alternate universe. They've got a perfect record (as a band, some of the side projects have been less-than-perfect). That song they released is awesome.
*Battles. I was kind of worried but mostly curious when Tyondai left the band. All three of the remaining members of the band do have extensive pedigrees in awesome, so I didn't think they'd turn into something not at least enjoyable. The one song that has leaked blew me away. They just have a way with such odd sounds. Something grows out of them. They are a beautiful odd tree or something.

basically yeah, possibly the two greatest bands working have stuff coming out in the fairly near future. and i thought 2011 was going to be weak!

Anybody hear that new Teddybears track with Robyn? Off the hook! I had no idea they put out an album last year that never saw a US release date. Hopefully this track is a sign that we will get a US release in the near future, and it will include the Robyn track. Pleeeeeeeeease?

i am now on twitter. i am going to try to stick with "worthwhile" tweets. profound and/or funny. i have not come up with my first tweet yet. follow me and i promise not to hog your feed. i might feed your hog though. @quietbrandon

bless Japan. There is nothing of comfort I can even think to say about it. Please donate. If you have anything to give, they need it.

new wale mixtape

to me (and to many), the breakthrough artist of 2008 was wale who released mixtape about nothing. which was amazing and established him as the most exciting new voice in hip hop that i've heard in awhile.

and now we get his follow-up! it's called back to the feature, and it was produced by 9th wonder. and it features such artists as talib kweli, black thought, daniel merriweather, jean grae, includes samples of peter bjorn & john, duffy, etc etc etc. this seems to be awesome. i am only 8 tracks in but i love it!

get it here: walemusic.com

best of the year of your life...so far

lots of people seem to be doing this and i will do this too. because i like making lists and ranking and filing my music. it's the best music that i have listened to enough to judge of 2009 of my life so far:

let's make it...oh, i didn't plan this out, did i? let's make it 10. or whatever it turns out to be once i list the ones that i deem listable. 11 it is! also note that i don't feel any of them should be #1 at this point. i don't think i've heard my #1 of 2009 yet. at least i hope not. so it's top 12 without a #1. or maybe one of those from the list below (of tbd rankings) will be #1.

12. iran - dissolver. pretty awesome. but upon further inspection, only like 4-5 of the songs are super fantastic. if they had a higher success rate this could be way higher on the list.

11. nasa - the spirit of apollo. pitchfork hated this. but i really feel like this is the next in the line of the gorillaz/gnarls barkley/whatever for genre transcendence of rock and hip hop. and the best songs are really the combinations of the two (even though such combinations can be disastrous sometimes). like the song with ODB and karen o. and the song with kool keith and tom waits. it's just a party record that seems really hard to hate, and i don't know how people can. but whatever.

10. obits - i blame you. so when i looked back at 2008, i was kind of surprised by the lack of rock music i had been involved with. and so this year i really wanted some real rock and roll. and here it is. this may not be as good as the best hot snakes records, but it's got what i need. rock in its purest, meanest form.

9. phoenix - wolfgang amadeus phoenix. i've heard this band referred to as the french mgmt. which is funny, because i consider mgmt the poor man's of montreal. so phoenix is therefore the poor man's french of montreal. even though montreal is in canada and phoenix is in america. confusing. but this band has been at it for a long time apparently, but i hadn't heard them before this year. i can't really explain why i love this album. probably because it evokes a lot of the same stuff as of montreal, one of my very favorite bands.

8. andrew bird - noble beast. there's not really anything too special about this album except that it is just very high quality. it is just full of quality, enjoyable songs. nothing groundbreaking, just very well done.

7. aceyalone - the lonely ones. aceyalone shows his love for old timey music. somehow he makes music that sounds like it could come out in either 1960 or 2009. if they had rapping in 1960. this has basically all the elements i love about 60s soul music. it just sounds so natural; i'm not sure how this hasn't been done before (or has it???)

6. dark was the night. weird that a compilation could be on this list. usually when i get a compilation i listen to it a couple times and then forget about it (other than, maybe, a couple standout tracks). this one is a fully realized, great album. it just fits together unlike any other compilation i've ever heard. it's cohesive. the only complaint i have is that it's two full discs, so it's very long and overwhelming.

5. grizzly bear - veckatimest. it's a grower.

4. sonic youth - the eternal. how can a band be so good so far into their career? i feel like only sonic youth could pull this off, staying relevant for almost 30 years now. i guess that's how far ahead of their time they have always been.

3. mi ami - watersports. this is primal, uncompromising, and at times grating music. in other words, this is music that makes me feel ALIVE. it demands your attention. most people will hate it. it's just a combination of dub, hardcore, and really really annoying vocals. love it. NOTE TO EVERYBODY: anything featuring former members of the band black eyes is going to be amazing. divisive, sure, and maybe you won't like it. but i have loved everything these guys have done.

2. mos def - the ecstatic. this album makes me ecstatic.

1. ??????????

the problem here, see, is that lots of the great music just came out like, in the last couple weeks. so here is a list of stuff that just came out that may or may not make it on my year-end list once i can digest it:

dinosaur jr

dirty projectors

rock plaza central

tara jane oneil - i need to listen to this more even though it came out awhile ago. i blame the fact that the vinyl didn't come with a download, so i have only listened to it once. but it is fantastic.

and finally, my top anticipated albums of, presumably, if they actually get released this year, the rest of 2009

-big boi/outkast/andre 3000 - whatever they actually put out. apparently they are supposed to both have solo albums plus an outkast album. but it'll probably be a couple more years. but that big boi song that leaked last year (royal flush featuring andre 3000 and raekwon) was one of the best hip hop songs of the year for sure.

-jay-z - blueprint 3. you know.

-deltron 3030 - event 2 (or whatever its name will be). like outkast, this has been pushed back and pushed back again. although it's never had an official release date. but it seems everything's been done except del's part for like 2 years now. dude needs to get on that. also i haven't liked his last two solo albums THAT much. i hope the 'tron brings him back to what made him one of my favorite rappers back then.

-yo la tengo - popular songs. these guys are so good and so versatile. this is going to be something else.

-tyondai braxton - central market. i only first heard about his solo stuff a couple weeks ago when pitchfork reported that he had another one coming out this fall. i still need to track down his other solo stuff and enjoy it, but battles are one of my favorite bands of the past couple years, and it has to be fantastic.

-kyp mallone solo album - yeah!! maybe it will surpass iran.

-the roots - how i got over. did you hear the song on jimmy fallon last week? holy crap. FUNKY FUNKY.

-annie - i hope this sees the light of day soon.

-the flaming lips - embryonic

it has been awhile no

?

man, i don't know.  i have gotten lazy.  i guess.  i feel like i have had a lot to say, because the format of facebook is different than myspace.  because i could blog on myspace and share thoughts that took more than however many characters facebook gives you.  but instead of getting everything out here, i've been forgetting it all.

albums that are awesome from this year so far include:

-aceyalone

-mos def

-phoenix

-sonic youth

-mi ami

-dark was the night

-iran

-and more stuff.

what's coming out tomorrow? it is tuesday after all:

musically,

-rock plaza central! their last album was a pleasant surprise for me and ended up being one of my favorites.  now they are back and it's not about robot horses?

-tiny masters of today! kids! rocking out!

-there is not much of anything this week otherwise.  lame and weak.  yet rock plaza central was on page 17 of amazon's new releases for the week.  ?????  but next week is going to be huge.  gigantic.  a big big love.

some blu ray:

-dr strangelove! consistently in my top 5 movies of all time list!  brilliant in every single way.

-seventh seal! how about that!

-ghostbusters & spaceballs! don't know how necessary it is to have these on blu ray instead of dvd, but cool!

-lost season 1 & 2!

-john adams! i never saw it but i want to because paul giamatti and laura linney are two of the best.

no stores seem to ever carry une femme mariee, the latest dvd to come out of jean-luc godard's very fruitful mid 60s period.  i might have to use this internet to track it on down.  i will try stores again tomorrow though first.  speaking of jean-luc godard's very fruitful mid 60s period, criterion is about to put out made in usa! in july! i have been desperately wanting to see this movie for about 6 years now.  lord.  that is a lot of years.  i am old.

-hey that new jay-z song d.o.a. is pretty cool but kinda a rehash of the better song "no hook" from american gangster.  that's what i think at least.  and i hate auto tune as much as or more than the next guy, but it seems childish and below hova to go on rapping about that for a whole song.  del mentioned it in one line of one verse of one song on his latest album and that was enough.  it's lame.  make your statement by not using it.  like mos def.  mos def may have just put out the hip hop album of the year by the way.  if you didn't notice.

-grizzly bear and dirty projectors also (add them to that list way up top there) but everybody knows that already.