Battles @ The Arches, 7 June

Battles' stock continues to rise, and the Arches is already nearing capacity for openers Thank You. The Baltimore post-rockers take full advantage, presenting an invigorating set of Glenn Branca-inspired cyclonic guitars. This swirling noise is overlaid with incongruously earnest shouted vocals, pitching the tone of the songs towards cutesy Deerhoof territory at times – no bad thing, in a field too often underpinned by macho bluster.

Stripped-down to a three-piece following the departure of Tyondai Braxton last year, Battles have been forced to adapt their sound accordingly; something the New Yorkers no doubt relish, given their formidably imaginative approach. Tonight's set showcases material from new LP Gloss Drop: a series of mainly instrumental pieces (although samples from various vocal contributors are woven in) which, if anything, veer further into the absurdly hyperactive territory staked out on 2007's Mirrors. The band's dizzying shifts through syncopated time signatures, coupled with an audacious repurposing of guitars as essentially percussive instruments is, undeniably, astonishing.

However, it has to be said that Battles' approach, for all its accomplishment, lacks emotional range; there is little humour, or joy, or anger, in these pieces. In fact, the music makes more sense heard as contemporary jazz rather than a mutant strain of rock: characterised, like much produced under that umbrella, by an obsessive fixation on innovation and musicianship for its own sake, which tends to impede the attainment of truly satisfying heights. For their dedication to pushing generic and sonic boundaries, Battles undoubtedly deserve admiration; but they've yet to win this writer's heart. [Sam Wiseman]