Something 4 The Weekend # 36

We're heading towards the halfway point of 2007, and Battles' CD, Mirrored, is quickly shaping up to be one of my favorite albums of the year, nevermind that it didn't hit the stores until two weeks ago...

Battles: "Tonto": 128k mp3

I hear bits of Peter Gabriel-era Genesis and Animal Collective in this band...The Krautrock legends Can also seem to be a touchstone...I also hear shades of Don Caballero, but then, Battles' guitarist Ian Wiliams used to be in that band...They've got this groovy trance quality to 'em, and yet they're quite "complicated"...Add Tyondai Braxton's unique vocals, which emphasize sound and rhythm rather than textual meaning, and the result is quite exciting and fairly unique...Despite the namechecking, I've never heard a band or album quite like this, and at the age of 41, that's a fairly rare occurrence...Judging by the band's buzz around the internet, I'm not the only one...Should make many year-end best-of lists...

Hotcha! Hank