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Complicated music and fun music don’t often go in hand. While wide-eyed joy often comes out of simplicity, music that’s more intricate often gets bogged down in its own weirdness, unable to provide any transcendence beyond anticipating the next time signature change that’s seconds away. Battles debunk this fabulously within the first minute of their new album ‘Juice B...

Battles’ last album, 2011’s ‘Gloss Drop’, was a masterclass in pop-tastic playfulness. After former singer Tyondai Braxton quit to pursue his solo career halfway through recording, the experimental New York three-piece bounced back by roping in pals like Gary Numan and Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino to sing on a bunch of infectious-but-bloody-weird bangers. This time round though, it’s a...

The release is the second single from the New Yorker's album La Di Da Di, out September 18

Experimental rock group to play The Dome, Tufnell Park next month

Band tweet to announce new material is on its way

Ailbhe Malone takes on this week's releases Battles feat Gary Numan – ‘My Machines’ With a ticking timebomb for a metronome, this is music to panic to. And Gary Numan’s pained vocals don’t help. Just when you think you can cope, a screechy synth comes to saw away at your brain, and it’s time to have a lie down. Repeat incessantly...

1. Lana Del Rey - 'Video Games' The words “YouTube sensation” are rarely a good omen. ‘Chocolate Rain’, Rebecca Black: all destined to be ‘liked’ into oblivion until they become less funny than getting stuck in a lift with Michael McIntyre. Thank heavens, then, for Lana Del Rey’s ‘Video Games’, the clip for which is currently smashing NME’s – and...

Band also announce UK autumn tour

Knocking around on the internet, there’s pictures of Bill Gates taken in 1983 of him stretched out on a desk, wearing a chunky woollen sweater and loveably tousled fringe. His face is saying, sure, I might be a geek, but this geek knows how to cut loose. If this Bill Gates wasn’t living in 1983 and didn’t have a trillion-dollar...

Battles look sombre. Multi-instrumentalist Ian Williams is scowling in a black suit, guitarist Dave Konopka looks like he might burst into tears at any moment and drummer John Stanier is so perma-stern you get the impression he would look like he was attending a funeral even if he was dressed as Rastamouse. So an ominous dirge of rumbling minor-key...