Battles

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New York City (2002 – present)

Battles is an American band that formed in New York City in 2002. The group is composed of drummer John Stanier (formerly of Tomahawk and Helmet), guitarist/keyboardist Ian Williams (formerly of Don Caballero and Storm & Stress), guitarist Dave Konopka (formerly of Lynx), and, until August 2010, guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Tyondai Braxton (son of Avantgarde Jazz musician Anthony Braxton).

Battles released three EPs in 2004, each on a different record label (Cold Sweat, Monitor and Dim Mak). These were rereleased on the influential Warp label in 2006. Preceded by the Atlas EP ( “single of the week” in NME), and with hype building, the LP Mirrored was released on the 14 May 2007 to widespread critical acclaim.

Among the many positive reviews, the album received a score of 9.1 in a Pitchfork Media review and a glowing write up in the UK’s Clash Magazine, where comparisons were made to Glitter Beat. The band scored its first UK cover feature in May 2007, talking to Plan B Magazine about the making of Mirrored.

Drummer John Stanier’s yellow Tama drum kit is defined by an extremely high Zildjian K ride cymbal. He believes the ride cymbal is overused in drumming, so he wanted to make it more of an effort to play it. He has to jump up from his drum seat to hit it during live performances.
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Top Albums

  • Mirrored
    Battles Play
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  • B EP
    Battles Play
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  • Ep C/B Ep
    Battles Play
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  • EP C
    Battles Play
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Top Tracks

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  • ArsonistSavior

    Anyone have any live bootlegs of the EP era performances? This guy here would be most grateful.

    last week

  • artgeek707

    Gloss Drop is perfect summer music

    last week

  • caffeineandvase

    new mixtape http://www.zolinsagt.de/2012/05/mixtape-32-series.html

    last week

  • VentcoreFrog

    Pretty much. It also doesn't help the label that Ian Williams and Dave Konopka used Battles to explicitly get away from the math-rock sound of their old bands. I don't blame people TOO much, though. Battles' sound is pretty hard to just pin down.

    last week

  • kouta55

    santana? no indie, no like :(

    last week

  • AutumnOath

    I don't get how people can call Battles Math Rock either. They were never all too math-y. One could argue their first EPs would fit that partly. When I think about Math Rock, I don't think about Battles primarily. I think about DonCab, Hella, Tera Melos, early Foals, LITE, nuito, Dillinger Escape Plan, Toe, Drive Like Jehu. I'd think about god knows what but not Battles. Their Math Rock days were over before they even begun.

    last week

  • VentcoreFrog

    I wouldn't really call Battles math rock either.

    last week

  • sglangdon

    It sounds the same no matter what you call it. Bitching about genre tags = dumb.

    last week
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Dross Glop Out Now

17 Apr 2012 | from bttls.com

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