Battles are inhuman.
 

Those guys are inhuman, really. Or superheroes, either.

1) Their drummer is just too fast and too good to be human
2) Guitarists can play tapping guitars and synths at the same time
3) Tyondai Braxton is an incredible vocalist. See what he sings in Ddiamondd:


So my conclusion is that their not human. Which probably explains why they're so good.

I'm not a big fan of Mirrors. The other shit was fucking intense, though.

I'm assuming you just watched the Lowlands set, SYRFox.

Yeah, intense.

An aside here, but when I made a double disc comp from last year's releases, "Ddiamondd" was the very first track, and the only by Battles.

Lowlands? Vat iz tat? I didn't watch it but it seems like it's even more intense according to your message, what is it?

it's a pro shot set from the lowlands festival. up on dime. pretty great, i wish the drums' sound was a bit more "prominent" in the mix, though...

Haha I love the lrycis to DDiamondd.
As a joke, I tried to look up battles lyrics (I just thought they were singing whatever) and was surprised to find that they had lyrics.

^ yeah, i thought it was just random humming. those lyrics are awesome though.

so basically they were on tv today, the atlas video and a live video from lowlands and i came to the conclusion that they are cyborgs. theres no way in which they could do that.

besides the drumer being so fast, he just sounds so fucking clean and it sounds more like a drum machine.

and tyonday's movements and everything creep me out.


bttls rule!

john stanier's always been a good drummer. he's part of what made tomahawk really enjoyable for me, b/c he plays really interesting rhythms CLEANLY without sounding all neal pert-y.

and yeah, they're fucking swell live. ty's a really cool guy.

they're human, too. mostly.

Battles drumming is good, but this guy rules all right now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_cnh...eature=related

listen to don cab; they're even more insane.

yeh, the battles EPs are better than the album.

don cab is a better band, true, for respect and don cab 2 are math rock masterpieces, but battles is more complex. but yeah, i was trying to avoid battles for a long time because nobody would stop talking about how great they are, so i was like, fuck battles, then i heard them, and i was like, fuck, battles rules, i suck.

i wonder if daddy (anthony) braxton is proud of the musis his son is doing?

There's a thousand Battles threads, and you have to start a new one?

I saw them in November here in Buenos Aires, they didn't play Diamondd
but they played almost the entire EP that night.
Stanier is superfast, but Dan Peters is still better for me

Not my cup of tea.

Does John Stanier play in Battles? I did not know that. I guess I learnt something.

He also plays in an Australian band called the Mark of Cain. Very early Helmet-eqsue. Top band.

maybe the best show ive ever seen... saw them in sydney... met Ian and Tyondai afterwards, both are nice dudes... i talked to Ian for almost 3 minutes or something,

Tapping and playing synth at the same time isn't too hard if you are already decent at tapping.

I've heard some of their stuff and I don't really get it. I prefer Damon Che's band Thee Speaking Canaries as far as Don Cab related bands go.

Don Cab is freaking awesome btw.

yeah same here!

Where in Sydney are you at, Dave?

when i saw them they sucked, although they did have sound problems and crappy festival organistation meant their set was cut way short.

Zero, I was only there for 4 days... i lived in Byron from october 06-october 07...

Butcher, I saw them in a nice venue... festivals can ruin bands sometimes

battles get old really fast. amazing on the first couple of listens then a tired chore.

there's better bands and better musicians. i miss orthrelm.

battles on record = brilliance
battles live in the flesh = incredible brilliance

battles are astounding musicians and so what if they have "broken thru" to becoming extremely popular. its a great sign that great music reaches far beyond the chin strokers of the alternative scene. i mean battles have been used in many tv programme soundtracks including football and motorsport recently.... amazing band, amazing records and im not going to pretend im too cool to like them anymore!!!

don cab are also amazing but its a different thing to battles...... and i prefer mirrored to the e.ps, the e.ps have amazing songs but too much filler.

The title of the thread is kind of funny as Battles' music is too dehumanized for me to enjoy them.

Yeah, at first it's like, "Ok, pretty fucking tight....nothing TOO insane" and then he throws in some insane fill that kind of defies your eyes.

Has he always been the Mars Volta drummer? I could never really get that much into them....I've heard their first album, but I don't recall hearing any drums like the shit in that video.

He's also on the cover of DRUM! magazine this month....I haven't gotten around to reading the article yet.

I fucking love The Battles.

Battlesmania, y'all...

No, Jon Theodore was the drummer for Tremulant EP and the first 3 albums, then he left, they played some shows with a 2 more drummers and then found this guy. He's the drummer that plays on "The Bedlam in Goliath". The drums parts on that album are insanity. I never knew gospel drummers were so crazy. I might have to start listening to more.......but probably not.

battles are technically talented but their songs aren't that amazing. good producer and great drummer though!

I see, I see. Well, this dude has intrigued me enough to sample the album now. Ha!

The Bedlam in Goliath is uber aggressive. It doesn't have any of the 5+ minute soundscapes that the others do. Literally, from the 1st second it's speeding at you and doesn't let up until track 6.

Awesome, yeah their other stuff kind of put me to sleep and I love long 5+ minute soundscapes!!!

Right. I've been listening to the Battles record more than I usually do for a record that's ok but not anything exceptional and I've come to the conclusion that somewhere along the lines someone has decided that Tortoise are a good idea again. Which is fine, it was a good idea the first time round.