Battles

For most of the ’90s, guitarist Ian Williams was a part of the math-rock outfit Don Caballero, but in 2002 he teamed up with former Helmet drummer John Stanier, former Lynx guitarist Dave Konopka and avant-garde musician Tyondai Braxton, the son of experimental multi-instrumentalist Anthony Braxton. The resultant group uses classical structure in creative ways, infusing it with swirling dynamics and melodic atmospheres. The tribal quality of the band’s rhythms has also garnered fans among people who aren’t normally into prog. Braxton parted ways with the group in the summer of 2010, but the other three carried on and wrote the music for the 2011 album Gloss Drop, which includes collaborators like Gary Numan and Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino.