Concert Review: Battles at the Record Bar

Battles, with Singer and Pixel Panda

July 10, 2007

The Record Bar

Better Than: Lying on the sidewalk in the rain, stoned. Mostly.

Review by Jason Harper

“How can you not know about the tall cymbal?”

The dude in the baseball cap had yelled in approval as Battles drummer John Stanier (formerly of Helmet) raised his 7-foot cymbal during setup, like a flag. Thinking that, you know, knowledge of an instrumental rock band’s having a really tall cymbal — however trademark an image — was a bit arcane, I had asked him, “How do you know about the tall cymbal?”

How can you not know about the tall cymbal?

And how can you not know about Battles? Though by the end of the night, when Battles finally came on (12:23 a.m.), many of them had left, most of these people seemed to know about this New York experimental-instrumental-weirdamental-mental rock band — and the buzz surrounding it.

In a town where usually only the big, radio-sponsored shows draw a pre-show line, the line outside the Record Bar stretched from the door all the way down to the little pavilion outside the quaint scrapbooking-supply store. For a Tuesday night, that’s just crazy — and damn great.