Battles shouldn’t even exist as a band right now. The accomplished math-rockers were left without a lead singer when Tyondai Braxton quit in 2009.
While the departure of a band’s frontman is normally the kiss of death for a group’s career, Battles proved to the 9:30 club crowd on Oct. 30 that they could put on a thrilling set with no vocalist necessary.
For the night before Halloween, the crowd was remarkably toned-down, but a few dressed up in costume for the show with one Battles fan sporting a full shark suit.
The three men of Battles lined up across the stage at exactly 9:30 p.m. and did not stop playing for an hour, albeit for a 10-second applause break.
On their infectious new album “Gloss Drop,” the band brought in guest vocalists to lend words to several songs, and Battles used two giant LCD screens on stage to broadcast the featured singers performing their parts.
The screens were used masterfully, with the artsy cuts of the singers serving as the perfect accompaniment to Battles’ dance-infused, vocal-less prog rock.
On opener “Sweetie & Shag,” singer Kazu Makino’s (of indie band Blonde Redhead) face filled the two screens, as Battles’ dissonant bursts of keys accompanied by jingle bells swirled around the vocals.
John Stanier, the band’s drummer, was a sight to behold, a phenomenon behind his drum set that sat front and center on stage. He was equipped with a huge cymbal held aloft on a pole and took every chance he could to wail at it when he wasn’t pounding the drums within an inch of their lives.
Moustached guitarist/keyboardist Ian Williams also helped Stanier in his rhythmic duties, hitting a cowbell as the video of Makino began to skip.
Battles jammed over the blips of vocals, layering on the synths as they transitioned into the fan favorite “Atlas,” from their 2007 album “Mirrored.”
“Atlas” was the only song that featured vocals piped through the speakers as Battles played, but the childlike chant translated well, even without an LCD visual.
The band’s prog-fusion sound relied heavily on dissonant melodies and highly complex rhythms, and Stanier masterfully delivered jaw-dropping percussion work throughout the entire set.
Williams stood with his guitar in between two keyboards, on duty to play Battles’ signature Caribbean steel drum-like synth. On many occasions he played them both at the same time, adding to the cacophony on stage by manipulating the keys to sound like everything from a harpsichord to a nightmarish foghorn, all the while facing the audience.
While Battles’ earlier material was mechanical and foreboding, the featured songs from “Gloss Drop” retained the band’s technical prowess while taking on a more playful feel. “Wall Street” was a veritable sugar high, as guys in the audience pogo-ed to the Caribbean synth grooves.
As the song weaved into bursts of drums and the LCD screens began to flash images of a certain dessert, the crowd began to cheer: it was time for “Ice Cream,” the band’s infectious single.
Battles teased the crowd for a few minutes with an extended interlude as Stanier frantically fixed a cymbal. As the band launched into the song’s signature keys the LCD screens lit up with vocalist Matias Aguayo, who danced on screen along with the gleeful audience.
Battles did not let a moment of their show go to waste as they mixed each song into the next, and every track blended together to form a never-ending ingenious display of rhythm.
Battles’ sound turned towards the darker side after the twisted pop of “Ice Cream,” as they followed with the metallic “My Machines,” which featured a bleary mascara-eyed Gary Numan gazing straight into the camera while he delivered his soaring verses.
Finally, Battles stopped playing for a minute to deliver a combination welcome, thank you and goodbye to the crowd, and closed their set with the lurching, spooky “Futura.”
When Battles left the stage, the crowd finally had a chance to applaud the band’s impressive performance, which they did frantically until Williams returned a full 20 seconds later.
For a man who had interacted as little as possible with the crowd, Williams good-naturedly goofed around with the audience, complimenting costumed fans and giving a shoutout to the crowd.
But the lightheartedness didn’t last long, for Battles were back to business for their encore, easing into an otherworldly build of harpsichord-esque synths and a driving guitar riff that later morphed into the Caribbean-flavored “Dominican Fade.”
Battles succeeded on all counts at the 9:30 club Monday night. The band’s unique blend of math-rock technical wizardry and danceable beats flourished in a live setting. And all the while, they made not having a lead singer look like an absolute blast.
mmcdermott@theeagleonline.com
