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What do you do if you lose your lead singer? If you’re Iron Maiden or New Order you just batter on with a quickly recruited new singer, then just revel in waves of acclaim. If you’re INXS you audition a random idiot on reality TV – then sack him. After Tyondai Braxton left Battles to pursue his solo career, the remaining trio decided to not replace him altogether – a tactic that’s working out beautifully for Battles, since ‘Gloss Drop’ is sublime.
Their robotic, metallic guitars romp around, teasing out a baroque space opera that’s both seemingly measured in nano-bars and obsessed with pushing beyond the outer limits of our sonic understanding. Yet despite ‘Gloss Drop’ often sounding so like androids deep in a mercurial orgy, they manage to shake us from this delirium by a few key vocal guests. Gary Numan sings on the frenetic ‘My Machines’, whilst Kazu Makino of Blonde Redhead and Yamantaka Eye from The Boredoms swing by to stitch some guttural reality into the proceedings. But Kompakt’s Matias Aguero probably steals the show on ‘Ice Cream’ – a trippy, fleshy wriggle that is packed with funk and processed riffs that is as guaranteed to induce synesthesia as make you dance. – Clash
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