Battles

math rock

Battles is an American experimental rock band founded in New York City in 2002 and now consisting of John Stanier (of Tomahawk and The Mark of Cain, formerly of Helmet) on drums, and guitarist/keyboardist Ian Williams (formerly of Don Caballero and Storm & Stress) on guitars and keyboards. Until 2010 they were joined by Tyondai Braxton (son of avant-garde jazz composer and multi-instrumentalist Anthony Braxton) on vocals, keyboards and guitar, who departed the band amicably in order to concentrate on his solo career. In May 2019, the group announced the departure of Dave Konopka (formerly of Lynx) who performed guitar and bass. Stanier's drum setup is defined by both its bright yellow color and its extremely high Zildjian K ride cymbal, arguably the band's most distinctive visual trademarks. He believes the ride cymbal is overused in drumming, so he wanted to make it more of an effort to play it, forcing himself to jump up from his seat to hit it during live performances. The band released two EPs and a single in 2004, each on a different record label (Cold Sweat, Monitor and Dim Mak); all three releases were packaged together in a reissue on Warp in 2006. With hype built up around their initial EPs and the Atlas single (which included a remix by DJ Koze), Battles released their debut album Mirrored via Warp on May 14, 2007 to substantial critical acclaim. Tonto was later issued as a single in October, its accompanying video directed by design group United Visual Artists an...