pitchfork music festival, live update 3

Battles, on the other hand, are the perfect fit for this kind of thing. Their set started slow and deliberate, a menacing bass figure pkayed over and over, then sampled and steadily sped up, growing more fevered and frantic with each go round. From there speed built steadily, perfectly controlled and calculated until the whole set hit cruising altitude. Battles excel at both speed and precision; though they work up to breathtaking, furious heights, each note is clean and crisp and distinct, tight coils of guitar that are captured, sampled, spit out and layered to create a sound like loops of barbed wire. Right now they’ve brought it down low, undulating bass and a steadily ascending keyboard line that slowly, beautifully burns out.