Mirrored

iTunes Review

Whether you call it math rock, nerd rock, post-rock or any of the newer genre names that have been conceived in recent years, Battles’ ancestral roots speak loudest: Krautrock and experimental rock, both birthed decades ago, fuel this ferocious foursome. Comprised of members of bands such as Helmet and Don Caballero, lesser-known avant-garde musician and composer Tyondai Braxton is at the center of Battles’ sound, and is undoubtedly responsible for a good deal of the offbeat and playful risk-taking on Mirrored (check out his work with Parts & Labor if you’re feeling really edgy).   Here we have instrumentation with purpose and power-tool precision, compositions with hard angles and sharp edges, and structured, architectural rhythms. Nothing — not an instrument or a loop or a percussive note — exists superfluously, everything has a purpose and a place.  Versions of some of these tracks can be found on earlier EPs (such as the hugely impressive “Atlas,” with its assembly line guitar parts, munchkin-like vocals and machine buzz working together to create a memorable melody, for lack of a better word), but this cohesive, first full-length release is a great place to start. Guitars and synths co-conspire, creating industrial/dance rhythms and evocative soundscapes, dotted with artful digital flourishes, shadows of avant-jazz, and enchanting anomalies such as jingling bells, cartoonish, manipulated vocals and whistled refrains. No offense to rockers everywhere, but this is really an astonishing work for a bunch of rock dudes.  Just expect the unexpected.