Album Review: Birds & Batteries

I was excited when I got an advance of the forthcoming EP, Up To No Good, from San Fran's Birds & Batteries. I was not disappointed when I popped in this 5-track adventure to meet a truly unique style that struts around the crossroads of alt-rock, electronic, funk and pop in search of its time machine, looking down on everyone else like they're half-retarded, similiar to Luke Wilson in Idiocracy.

The name of the game is density - rich, full layers of sound building on top of each other like a musical re-interpretation of the adobe village seen here.

"Out in the Woods" off the new EP.


I had the pleasure of seeing an earlier incarnation of the group 2 or 3 years ago at the Art Bar in Columbia, SC - my friend Neil from Low Red Land was playing guitar for them, and both groups were on a curious bill opening for American Gun. They both played incredible sets to a nearly empty house, and then the place got packed for the more traditional hootenany bar rock of AG. We drank whiskey in the parking lot in a van, and they gave me a copy of the their self-released Nature vs. Nature, which, if Birds & Batteries become wildly famous, will be remembered as an album that was a little ahead of its time. Here's the 3rd track off that album, as a point of comparison to where they've come from.

"Machines That Dream"


Besides seriously enriching the sonic landscape with this new record, they've tastefully brought a retro-80s primal quality to the drums that pays homage to Kraftwerk-esque electro without being lost in some nostalgia for the past or blatant re-creationism.

Check out "Sneaky Times" the final cut off UTNG.


The intro is like a dub version of classic "Bustin' Out"-era Rick James slap bass chopped and filtered, which gives way to a darker take on the intro to MJ's "Thriller" before opening up to disembodied vocals.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this album, and am glad to see this group that blew my mind a few years ago reappearing with some serious magic, and drastically upping the stakes in the integration of electronic music into myriad other styles to create a truly interesting record.

Look for Up to No Good starting today.