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NYC cubist-funk weirdoes deliver their masterpiece.

Battles - Mirrored

[4.5/5] If you thought Battles' three previous EPs were expectation-shattering, then brace your brainpan for the band's full-length debut; because with Mirrored, the NYC-based supergroup (alumni of Don Caballero, Helmet, Tomahawk and Lynx, as well as jazz legend Anthony Braxton's offspring) make their previously next-level extrapolations of electro-instrumental math-funk sound feeble in comparison. This time out, Battles have minimized the ambient filler ("Bad Trails" being the lone dull spot) and added bizarre processed vocalizing (album highlight "Atlas") and increased electronic counterpoint ("Tonto") to their already bafflingly contrapuntal, loop-heavy attack; but Mirrored's real strength lies in how little the difficulty of it all shines through the speakers. In other words, even at their most complicated, Battles' formidable chops don't overshadow the group's mastery of melody and danceability (see the eight-minute cubist-funk party "Rainbow" for examples of both at their peak). At times, the effect is akin to hearing Tortoise and Animal Collective covering the Steve Reich and Devo catalogs in tandem; but such reference points barely do justice to an album that, just halfway through 2007, is already topping the year's best-of list in multiple genres. (WARP) Aaron Burgess ROCKS LIKE: Tortoise's Millions Now Living Will Never Die Animal Collective's Sung Tongs Liquid Liquid's Liquid Liquid Official Website: http://www.warprecords.com