LIVE REVIEW: Battles, Blu_aro @ The Cluny, Newcastle (27.11.24)

As the sold-out crowd for Battles trickled in, Blu_aro, the solo project of Mark Cooper, cast a glacial mist. Armed with a laptop, sampler and a drum kit, electronic loops floated through pockets of ambient wormholes, occasionally punctuated by scrupulous percussion. A befitting if not somewhat drowsy curtain-raiser.

Darlings of modern math rock, Battles kicked off a four-night UK tour in Newcastle, playing in the North East for the first time since 2011. This gave the night a sense of being a unique occasion, along with drummer John Stanier being a huge fan of the football club and more than five years since they last released an album. Now performing as a duo, they delved straight into a squelching untitled jingle, siphoned by hall-of-mirrors synths from multi-instrumentalist Ian Williams. A Loop So Nice… is emblematic of their knotty electronic puzzles, while the spasming Titanium 2 Step, also from last release Juice B Crypts, is pure meandering funk wizardry. As the pair spiralled through their back catalogue, it sounded at one point like they were trying to conjure their own Looney Tunes theme tune, a dizzying synthesis of rubber band guitar lines and thumping percussion. I knew I was about to tick one off the bucket list when chest-pounding, rudimental drums signaled the galactic gallop of Atlas, attested by the attempts of many to sing along to the alienic, distorted vocals. A relatively short set left me yearning for more from the instrumental virtuosos, which was astronomical and corporeal in equal measure. A special show from a band operating in a different dimension.