Battles (@ Warp 20th): blinding

The Coronet
5 December 2009

A majestic aura surrounds Battles, which is a bit unlikely as their music is - not hard to listen to exactly, but never obvious, often jarring rhythmically, and any earworms tend to be developed (ie disappear) as soon as they arrive. Nonetheless they have the status many would wish for; maybe the (in)frequency of their live shows helps to build their mystique.

Headlining the London leg of the Warp birthday celebrations, they demonstrated their consummate musicianship with new and old songs, including one new tune that can only be described as a Northern Soul 60's surf song played by Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath with fuzzy guitars borrowed from Girls. Frugging ensued amongst younger elements of the audience, always pleasing to see.

Best received were favourites from Mirrored, unsurprisingly, with Atlas the night's stand out by a distance. There did seem to be an unexpected flavour of the Animal Collective's live vibe to some of the action, partly in the sense that nothing sat still for 2 minutes, and partly in the way the sounds were layered and built up, so that the journey to what the next song was going to be became part of the event. There was also an unsavoury reminder, in Ian Williams' exaggerated body language, of the keyboard player from The National, who grimaces and poses to dramatise the physical challenges of, er, playing some chords on the keyboard. We could all do without such theatrics, but can cast a forgiving eye - just this once, mind - as they are, overall, so far above and beyond most others that we should be pleased to see them at all.

Also worth mentioning were Nice Nice, a duo who seemed to cover most styles, from Krautrock to Rock rock to blues rock to funk rock and more, but without seeming as undecided as this description suggests.