Someone recently asked me what sort of music Battles made. Rather than actually trying to describe their sound I instead emitted and series of grunts and bleeps and started doing a strange twirly dance. This was on a packed Luas. It took me a few minutes to convince the ticket inspector that I wasn't actually having an episode but rather trying to express, through bodily contortions, the strange effect Battles music has on me. But enough about me. I'm only intermittently brilliant. Battles' set on Friday night in Tripod on the other hand was a flipping marvel from start to finish.
Arriving onstage to a hero's welcome the band played an infectiously rousing show. Freaky slabs of mewling techno spazz rock that had us jerking around like malfunctioning robots. Current single Atlas got the biggest reaction of the night but the highpoint for me was the brilliantly funky and deranged Leyendecker. Special mention has to be given to drummer John Stainer who gave the performance of at least four lifetimes. Up front and centre stage the man was a frantic blur of hands, sticks, sweat and cymbals. That's not to say the rest of the band took it lightly in any way. Tyondi Braxton and Ian Williams lunged from guitar to keyboard, sometimes playing both at the same time, like a pair of drunken children. It was a joy to watch.
In a word, sticky.
S.B.
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