AlbumsBattles || Gloss Drop
Battles
Gloss Drop
Label: Warp Records
Released on: June 7th, 2011
Grade: 4 out of 5 meatballs
Reviewed by: Pawl Schwartz
When I heard Tyondai Braxton had left the band, I began looking forward to this next Battles album. The weird thing is, I don't hate Braxton at all. In fact, I think his solo work is even better than Battles. I am just of the mind that if one thing was going to pigeonhole and marginalize Battles as some kind of goofy-faced one-trick pony, it was going to be the demented elf-on-helium voice that Braxton so often brought as his offering to the song. Playing out that trademark too hard and for too long, Battles became vaguely annoying to all but loyal prog-math-electro guys.
What I didn't realize is that Braxton contributed much more than just a unique voice to the band — he was responsible for a good portion of the song structure. That whole obtuse, musical intelligence thing that Battles had going on in the last album had to have been from him, because now it is gone. I never realized how much of Battles' trademark sound was based in Braxton's composition and electronic manipulation; he did so much more outside of the helium voice. He guided and refined a lot of the bombastic and overwhelming talent in the group, and used them like a special, expensive color of paint when needed. Knowing that now, I must say that I would gladly tolerate more of that voice if it meant Braxton would return to the band.
The songs have turned into jam sessions that lack definition and are definitely led by drummer John Stainer of Helmet. This isn't a bad thing, as Stainer is one of the most talented, refined, and interesting drummers to come along in a while; he turns every hit into its own little art form. His drumming sets the standard for nuance, control, and power in percussion. He's more solid than a superdense blackhole, and a clever little bastard to boot. The only other guy that could have really taken the reigns and stepped out front in the songwriting was Ian Williams of Don Cabellero, but somehow his guitar playing rarely shines on this album. With John Stainer guiding the songs, there is a more natural development to each track, a flowing rhythm to pound out the path for the melodies to follow. This is broken up only by his unexpected fills for slight switch-ups.
Gloss Drop isn't terrible by any means. It's actually pretty good, just not very memorable. It certainly is not an example of a band stepping up to the plate to prove to the world that a band as out there and electronic as Battles can please people from outside its genre. This album is going to bring few if any new people over to the Warp records side of the fence.
The best track on the album is the single ”Ice Cream,” which only goes to prove my point about the wandering nature of this album after Braxton's departure: this is the only song that has a featured artist. The band members that fueled Battles through Mirrored needs another weirdo to help direct and use its energy, to lead them through songs, to use their talents where they are needed. This album is a document of a band running wild and free, jamming on its own.
”Wall Street” is the only other contender for best track. It rules pretty damn hard, starting out with the sort of jolt that every song on their last album gave you because it was so obtuse and unexpected. It'll take your mind a couple of measures to catch up with the electronic noodling that guides the drum part like a snake charmer in this song, but that's okay because Battles 2.0 jams on it for a lot longer than Battles classic would have. All wisecracks aside, this track shows that Battles can still do it, and is certainly the only track that will have fans clapping and yelling about how stupid it is that I gave it a mediocre review when it REALLY RULES!!! It has more samples than most of the songs on the album and obviously took more work. There are some great horns and a lot of variety in the structure. They can layer on more catchy melodies than Girl Talk or Aphex Twin, at least here. There is no way to not get caught up in ”Wall Street.”
At its heart, Gloss Drop rocks, but it’s just a plateau for a band that I thought was going to climb higher. Every track on the previous album was its own little world; skipping through tracks was like being hit in the face over and over. It was truly an album you had to listen to more than a couple of times to really hear, and to really like. Gloss Drop will please fans, but only a couple of tracks will truly delight them.
Reader Comments (1)
do some research about the history of the band before you write a post. meh.