Battles concert photos from The Glass House, Pomona, CA
New York based group Battles is one of the few super groups to branch off as their own and become as viable and important as any of the bands their members come from. With lineage in Don Caballero, Tomahawk, Storm & Stress and Helmet, the people who make up Battles cover a large group of sound that has become to be known as math rock. Complex in time signatures, musical arrangements and harmony with odd usage of pedals and effects, math rock is a genre that has pushed the limitations of rock music further than any other rock based genre in the last 2 decades. Warp recording artists Battles have pulled all of that energy together and put something completely new on it, especially with the release of their last two records. Gloss Drop is the latest full length from the band and tours have not stopped since the album dropped in June of this year.
We sent our photographer Oliver Walker to capture stills of Battles performing at the intimate and long standing Southern, CA venue The Glass House. Full of intense amounts of energy, the photos Oliver captured highlight the frenetic and professional level of a show you get when Battles comes into town. The tours for the band have been much talked about events with this month seeing an apex of the year in All Tomorrows Parties. The band were asked to curate an ATP event for last week and the following guests were hand picked by the band: Underground Resistance, Flying Lotus, Gary Numan, Bitch Magnet, Washed Out, The Psychic Paramount, Thank You, Nisennen Mondai, Walls (live), Phil Manley Life Coach, Dead Rider and Cults. Battles have created a world where influence of so many kinds co-exists in the same room. We can’t tell you how much that resonates at home with the vision we set in place two years ago when SCV started. Battles is one of our favorite bands, if you have a chance to see a live show from them, don’t hesitate to make it a must see event. Enjoy this photo set from the talented hands of Oliver Walker.
-Erik Otis
If you are in Australia and are looking for your Battles fix, the following shows have been scheduled for the group in the beginning of 2012
JANUARY
20 Auckland, New Zealand, Big Day Out → Buy Tickets
22 Gold Coast, Australia, Big Day Out → Buy Tickets
23 Sydney, Australia, Metro → Buy Tickets
26 Sydney, Australia, Big Day Out → Buy Tickets
28 Melbourne, Australia, Forum → Buy Tickets
29 Melbourne, Australia, Big Day Out → Buy Tickets
FEBRUARY
3 Adelaide, Australia, Big Day Out → Buy Tickets
5 Perth, Australia, Big Day Out → Buy Tickets
BATTLES LIVE AT THE GLASSHOUSE, POMONA, CA
BATTLES and NISENNENMONDAI lit up the Pomona Glasshouse this year, delighting fans of experimental rock from near and far.
Boundless energy and toxic precision are the hallmarks of Tokyo natives NISENNENMONDAI. Quick-tempoed nightmares of guitar feedback by Masako Takada coupled with the frantic drumming of Sayaka Himeno whose ponytail sometimes mimicked the movement and violence of an active volcano were framed by the bass stylings of Yuri Zaikawa.
Surrounded by piles of pedals and walls of instruments, BATTLES broke into show-opener AFRICASTLE backed by two gigantic LCD screens. John Stanier’s mile-high cymbal took center-stage as the band waged war with the limits of their instruments, live-looping and improvising everything but the vocals in their eleven song set. Hearing Atlas and Africastle live were highlights for me, seeing as they perfectly capture both the elusive and hypoxiatic energy and the apex grandeur of the BATTLES compositions.
-Oliver Walker
