Battles: London Astoria

What an idiot. Convinced that the mighty Pendulum were playing the Astoria last night I rolled up to the venue to discover they're on Sunday instead. Doh! The tout outside who told me it was actually Warp-signed US math rock band Battles in residence couldn't believe his luck when I quickly parted with a tenner, determined to have a good night anyway.

With the drumkit and keyboards pushed right to the front of the stage and a set that began with several minutes of weird, wobbly guitar dissonance, I knew this wasn't going to be your average rock 'n' roll performance. To be frank, however, the first four or five songs (if you can call them that) left no impression beyond a big question mark above my head.

It sounded like they wanted to be like an electronic version of Miles Davis circa 'Bitches Brew' and 'Live Evil', forgetting that just because Miles buried his song structures deep in the improvisation didn't mean they weren't there. I was all ready to leave, and in fact if I'd been on the guest list like usual rather than paying, I probably would have done. But then it all started to take shape.

The collosal rhythmic momentum of 'Atlas'



was - judging by the ecstatic reaction anyway - what everyone had come to hear. Like the Glitter Band in full flow with Aphex-style gremlins sneaking into the circuit boards, it was still nicely messed up but sturdy enough beatswise to cause a mass outbreak of pogoing downstairs.

It was amazing to see that such off kilter music could entice such a bulgingly sold out audience, and with this gig coming exactly one year after the release of their debut album 'Mirrored', they would have had a lot to celebrate afterwards. I never really like math - or maths even - at school, but in the hands of Battles it all, eventually anyway, added up.