When Tyondai Braxton announced he was leaving Battles, a large part of me wasn’t surprised. When the band played in Tripod in December 2009, Braxton seemed to have to be selfishly dominating things. I have this vague impression of the rest of the band staring at him for most of the gig, waiting for their turn to join in, while Braxton played wizard to a table of pedals and effects.
It’s since been announced that the new Battles album Gloss Drop in June will feature vocals from Gary Numan, The Boredoms’ Yamantaka Eye, Blonde Redhead Kazu Makino, and Kompakt’s Matias Aguayo.
Aguayo takes the lead vocal for the band’s first single from the album – ‘Ice Cream’. It suggests Gloss Drop may be a return to rainbow-bright rock music with just enough diversive friction while swaying away from the over-indulgence that Braxton seemed to be leading them into. Here’s a radio rip of the single from Zane Lowe. Time will tell.
Battles – Ice Cream (Radio rip)
Tracklisting
01 ‘Africastle’
02 ‘Ice Cream’ (Feat. Matias Aguayo)
03 ‘Futura’
04 ‘Inchworm’
05 ‘Wall Street’
06 ‘My Machines’ (Feat. Gary Numan)
07 ‘Dominican Fade’
08 ‘Sweetie & Shag’ (Feat. Kazu Makino)
09 ‘Toddler’
10 ‘Rolls Bayce’
11 ‘White Electric’
12 ‘Sundome’ (Feat. Yamantaka Eye)
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.
sounds awful…….terrible shame 🙁