Warp Records have always been the hippest kids on the block - indeed, this particular writer can still recall with an embarrassed shudder visiting their intimidatingly cool shop in Sheffield many years ago - and Battles seem to be their quintessential band. Achingly hip and pleasingly unclassifiable, they're the band the tastemakers love to love.
Tonto starts off all minimal and fragile, before picking up a head of steam by incorporating tribal chanting, furious percussion before dropping tempo again, and then roaring back for a furious final third which winds down slowly and deliberately. It's hypnotic, impressively played, and dare I say it, just a teensy bit dull and monotonous.
And there's the rub. For Tonto is a track that's easy to admire, but difficult to love. You can listen in awe at the painstaking structure of the song and marvel at the exemplary musicianship on display, but it doesn't really touch the heart in the way that all decent music should. Hell, maybe I'm not just cool enough?
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