“There’s this really nice synthesis that happens where they feed each other,” Battles bassist/guitarist Dave Konopka recently said of the twin roles art and music play in the band’s work. “It’s a one-hand-washes-the-other type of situation, where you feel inspired in both realms.”
“Dot Net,” the band’s latest video, might be the most hand-washingest thing the band have created. The video was directed by Ben Jones as the first installment in a video art series that Battles’ label Warp is undertaking for the UK’s Channel 4; Hudson Mohawke, Oneohtrix Point Never, and Darkstar will also contribute videos.
Just as “Dot Net”‘s taps of bass and digital squelches tuck into one another to form a hypnotic and cohesive sound pattern, the video depicts an art gallery where the work on the walls shuffles together sliding wedges of color and shifts in perspective, eventually hypnotizing its audience into becoming part of the work itself.
https://youtu.be/n4wRnv2D-54
Battles’ La Di Da Di is out now on Warp.
