Album Review: Battles – Juice B Crypts

A 'less is more' philosophy might explain why Battles resisted the urge to add fresh members after the departure of bassist Dave Konopka last year, reducing them to half their original size. But if anything, renowned stickman, Jon Stannier, and guitarist/keyboardist, Ian Williams, appear to have discovered more creative freedom as they romp through an array of playful jams and off-kilter melodies. 

Influenced by the bustling rhythms of New York, there’s perhaps more colour than one might expect, as if they’ve been jamming with the psychedelic Guerrilla Toss. As with any Battles record there’s an orgiastic melee of commanding beats from Stannier, but here, they're playfully cut up and reassembled with some added glitches. Jon Anderson and Prairie WWWW add some wild vocals to Sugar Foot, but elsewhere, Battles fail to make the most of their guest warblers. Even the presence of Tune-Yards, who on paper would seem a perfect partner, somehow doesn’t fit with the album, as the wheels pretty much come off on Last Supper On Shasta. 

Juice B Crypts is wild and unconventional, but occasionally hard to connect to on an emotional level.