Battles: The art of play

One of the first shows Battles played behind its new album La Di Da Di nearly ended in defeat. The New York City-based experimental rock trio was unrehearsed, about to take the stage in Laois, Ireland when a crucial piece of gear broke at the last minute. Thanks to an emergency fix from a sound guy, the equipment was fixed, and that flashpoint of tension jolted the band past its vulnerability, into a state of frenetic power Battles has spent its career perfecting.

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The slippery rhythm opening La Di Da Di on “The Yabba” both contradicts and reaffirm the distinct musical vocabulary guitarist Ian Williams, bassist Dave Konopka, and drummer John Stanier have refined over three albums and various EPs.

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Like the entirety of La Di Da Di, “The Yabba” is instrumental, and relies on the band’s ability to create, destroy, and reconstruct loops in an infectious and technically dazzling way. Four years have passed since the release of Battles’ previous album Gloss Drop, and the lengthy gap shows. “Gloss Drop was crazy because we were in the studio for eight months trying to salvage an album that was tanking,” Konopka says. “It led to more of an individualistic approach to songwriting where on La Di Da Di, we made a conscientious effort for reciprocal songwriting.”

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Gloss Drop was written in the wake of original member Tyondai Braxton’s departure and the remaining three were left to re-write the album under the threat of deadlines. Even with major setbacks, the album attracted new groups of fans, due in part to excellent collaborations with Gary Numan, Matias Aguayo, and Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino. Battles has since eschewed any vocals, but maintained Gloss Drop’s sense of spastic glee.

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“Naturally we’re interested in things that are more cerebral, but you can tend to write boring music if you just rely on that,” Konopka says. “It’s important for us to keep that primal need to enjoy music where you can feel it.”

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Given each member’s background, making danceable music doesn’t seem like a natural part of their skill set. Williams maintains a legendary status as the finger-tapping maelstrom behind math rock pioneers Don Caballero. Konopka has similar experience playing for Boston-band Lynx, and Stanier spent a decade refining his drum corps-precision in the influential noise rock outfit Helmet. Somehow, Battles doesn’t drown in the impressive technical chops of its members, instead placing melody and repetition at the forefront.

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Album standout “FF Bada” exemplifies the trio’s mastery of repetition. The song begins simply enough as layers of muted guitar lines sink on top of each other, supported by a hard-hitting funk groove reminiscent of late ’60s James Brown. Each loop slips in and out of sync, contorting slightly until they all converge into a crash of rhythmic frenzy. “That element of repetition is like this anchor where you can play off of things and re-contextualize parts,” he says.

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Battles’ emphasis on playful repetition is the core element that provokes its audience to react in a completely different way than a Don Caballero crowd. Nearly every song gets threaded together for a live show so there’s barely a moment to breathe among the stream of rhythms, whether it comes from the drums or one of the band’s kaleidoscopic synth patches. “I think it’s important to get a physical response especially so it’s not too navel gazing,” Konopka says. “It’s alienating if you don’t have this element of playfulness, and this is coming from a guy who doesn’t understand dancing at all.”

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That playfulness separates Battles from the countless acts relying on off-kilter songwriting and technical expertise. This December the trio will celebrate 13 years together, a time that could easily encapsulate the rise and fall of a band. La Di Da Di showcases the new methods Battles invents for itself to keep having fun after playing for over a decade.

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Konopka points to “Megatouch” as an example: Though most listeners would struggle to hear the similarities, the song is an attempt at making a no-frills reggae jammer. None of the members were familiar with the genre, so naturally they embraced the discomfort. It was the same jolt of anxiety and unease that energized the trio’s performance in Ireland, and the same ability to synthesize tension into joy that defines Battles’ career.

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“Since the beginning of Battles there’s been a sense that ugliness can be beautiful,” Konopka says. “When you embrace that ugliness, it becomes an inspiring place to work from.”