Battles Soldier On Out West

PHOTOS BY CARLIE ARMSTRONG

After a brief stop at this year's Vegoose festival, New York City's indie rock experimentalists Battles resumed their North American trek with a show at Los Angeles' majestic Music Box at the Henry Fonda Theatre on Halloween eve (Oct. 30). Hometown duo No Age put in a raucous opening set as drummer Dean Spunt and guitarist Randy Randall offered select tunes from their latest LP, the electronic-layered set Weirdo Rippers. Only adding to their hypnotic punk-tinged disarray, Randall ascended the amps during "Everybody's Down," plummeting to the stage as Spunt's drum beats ignited. Oddly, such vibrant showmanship couldn't keep a few surly concertgoers from heckling the pair.

Later, as Battles took the stage, the somewhat jaded crowd surged forward in piqued interest, opting for polite head nodding rather than hurling their bodies into complete abandon, as Battles music often invites. This could be in part due to Battles' mind-twisting song formats, even more amorphous in a live setting. Songs such as "Leyendecker," "Tonto," and "Atlas" left a few fans in a quizzical state of mind, but don't underestimate Battles' musical elasticity. This supergroup of sorts remains a ridiculously talented foursome, following its own whimsy, embodied in superhuman drummer John Stanier and Tyondai Braxton's robotic vocal delivery. 

We asked: Battles is known for using a plethora of musical gadgets on stage. What's your favorite musical gadget that you play, use, or simply admire?

Name: Trisha Patel
Age: 18
Hometown: Encinitas, CA
Occupation: Student
"The synthesizer. I don't play it, I just really like the guy in Battles who does."

Name: Alvaro Bernal
Age: 21
Hometown: Santa Maria, CA
Occupation: Student
"The spoon box. It's an instrument that was created by the band the Books."

Name: Jeff McMahon
Age: 18
Hometown: San Diego, CA
Occupation: Student
"The Theremin. It's just so cool."

Name: Faith Lindley
Age: 18
Hometown: Encinitas, CA
Occupation: Student
"My AKG headphones."

Name: Akmal Naim
Age: 22
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Occupation: Structural engineer/photographer
"The trumpet, because I'm obsessed with Beirut."

Name: Marco Camargo
Age: 29
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Occupation: IT
"I used to have an old Casio calculator that doubled as a synthesizer. That was really cool."

Name: Yasu Nakamura
Age: 21
Hometown: Tokyo, Japan
Occupation: Student
"The ukulele, because it's really cool looking."

Name: Justin Reed
Age: 20
Hometown: Santa Barbara, CA
Occupation: Student
"My wah-wah pedal."

Name: Georgia Hardstark
Age: 27
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Occupation: Student
"The pedal steel guitar."

Name:Julia Rouda
Age: 26
Hometown: Pasadena, CA
Occupation: Sales
"The drums, because I admire drummers."

Guitarist/keyboardist Ian Williams / Photo by Carlie Armstrong

Drummer John Stanier / Photo by Carlie Armstrong

Guitarist/bassist Dave Konopka / Photo by Carlie Armstrong

Stanier and Konopka hammer things out at the Music Box / Photo by Carlie Armstrong

No Age drummer Dean Spunt / Photo by Carlie Armstrong