Battles: Gloss Drop

Well, fuck all that nonsense -- it's finally June 7th and Gloss Drop is finally out. It's a good thing, too, since I believe Gloss Drop is one of 2011's finest albums to date -- a proper 1-B to the 1-A ranking of Fleet Foxes' brilliant Helplessness Blues. Gloss Drop...

By Michael Lopez

June 7, 2011

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "18478561",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "16759093",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "17980324",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "16759092",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "17980324",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 24
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "16759094",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 24
        }
      ]

Well, fuck all that nonsense -- it's finally June 7th and Gloss Drop is finally out. It's a good thing, too, since I believe Gloss Drop is one of 2011's finest albums to date -- a proper 1-B to the 1-A ranking of Fleet Foxes' brilliant Helplessness Blues. Gloss Drop is a decadent, seamlessly crafted work of art. Hyperbole knows no end with this album -- and I am being 100% genuine when I say that.

What the critics are saying:

Consequence of Sound: As a whole, the album has a lot of impressive musicianship, outstanding atmosphere, and interesting composition...Gloss Drop is an interesting sophomore release from a band that left itself room for plenty of future growth.

Clash Music: Their robotic, metallic guitars romp around, teasing out a baroque space opera that's both seemingly measured in nano-bars and obsessed with pushing beyond the outer limits of our sonic understanding.

BBC Music: It's Chilean artist Aguayo's "Ice Cream" -- rightly this album's lead single -- that really shines: a dazzling four-and-a-half minutes of grunts and groans, chimes and clatter, pings and zings and bells and whistles and the kitchen sink, it's every bit as brilliant a treat as its titular inspiration.

Spin: Gloss Drop is an immersion in abstract tonalities, with Tropicalia-touched dark minimalism ("Rolls Bayce"), tetchy arrhythmic strings "(Africastle"), and propulsive funk ("Futura"). Braxton's clever, found-sound loops are missed, but the remaining members' rampant ideas and inexorable groove keep Battles engrossing.

Gloss Drop is out now via Warp.

Follow us on Twitter and friend us on Facebook

KEEP NEW TIMES FREE... Since we started New Times, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Phoenix, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.