- Purchase a product from the Music Store sold by Amazon.co.uk and receive £1 to use on an album download in our MP3 Store. Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s
Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or
view the MP3 Album.
|
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk
Battles may be signed to ultra-cool label Warp, and they may have caught the interest of the hipper-than-thou elements in the music press, but their full-length debut Mirrored is, quite simply, a prog-rock album. From the opening drums leading into the quick-time guitar picking of "Race:In", it’s clear that Oxford-based battles have listened to a fair share of Yes albums in their time. And, like the best progressive rock, Mirrored is almost painfully clever, mixing complex electronic sounds in with their more traditional instrumentation, so just when you think they’re just another noodling jam-band, they go and get all weird. The result is a musical playfulness that’s too often missing in so much of the post-rock scene, and best exemplified on the cartoonish vocals of the rather funky "Atlas", or the frantic clap-along "Ddiamondd". Even their more serious-sounding songs are more fun than anything by Tortoise, Sigur Ros, Mogwai or their ilk--the epic "Tonto" sounds, at times, like two songs playing concurrently and occasionally meeting up for a boogie before eventually loping off into the sunset like its namesake. Most post-rock bands seem content for their audience to nod their heads and scratch their beards; Battles, meanwhile, are determined to make you smile. --Robert Burrow
Review
It's long been my conviction that writing about music is one of the most widespread follies of modern times.
Each month, hundreds of thousands of words about music are written by people wearing converse trainers. What does it mean? Why bother describing music? It's like, er! driving a bus about 1930's Russian folkdancing. Makes no sense. This ludicrousness of this practice has rarely been more apparent when it comes to music by Battles.
I've been trying to write this review for weeks, rolling around on the floor of my house in a mindless fog, and the only purpose I can discern for writing WORDS about SOUNDS is that one or two unsuspecting music-lovers may discover THE BEST BAND ON EARTH TODAY.
Battles are an idea of a band, a bizzare dream that Steve Reich had one night after munching a bit too much Roquefort while watching Yes: Live From The House Of Blues. They are an unsolicited gift; a weird rupture in the fabric of everything. Music this experimental shouldn't be fun. Music this cool shouldn't be joyful. Music this weird should not be danceable. Music as unclassifiable, bafflingly complex and structural as this should not be so popular and inclusive.
By rights, this band should not exist.
I suspect that Battles are not actually a bunch of reasonably well-known US muso veterans collaborating on a new and strange project involving pointlessly high crash cymbals, advanced quantum math rock and disturbing vocal samples - but in fact a platoon of hipster time travellers sent back to demonstrate what music sounds like in the future.
You know I went see Battles last night and my mind snapped. I vowed to never pick up a guitar again. I will never wield a laptop in anger. I will give up my designs on alternative pop and simply bask in the savage sun-like glitter and stumbling crunch of Battles. I will call my granny. I will eat a banana every day. I will give thanks to Ganesh, elephant-headed god of crazy sh*t, just for being allowed to live in this dreadful hub of discord on the spindling edge of the 21st Century. I will swear allegiance and wear my merch-stall BTTLS t-shirt until it literally rots off my back.
If you want some words about this music, here are a few: Geological, Cellular, Cheeky, Architectural, Ecstatic, Geomagnetic, Intrepid, Vectorized, Hypnotic, Narcotic, Rubbery, Stupefacient.
Thank you. Can I get back to rolling around on the floor now please? --P J Lucas
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Didn't think I'd like it, but I do,
By
This review is from: Mirrored (Audio CD)
I bought this on the basis of great reviews but have to say I was not impressed when I first listened to it. However, it has grown on me massively and whilst I would never class myself as a fan of this prog rock sound, I now cannot get enough of it. It's just so different and well put together - you feel as if every musical note / beat / input is significant and well thought through. I highly recommend this album but you may find you have to work on it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You have to give this at least 3 listens before you rate it!!!,
By
This review is from: Mirrored (Audio CD)
I don't normally pitch any reviews here on Amazon but thought for this I should as afer hearing this for the first time I really didn't enjoy it too much, I gave it a 2nd try and it was more bearable but after the 3rd then 4th listen I was hooked. I can't stop listening to it now, in full every time and after each time I listen I just want to listen again. It's different and is much more of a dance record than people seem to think. Very impressed!
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Just... bonkers!,
By Amplified Man (Manchester) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mirrored (Audio CD)
This is Battles' 1st album proceeding a couple of E.P.s and all I can say is it's absolutely nutss! I've read quite a lot about Mirrored and everyone has a different opinion of what kind of music it is or where it should be pidgeonholed. I love it when music critics get confused!
Some people are classing it as `post rock' which would place them alongside bands like Explosions in the Sky and Godspeed. Way off. Some people have christened it dance music. Eh? Nowhere close. Some view Mirrored as a `math rock' album. Does anyone know what `Math Rock' is anyway? Most stick it in the prog rock category, which is a lot closer than the others but still not quite there. Whatever the opinion of what genre they belong all the professional reviews I've read are gushing over this album. However good it is I don't think it warrants quite so much praise; here's why. Battles are one of those bands that genuinely defy categorisation and cannot be described under a general term. It's complex fairly cerebral music and incredibly hard to wrap your brain around on the first listen. Battles are drums, guitars, bass, vocals and keyboards; pretty standard rock group elements but what is produced is nothing like you've heard before. The music is based around very short riffs and loops strung together with fills, runs and bridges many with awkward timings and odd rhythms. It's quite robotic and lacking in soul and the electronic elements; keyboards, samples, and effects emphasise this. The vocals are equally abstract; whistling, bizarre high pitched effects and odd chanting. It's weird stuff, and when all these elements are described it sounds really off putting. Yet it's a strangely compelling listen. The first listen is one of shock and awe; the quality of the musicianship; the lack of any traditional structure or melody. Yet it's these qualities that bring you back, it's kind of like slowing down for a car crash; you don't want to, it's wrong, but some morbid curiosity makes you go through with it. After repeated listens it is apparrent that Mirrored does contain some melody, particularly in `Race : In', `Atlas' and `Tonto', and you'll just keep coming back for more. Mirrored is far too inaccessable and esoteric for Battles to get big but I wouldn't be surprised if they gained themselves quite the cult following. Go on, take a chance and buy some brand new music that sounds like nothing you have heard and probably never will again, what big loss could it be? Whether you'll enjoy it is another matter...
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
