Today Reverb Recommends Watching Battles Dazzle at the Neptune

Battles have already played Seattle twice this year, in May at the Crocodile and this summer at the Capitol Hill Block Party, but if you missed either of those shows--or even if you didn't--it's highly recommended you catch them tonight at the Neptune. The $20 ticket price for the 8 p.m. show might seem steep, but as Eric Grandy rightly points out in this week's Short List, the payoff is getting to see an exciting and truly original live act:

Battles are one of those too-rare bands that are as dazzling to watch as they are to listen to. There's Jon Stanier's athletic drumming, with his trademark crash cymbal perched high off the ground like a flag planted atop whatever mountain the trio have most recently conquered. There's the tricky interweaving guitars and dual keyboards bounced back and forth by Ian Williams and Dave Konopka. And most of all, there's the way it all coheres into some Rubix cube-twisting rhythmic jams, as precise as anything from the band's storied "math rock" past but giving off the illusion of a jam band in their grooves.

Check out a video of the band playing Gloss Drop highlight "Futura" on Jimmy Fallon after the jump.

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