Birds and Batteries

I first saw Birds and Batteries a couple years ago at the Art Bar in Columbia, SC while they were touring with Great American/Low Red Land (RIP). They've made some lineup changes over the years, but the end results are steadily improving. This new tune is sort of Gary Numan on nitrous oxide...

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.