Battles – Dross Glop

Album Review by Timothy McQuillian | 04 Apr 2012
Album title: Dross Glop
Artist: Battles
Label: Warp
Release date: 16 Apr

Ignoring Gui Borrato's soulless piano loops and the Field's disappointingly unpromisingly standard hi-hat factory marathon (hint: skip tracks 1 and 2), Dross Glop manages to transcend its 12" series origins and truly grind as a fully fledged album. Even between Shabazz Palaces' phasered hip-hop and Silent Servant's meticulous dark techno, so many varied approaches seem to flow warmingly.

 

Extra effort is felt on Kode9's punchy garage reinvention of Africastle, and label-mate remixer Hudson Mohawke's contribution somehow manages to lay low on the maximalism for once. The token DFA prog-disco remix that inevitably appears on any hip dance compilation has gone the extra mile too and managed to seductively transform Mr. 'My Machines' Numan into a supreme nightclub voyager.

 

The real highlight however is the album-exclusive eYe remix: a flurry of careless digital jumpcuts and torrential bass that closes the show, providing a glimpse of the man's rarely outed patented DJ Pica Pica Pica sound collage vibes.

http://www.bttls.com