Rockness Recommends
Battles and No Age blow your mind.
October 23, 2007
What a furious one-two punch this will be! Battles (the best band we saw at the Oya Festival in Norway a couple weeks ago) rocks the Henry Fonda Theater, along with the one of our favorite new bands, No Age .
It's absurd how talented the members of Battles are. I mean, you know by reading and googling that Battles features former members of luminous bands like Helmet, Don Caballero, Storm and Stress and Lynx. But you don't really know what that kind of pedigree means musically, or how that background translates to their stage show, until you witness it for yourself. These four guys are just crazy good. Sometime, way back when they were in all those bands, they figured it all out. Watching them is watching a band that's tapped into some elusive musical secret.
To call what Battles does "math-rock" doesn't really give them or their rhythms justice. Every band that didn't have a singer and liked to guitar-noodle mid-song were called math-rock. But Battles does more than shift tempos and create time disruptions. Call what they do "quantum-physics-core" or something.
Both Ian William and Tyondai Braxton are guitar gods, finger tapping their way towards rock-out enlightenment. But just to prove that they are indeed better than most every musician you know, they also pound out catchy keyboard riffs at the same time. It's truly a sight to behold. I have trouble tapping my head and rubbing my stomach at the same time. Not these guys.
Drummer John Stanier is clearly as good, if not better, than Williams' old Don Cab battery mate, Damon Che (and Che is a drumming god, so there you go). He doesn't play the drums; he attacks them with contained fury. All the while, David Konopka lurks with his guitar in the background, keeping melodic civility to the rhythmic unrest.
Studying these guys as they play, you can tell from their clenched faces (and sweaty shirts) that the music they're making requires their utmost concentration. They're like torch-jugglers riding on a ten-foot tall unicycle over a tight-rope. You won't get any crowd winks, or much witty banter. These guys are totally focused on their mission to rock you out. It's fast, it's precise, and it's exhilarating. Man, I bet these guys burn a ton of calories every night.
Opening is Los Angeles' lo-fi-garage-noise duo No Age! This band has been compared to everyone from Lightning Bolt to Deerhunter to Built to Spill. And you can throw in some of the rudimentary recording elements of The Ramones into the mix, too.
No Age is comprised of Dean Spunt and Randy Randall, both formerly of the LA beloved punk band, Wives. These two guys throw out all sorts of musical fastballs, curves and changes from the stage. Sometimes No Age engage in full-on rock feak-outs (Lightning Bolt), and at other times they get a little spacey, slow and hazy (Deerhunter). They also employ melodic guitar solos throughout (Built to Spill). There's no predictability here, other than a definite D.I.Y. vibe.
Battles and No Age play the Henry Fonda Theater, on Tuesday, October 30th.
It's absurd how talented the members of Battles are. I mean, you know by reading and googling that Battles features former members of luminous bands like Helmet, Don Caballero, Storm and Stress and Lynx. But you don't really know what that kind of pedigree means musically, or how that background translates to their stage show, until you witness it for yourself. These four guys are just crazy good. Sometime, way back when they were in all those bands, they figured it all out. Watching them is watching a band that's tapped into some elusive musical secret.
To call what Battles does "math-rock" doesn't really give them or their rhythms justice. Every band that didn't have a singer and liked to guitar-noodle mid-song were called math-rock. But Battles does more than shift tempos and create time disruptions. Call what they do "quantum-physics-core" or something.
Both Ian William and Tyondai Braxton are guitar gods, finger tapping their way towards rock-out enlightenment. But just to prove that they are indeed better than most every musician you know, they also pound out catchy keyboard riffs at the same time. It's truly a sight to behold. I have trouble tapping my head and rubbing my stomach at the same time. Not these guys.
Drummer John Stanier is clearly as good, if not better, than Williams' old Don Cab battery mate, Damon Che (and Che is a drumming god, so there you go). He doesn't play the drums; he attacks them with contained fury. All the while, David Konopka lurks with his guitar in the background, keeping melodic civility to the rhythmic unrest.
Studying these guys as they play, you can tell from their clenched faces (and sweaty shirts) that the music they're making requires their utmost concentration. They're like torch-jugglers riding on a ten-foot tall unicycle over a tight-rope. You won't get any crowd winks, or much witty banter. These guys are totally focused on their mission to rock you out. It's fast, it's precise, and it's exhilarating. Man, I bet these guys burn a ton of calories every night.
Opening is Los Angeles' lo-fi-garage-noise duo No Age! This band has been compared to everyone from Lightning Bolt to Deerhunter to Built to Spill. And you can throw in some of the rudimentary recording elements of The Ramones into the mix, too.
No Age is comprised of Dean Spunt and Randy Randall, both formerly of the LA beloved punk band, Wives. These two guys throw out all sorts of musical fastballs, curves and changes from the stage. Sometimes No Age engage in full-on rock feak-outs (Lightning Bolt), and at other times they get a little spacey, slow and hazy (Deerhunter). They also employ melodic guitar solos throughout (Built to Spill). There's no predictability here, other than a definite D.I.Y. vibe.
Battles and No Age play the Henry Fonda Theater, on Tuesday, October 30th.
