Juice B Crypts

Math rock excellence from a more streamlined, two-person iteration of the original Battles lineup. Following the departures of vocalist Tyondai Braxton and guitarist Dave Konopkaa, the two remaining members Ian Williams (Don Caballero) John Stanier (Helmet) have amped up the electronic influence in their work and invited in a stellar lineup of guest vocalists to flesh out their sound. The result is more experimental and glitchy than ever--full of amorphous left-field rhythms, tempo switchups, and unhinged synthetic textures. Highly recommended. All tracks FCC Clean. Start with 8, 5, 10, 2, 11

1. (4:20) Fluttery blippy intro leads into a driving rocker with a flurry of loops, sci-fi effects and crisp percussion 2. (2:14) Slow-churning, groovy instrumental. Whirly keyboards and chime effects 3. (3:09) Peppier reprise of track 2, featuring soaring vocals from Xenia Rubinos 4. (5:18) Gurgly spastic beat featuring Jon Anderson (Yes) and Prairie WWWW *5. (5:45) Heavenly ascending keyboard riffs with twangy distorted guitars and crashing symbols. Killer melodies. Top notch math rock 6. (3:26) Busy, frantic. Classic choppy Battles sound 7. (1:08) Piano-centric slow builder *8. (3:36) Dream collaboration alert! Ishmael Butler (Shabazz Palaces, Digable Planets) continues to age like a fine wine and raps over what has got to be one of the most amorphous, kaledescopic, blended-up instrumentals Battles has ever produced. Totally psycho 9. (3:56) Pummeling percussion, random starts and stops and assorted crazy key signatures. More blips and bloops than a 2055 iPhone ringtone *10. (3:52) Jerky math rock banger featuring awesome shrill guest vocals from Tune-Yards *11. (3:55) Head banging percussion reprise of track 10. Super spastic intense breakdown at the 1-minute mark. Incredibly arranged--gradually unfolds and ends in a chill downtempo piano melody