polaroids of androids

Battles have created some sort of robotic remixing machine, ignoring their own musical skills, collecting up all of their favorite songs and running them through their contraption, pulverising all of the songs in a thick goo. They still sound like fantastic songs, but almost unrecognisable from their original state.

Sure, this isn't what has really happened here and I am probably deeply offending the band by describing their entire music-making process in such a childish manner, but there is no other way to describe this music. It's like some sort of chaotic, robotic journey. It's unpredictable, yet still logical and structured. It's brash and confident, yet still seems to be following a strict set of rules on timing and execution. More than anything, this album showcases the beauty of a marriage between laptops and live instruments. This combination has been attempted countless a number of times, but never has the fusion of the technology and the traditional appeared so well intertwined.

There few vocals on this release, yet it doesn't feel like an instrumental album at all. In fact, the rare vocal samples that are used are almost completely unreognisable and are utilised as just another instrument. The repeative use of this sampling technique, and a few other repeated samples and easily recognisable instruments is what allows the album to come together as a complete package.

To me, the true fantasic-ness of this album comes in the way some of the songs come across as the bands' own take on an existing musical genre and/or sub-culture within modern music. The song Ddiamondd appears as their pop-rock number. The high-pitched vocal sampling, combined with the occasional catchy guitar riff make it as memorable as any modern song positioned at the high end of the charts. The eight minute, Rainbow starts with an overly theatrical instroduction (albeit, with an electronic twinge) that instantly sounds similar to the pyschedelic rock throwback sound mimmicked by modern bands. Several of the songs on Mirrored give a sense of deja vu, in the way they are familar, but hard to pinpoint. Intentional or not, these moments where they twist a music styling and make their own is truly one of the many highlights on this record.

As said, this album is brilliant. It's addictive and engrossing. The songs tie beautifully together but nothing on the album becomes tiresome or overdone. The listener is able to pick up new things on every listen as the attention to detail showcased here is unbelievable. Listening to this album for the first time is brilliant experience, as it contonually catches the ears off guard without sounding forced or contrived. Simply put, this is a fantastic piece of modern music, harbouring the current technologies we have at our fingertips, without discarding the organic instruments of creative expression that have remained almost untouched for the past few decades. Fucking brilliant.