Mirrored

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2.5 stars
I had to come back to edit my review of after having this album for a while and the hype died down. Tt really doesn't hold up that well after repeated listens. The vocals are for the most part really annoying, with the exception of a few moments here and there. The songs, though having interesting parts and sounds, this is as far as it goes. It sounds just like that, a bunch of weird parts sort of stuck together. They lack any memorable structure. John Strainer's drumming is painfully stiff, especially in the opening track where there's absolutely no dynamics or feel to his afro-pop-esq opening rim shot pattern. Its a beat that should breath and flow with the accents of the song, but instead every note is played at one single volume, making the beat essentially grooveless. The second track is unbearable, I have to skip it every time. In the battle between Battles, and Neo-Don Cab, Neo Cab are the clear winners.

Amazing Indepth Album
Battles are a math rock band. This stylistic genre is composed of only the finest of musicians (usually). Requiring a thorough in depth analysis of their instruments and true understandings as how to play synchronized with one another. Battles is on a strong progressive note here, and succeed in making some great off the walls music. The single "Atlas" is quite the oddity, the music feels 'outside the box'. Overall 'Mirrored' is one of my favorite albums, but some songs really seem to be lacking in comparison to the first few tracks. Great Experimentation, great sounding electronics, very clean sounding production, nice drum, a full package! Battles are a band definitely worth checking out.

Sure Is Out There (In This Case A Good Thing)
I first came upon these guys by seeing the video for "Atlas". Immediately intrigued, I delved further into the craziness that is Battles. It took a while for this album to catch on with me, but once it did I was hooked. Aside from "Atlas", the highlight here for me is "Tonto" which has hook after catchy hook. The rest of the album is equally as catchy, but it takes some time for the listener to fully appreciate the album. It's not for the casual music fan, it is definetely an experimental band. Pop this in, sit back, and fade away into the madness that is Battles.

The crash is on the ceiling....
I listen to this because I think Ian Williams is a genius, or atleast he has carved out a highly original approach to the guitar....this album kind of scratches my Ian itch, a bit less so than the battles ep's do....it's those moments when he begins to hammer these odd, intricate, inverwoven melodies on his frets that really do it for me....Battles has settled one of my long held suspicions about Don Caballero...namely that Ian Williams was at least 50% (Hell, 75%) responsible for their greatness! Damon could play the drums, but Williams made the music brilliant. Whenever I hear new music with Williams' fingerprints on it, it spoils other music for me for a while...His stuff just makes other music seem two-dimensional somehow....Battles drew me in slowly and now I'm hooked for better or worse.

Somewhere Between Daft Punk And Alvin and The Chipmunks
In my opinion this was the best album of 2007. The songs on this album entertwine in that typical Battles fashion. What to some people might sound like four guys from New York jamming in a room full of high dollar synthesizers (which is nothing short of the truth), to me is a beautiful creation of man and machine. Battles is one of the few bands active today that actually pushes sonic boundaries as far as they can go. There are noises on this album that I can garuntee you have never heard before. However what separates Battles from other bands in their genre, is the fact that they can make intellegent movements and phrases in complex webs of songs that sound so alien it is almost confusing, where as similar bands just sound like a bunch of kids screwing around in the synth section at a Guitar Center. I have never heard a cd this complex or thought provoking while at the same time have pop hooks (i.e. Atlas) and jingle bells. The 6th track "Rainbow" in my opinion is the pinacle of Battles as a band. The first and the last track "Race: In" and "Race: Out" make the album seem more like a work rather than a collection of cute songs with clever titles. Take Miles Davis's "In A Silent Way" mix that Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and combine that with Daft Punk's "Homework" and after all that is together, put in Alvin and the Chipmunks (refering to the vocal effects heard in "Atlas" and "Leyendecker") and God knows what else and you have it. "Mirrored" is by all means a masterpiece.