MOG

9 out of 10 Stars

Imagine you've gone to the theater to see a performance by a group of performance artists playing music that is indigenous to their country. Sure you've seen the children of Uganda, Tuvan throat singers, and Gamelan musicians from Indonesia, but this is special. These are a group of people that the bill says is from Metalstonia. You are anxious. When the curtain drops you are greeted by a large group of dwarves that are playing huge imaginary looking contraptions in syncopation. There's a large feeling at once that grips the whole audience and you are instantaneously mesmerized.

That's what I think of when I listen to the first album by the Battles. They are actually 4 musicians: Tyondai Braxton, Ian Williams (Don Caballero), John Stanier (Helmet), and David Konopka (Lynx). Braxton is the son of avant-garde jazz legend Anthony Braxton. He's participated in a number of bands and helped a lot of musicians. Some of his work has included multimedia and theater.

There's something rather magical about this album. It reminds me of how techno or tribal music is organized. You start out with a repeating rhythm. You add another instrument with a different rhythm. You bring in another and another until it's a large and captivating sound that won't let go. It has twists and turns and some drop out and new ones come in until you wind up back where you started from.

The songs are fantastic journeys. They conjure up images galore. Take the second track "Atlas" for instance. It starts out with a "Beautiful People"-esque pounding drum line and repeated guitar sequence. Immediately it's layering on sounds. It builds into a bizarre elf creature chant by Braxton. The music seems to repeat but it changes ever so slightly that you don't realize that you're on a constant journey. I imagine moving across the globe at a lighting quick pace. It all looks the same but little by little it changes. The song, like your journey, will eventually take you right back to where you started from.

"Leyendecker" Is another good one. Starts off with a creeping baseline and an industrial hiphop sounding snare beat. There's a Led Zeppelin "No Quarter" sounding guitar line that slips in here and there. There's a strange voice by Braxton that sounds like you sampled all of the "Oooh"'s out of today's top pop hits.

I really found this album to be a fantastic and inspiring listen. Rock can be so stagnant at times. This is a nice bright light amongst a lot of the schlock rock out there. I'm already looking forward to future releases. The group is on the techno label Warp and it will be released May 14th 2007. The track I'm posting is "Atlas". It's a great first album and I recommend giving it a chance.