Juice B Crypts by Battles

And then there were two. When Battles, the New York City based experimental rock band, released their superb album Mirrored back in 2007, the four-piece thoroughly impressed. I remember seeing them at Bumbershoot that summer, and watching drummer John Stanier hit that extra-high cymbal on his kit at just the right moment was the most memorable act that weekend.

In 2010, while extensively touring on the power of their debut album, the only “singer” in the group (I use that term lightly), Tyondai Braxton, left the group due to irreconcilable differences with his bandmates. The then-trio released their 2011 album, Glass Drop (#21 that year), featuring a large number of guest vocalists. It was a good album, but not as great as the first. The trio released a 2nd, this time vocals-less album in 2015 called _La Di Da Di, and all the better for it (#16 that year).

Then, in 2018, Dave Konopka (guitar / bass), left the band “for personal reasons.” Rather than throwing in the towel, drummer Stanier and multi-instrumentalist Ian Williams decided to soldier on, to great effect. This new album, Juice B Crypts, is as lush and erratic as their previous albums, and they’ve gone back to the Gloss Drop mode of bringing in guest singers, such as Shabazz Palaces, tUnE-yArDs, and Jon Anderson from Yes (!). Despite being at 50% power, the duo manages to create 11 exciting songs (some of which are really just one song broken in two, such as the cleverly named track #2 titled “A Loop So Nice…” followed by #3 “They Played it Twice.”)

If you like Battles, you’ll like this. If you’re unfamiliar with Battles, don’t start here — go through this progression: Mirrored, La Di Da Di, and then Juice B Crypts. Trust me.

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23. Pony by Orville Peck
24. Hyperspace by Beck
25. Eraserland by Strand of Oaks
26. Dogrel by Fontaines DC
27. You’re the Man by Marvin Gaye
28. Big Wows by Stealing Sheep
29. 1000 gecs by 100 gecs
30. In the Morse Code of Brake Lights by The New Pornographers
31. Radiant Dawn by Operators

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