Battles-La Di Da Di (2015)
Battles-La Di Da
Di (2015)
“The word music is a convenient way to talk
about what I'm interested in, but actually, in some ways, it's a limitation.”
Anthony Braxton
By: Ghost Writer
The amazing
group known as Battles keep facing the great “battle” of their career,
surviving the loss of their outstanding once time leader Tyondai Braxton, son
of the great saxophone player Anthony Braxton, Anthony was an outstanding
musician, it would be a sin to classify him as just a jazz player, given the
fact that his music transcended genres, Tyondai must be following one day his
dad´s solo adventures.
After the charming Mirrored, featuring the unstoppable Atlas, Gloss Drop followed and became the proof that there was more life for Battles beyond Braxton, thanks in great part to the inclusion of guest vocalist that made wonders for the bad dynamics, but it seems that the band is decided to prove themselves once again, this time without outside input.
La Di Da Di is another outstanding piece by the band, it might not be as direct as their last record, without a doubt their fully instrumental pieces add up to the enigmatic nature of the band, like a modern math rock version of the mighty Kraftwerk, Battles are in route to eliminate excessive human features of the music, as mechanical cold calculated rhythms and inhuman melody lines became the norm here.
From the beginning we are fronted by the peculiar The Yabba, a tune obviously inspired by middle east and oriental music, which I could call innovative if I wasn't for Mr. Bungle who made a similar tune two decades ago by the name Desert Search for Techno Allah on their amazing Disco Volante record, or Trey Spruance's Secret Chiefs 3, who made a discrete career with these kind of experiments, while Dot Net sounds closer to the electronic music of Aphex Twin, although John Stainer makes the big difference not only in this theme but in the whole record with his precise and powerful metal jazz drumming developed after years of playing with the mighty Helmet.
But the definite star of the record is the amazing and intense interplay the band develop in tunes like the incredible FF Bada in which the three players engage in a powerful musical dialogue perfectly anchored by Stainer letting both multi instrumentalists, Williams and Konopka to fly like two majestic eagles making intricate neon melodies and going into the even more baroque Summer Simmer with the tremendous bass work Konopka who obviously refuses to take the roll of a common bass player and leads the action in a very active way, leaving little room for Williams dissonant guitar work.
Songs in the record are pretty short which adds a lot to the intensity and helps them to be more direct, less tedious than some long extended prog jams, but some intro simply get a little lost like in Cacio o Pepe which ends nowhere, but they get really fast back at full speed with Non-Violence, a gleaming tune with great almost intricate arrangements and an almost hypnotic melody, Dot Com is a little bit of the same, starting with some mediocre intro but then developing into an interesting melody and the morphing into a brutal rock metal jam.
After the charming Mirrored, featuring the unstoppable Atlas, Gloss Drop followed and became the proof that there was more life for Battles beyond Braxton, thanks in great part to the inclusion of guest vocalist that made wonders for the bad dynamics, but it seems that the band is decided to prove themselves once again, this time without outside input.
La Di Da Di is another outstanding piece by the band, it might not be as direct as their last record, without a doubt their fully instrumental pieces add up to the enigmatic nature of the band, like a modern math rock version of the mighty Kraftwerk, Battles are in route to eliminate excessive human features of the music, as mechanical cold calculated rhythms and inhuman melody lines became the norm here.
From the beginning we are fronted by the peculiar The Yabba, a tune obviously inspired by middle east and oriental music, which I could call innovative if I wasn't for Mr. Bungle who made a similar tune two decades ago by the name Desert Search for Techno Allah on their amazing Disco Volante record, or Trey Spruance's Secret Chiefs 3, who made a discrete career with these kind of experiments, while Dot Net sounds closer to the electronic music of Aphex Twin, although John Stainer makes the big difference not only in this theme but in the whole record with his precise and powerful metal jazz drumming developed after years of playing with the mighty Helmet.
But the definite star of the record is the amazing and intense interplay the band develop in tunes like the incredible FF Bada in which the three players engage in a powerful musical dialogue perfectly anchored by Stainer letting both multi instrumentalists, Williams and Konopka to fly like two majestic eagles making intricate neon melodies and going into the even more baroque Summer Simmer with the tremendous bass work Konopka who obviously refuses to take the roll of a common bass player and leads the action in a very active way, leaving little room for Williams dissonant guitar work.
Songs in the record are pretty short which adds a lot to the intensity and helps them to be more direct, less tedious than some long extended prog jams, but some intro simply get a little lost like in Cacio o Pepe which ends nowhere, but they get really fast back at full speed with Non-Violence, a gleaming tune with great almost intricate arrangements and an almost hypnotic melody, Dot Com is a little bit of the same, starting with some mediocre intro but then developing into an interesting melody and the morphing into a brutal rock metal jam.
La Di Da Di
is without a doubt great instrumental fun, its intensity safeguards the tunes
from becoming unbearable, but saturation gets a little uncomfortable in some
spots, Battles doesn't seem to be getting closer to the catchiness of their
first record or to the wide dynamics of their second one as they are deviating
towards defining their approach and going for a more concise but powerful
direction.
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