REVIEWSBattles, ‘Gloss Drop’

9

• SPIN Rating:9 of 10

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Release Date: June 7, 2011
Label: Warp

The second album by these New York math-rockers embraces a dubious formula: subtract exceptional avant-garde guitarist Tyondai Braxton, add...Gary Numan? Yet Numan's harried, yelping cameo on "My Machines" is a triumphant moment, an experimental outburst both ingenious and accessible. The quintet's 2007 debut, Mirrored, was proggy, primal fare; Gloss Drop is an immersion in abstract tonalities, with Tropicalia-touched dark minimalism ("Rolls Bayce"), tetchy arrhythmic strings "(Africastle"), and propulsive funk ("Futura"). Braxton's clever, found-sound loops are missed, but the remaining members' rampant ideas and inexorable groove keep Battles engrossing.