I first heard this song in Little Big Planet for PS3. I added it to my music library and have listened to it for years. Never gave it much more thought other than a funky catchy tune. I always found the music video fun seeing the singer rock his legs back and forth on that pedal in time to the music.
I think this track got a lot of attention due to the chipmunk march vocals and the striking music video, but my favorite track from this album is definitely "Tonto," which has way more going on rhythmically, dynamically, and melodically, and has not only awesome upbeat parts but also some real beauty going on.
The band members are pretty famous - the drummer was in Helmet and Tomahawk. The 'singer' is Tyondai Braxton (son of Anthony Braxton - both of them experimental musicians/composers), who's worked/composed for Bang on a Can, Kronos Quartet, Philip Glass, etc.
It's worth noting that this is actually the single edit of the song. The album version is 7 minutes long with the middle section being a more extended build-up compared to this version.
I never realized that the song had actual lyrics, I thought it was just some vocalizations. I think you're right about the analysis, but I don't think they mean it all so seriously. Battles use a lot of digital manipulation in their work, especially on the vocals, so I think there's a lot of self-deprecating humor in this as well.
So glad you did Battles!! One of my favorite bands, I saw them live a couple days ago haha. There are A LOT of other great tracks to explore, would love to see more. Tonto, The Yabba, Futura, Race Out, Rainbows (crazy fucking track), etc etc, really any of em. This might be there most "normal" song haha.
You should check out the singers solo work, his name is Tyondai Braxton and he is a composer that does some really cool stuff. These are his records you should check out, History that has no effect, Central Market, and Telekinesis.
Yuuuuup. That's my notification sound on my phone, hence why I ignored it. It was probably Mastodon or Feedly. Text messages are the original Street Fighter 2 "sonic boom" sound bite.
the guitarist is mainly playing the fretboard with one hand while playing the keyboard at the same time with the other hand. its easier to hear before the bass comes in.
Lyrics wise, I think you're right with the idea of it being that the people playing the music don't sound like people when it's heard, but I don't think he's necessarily being negative about it. I think, like others have said, it is more of a playful self-deprecation but also possibly an embracement of it in a, "Look at how far we can go with all this music technology, the song is practically playing itself!" sort of way. They have another song on this album called Rainbow with him singing about a delay/echo out-racing someone's own voice and how he was amazed by it. And I mean Tyondai's own solo music (History That Has No Effect in particular) also has so much alien-sounding vocal manipulation that it wouldn't make much sense for him to denounce it. So given how forward-thinking these guys are (Especially Tyondai who's really gotten into generative music over the past decade), I think you can definitely read the lyrics as a futurist excitement for how the role of musicians is changing with new technology.
I see the "singer is a crook" line as self-deprecation on Braxton's part. He likes using his singing in his music, but at the same time isn't confident in his vocal skills, so he alters and modulates it almost every time. But I also like this band a lot so I may be defensive on that.
I remember hearing this for the first time (though it was the longer album version) when driving home from work, and it was so strange sounding. It's definitely repetitive, and not structurally incredibly interesting, but it's just such a wild ride sonically. They definitely have better tracks in their catalogue, but when introducing people to the band, I like throwing this their way just to gauge reaction, because they definitely have more complex/experimental and weirder stuff.
I've never formed an actual opinion about the lyrical content because of how cryptic they are, but considering how most of the album (and the band's work) usually have heavy vocal/instrumental production tricks I seriously doubt they are coming from the angle you are reading this. If anything, considering how playful and even humourous their work can be, I could see them making a satire of that angle, the lyrics playing it forward while the music and even actual vocals do everything the lyrics seem to be taking an issue with just for the sake of saying "fuck you" to that people with that kind of opinion. Considering the title of the track is Atlas, as in the titan that was supposed to hold the sky above the Earth in Greek mythology I'm sure there can be some kind of read in that sense. Maybe it's about the pressure put upon musicians that feels like carrying the world over their shoulders? I don't know, but I'm pretty sure either take might be closer to the original spirit rather than a spiteful one. You'd definitely would have enjoyed this even less if you had checked the album version, it's almost twice as long and just as repetitve. It's part of the allure imo, but I can easily see people taking issue with it. Anyways, interesting discussion around it, Bryan!
I've seen some comments that this is their usual sound and that just added to the confusion regarding the lyrics. A satirical angle might be exactly the perspective needed to dig into what their intentions are.
@@CriticalReactions It might be it. A lot of Mirrored (this album) has this child-like wonder feel, very fun and dancey even in the mathy, proggy chaos. One of my favourite songs is Ddiamondd, it's a pretty short, almost punkish track with the same zany energy from this track. Pure fun. They also sometimes get in a more post-rockish mood, never fully losing the prog/dance tendencies though.
"Auditory uncanny valley" is a good way to put it. Battles has songs that I like much better. Many on this album, some on the guest-heavy Gloss Drop. The one with Gary Numan is fun. Good analysis.
Finally, a different kind of "confusion" for the week! I really dug the fun, quirky vibe of this, and I'm guessing that bouncy rhythm and "vocal melody" will be going through my head for a while. That said, I do wish there was more variation here. There are a moments where they do something different, but it doesn't shake the feeling of sameyness that comes from the very simple and repetitive ideas. Still, I generally like what's here, I just wish there wasn't so much of it.
common misconception about the vocals: the singer isnt singing into a pitch shifter well he is but not exactly, well essentially he sings into the pitch shifter and then loops it and so he uses a footswitch to alternate between his natural voice and the pitched up one, if you watch any live footage it's easier to tell.
The last time I saw Battles there would be these long stretches were the drummer was soloing by triggering loops on an electronic kit, but while it was clearly feeding into their earpieces, it wasn't hooked up to the club's sound system AT ALL. It would be, like, five minute stretches of the drummer going ham on an electric kit but it would be DEAD SILENCE over the speakers and since they could hear it in their earpieces, they couldn't hear us in the audience screaming at them that we couldn't hear anything. It only got fixed during the last fifteen minutes of the set. Both one of the worst shows I've seen and pure, hysterical Spinal Tap. Awesome live when things are actually working, though.
Here's them playing it live on British TV: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kaZzAGR0VNk.html the 'production' is actually pretty much all them 'playing' fx etc live as part of their instrument, it's an intentional part of the performance. Not a dunk, I like your videoes, thought you'd find it interesting!
Positive confusion!!! Well holy shit i love battles. But you need to listen to the books. The most famous song is smells like content. But just try listening to anything from the lemon of pink album for proper beautiful confusion. I'll chuck in fang island for the overbearing positivity too. And uhhh....piglet the lava land ep for some tasty happy mathcore.
Battles are so out there and cool, like you discovered rave music made for robots from another planet. Like others have mentioned, this is a radio cut and sorta ruins the pacing and buildup of the song. Still a good introduction to the band though.
this in my opinion is a bad intro to this band. Ironically this is the first song a lot of people hear from Battles, but this song is a rarity in their discography. I highly recommend these songs : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zfwsykbqoxo.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-OqCVWZeIb5g.html
