Battles, with Singer and Pixel Panda
July 10, 2007
The Record Bar
Better Than: Lying on the sidewalk in the rain, stoned. Mostly.
Review by Jason Harper
"How can you not know about the tall cymbal?"
The dude in the baseball cap had yelled in approval as Battles drummer John Stanier (formerly of Helmet) raised his 7-foot cymbal during setup, like a flag. Thinking that, you know, knowledge of an instrumental rock band's having a really tall cymbal -- however trademark an image -- was a bit arcane, I had asked him, "How do you know about the tall cymbal?"
How can you not know about the tall cymbal?
And how can you not know about Battles? Though by the end of the night, when Battles finally came on (12:23 a.m.), many of them had left, most of these people seemed to know about this New York experimental-instrumental-weirdamental-mental rock band -- and the buzz surrounding it.
In a town where usually only the big, radio-sponsored shows draw a pre-show line, the line outside the Record Bar stretched from the door all the way down to the little pavilion outside the quaint scrapbooking-supply store. For a Tuesday night, that's just crazy -- and damn great.
Needless to say, it made for a packed house. Local openers Pixel Panda (minus panda masks) enjoyed an audience of folks packt like sardines in a crushed tin box, and they certainly played for them -- a little too long, in fact. The Panda is a distorted little beast. The interplay of brothers Jorge and Luis Arana on guitar and bass, respectively, is like Rush in a blender. Were Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee to go into a dead run at each other in the middle of fuckin' YYZ and collide with each other onstage and try their damnedest to keep playing, you'd get for a few seconds what the Arana brothers sound like for an entire show. And they're actually playing lines, too, hacking out skronky, atonal, mathy lines with equal measures of dementia and concentration, driven on by the commanding, forceful, time-signature-raping drumming of Dan Bottemuller. (I think that's who it is.) And then there's "singer" Do-Yun Kim, who, when he's not up-rocking like a breakdancer or doing handsprings, dances in weirdly fluid springing movements that make him look as if he's in a backward-moving film. Vocally, he seems to do little more than bark like a small, hoarse dog: Yap yap! Yap yap! Yap yap yap! Theoretically, Pixel Panda could replace Do-Yun with anything -- a vase full of umbrellas, a heat lamp -- and retain its absurdity and fury, but it's always good to have a frontman to help things along, the madder the better. Do-Yun's definitely that.
Next up was a band called Singer. Not much has been published about it yet. It's made up of members of the late-'90s Chicago band US Maple, which you may have heard of if you like noisy postrock, from what I've gathered. Also in the band is Kansas Citian Rob Lowe of 90 Day Men. Feel free to post comments berating me for not knowing much about this shit. I do know that Singer's set seemed like one long, dissonant chordal moan: slow and crushingly dull. It's one of those bands that people say is a whole lot better when you're stoned. Well, so is late-night TV or eating a bean burrito or lying on a sidewalk in the rain -- and you don't have to pay $8. I guess slow, discordant rock that specifically tries not to entertain the audience but rather to "challenge their notions" or whatever -- I guess that kind of thing brings out the populist in me. If you like heady bro-jams, good for you. It takes a certain kind of hombre, to be sure.
Battles' setup took a bit of time. This was not surprising, given that the band uses a lot of electronics and sampling on top of guitars, drums and bass, and there was much fanfare when the tall cymbal was raised. "Experimental" is a great term for what Battles does, because it's as if the music, like the desired result of a chemistry experiment, can be created only in precise, laboratory conditions. The highly percussive, pulsating music fuses the digital and material, with the human members of the band acting more like conduits than musicians. Stanier's drums -- and tall cymbal -- were center stage. On either side were guitarists, keyboardist and doodad operators Ian Williams (ex-Don Caballero) and Tyondai Braxton (son of Anthony), and in the back lurked guitarist and bassist Dave Konopka. Were Steve Reich to start a modern-compositional bar band, he'd do well to collaborate with these guys. The Battles method, if there even is one, is arpeggiated chords locked clamorously to a steady but complex pulse. It's not dissimilar to the instrumental postrock of Chicago band Tortoise, but it's more intricate and frenetic. Loosen your attention or step too far away, and it seems like cerebral noodling. Get close, though, and it's hard not to move and shake and feel sparks in the brain.
Battles battled the last call, playing until the lights came on and the bar clock was right at closing. Smoke hung in the air, but it was the perfomance that left most people breathless. Weirdness and originality are rarely so entertaining when combined with sheer musical fury. Follow the tall cymbal.
Critic's Notebook
Personal Bias: I like songs with discernible lyrics and melodies.
Random Detail: Battles' Ian Williams looks like Rupert Everett.
By the way: Pixel Panda keyboardist Alicia Solombrino is no longer with the band. She was in the audience, however, drinking beer through a straw.
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Jason,
Really, how long would it take to find the names of the band members with just the minimal amount of journalistic skills?
I didn't even really mean this negatively, but I see how it could come off that way. I think I might describe the Pixel Panda as "unlikeable," but mainly in the sense that it's not very accessible. It's loud and atonal and not very kind to the ears. Am I being negative in saying that? Nope. But at the same time, there are bands that do that same thing, only better. Like the Blood Brothers, for instance (as a friend pointed out to me privately after this review was posted).
this is true! the drummer is josh enyart. but i love playing all of the previous panda drummers writings! and cant wait till we discover what happens next! we must be the most negativly written about band ever, but bad press is better than no press! thanks
The drummer for Pixel Panda is Josh Enyart, not "Dan Bottemuller (I think that's who it is)"
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