Album: Battles, Gloss Drop (Warp)

If, in the past, Battles' glitchy, math-rocky cut-up style has erred a little on the dry, joyless side, then Gloss Drop is something else.

The second studio album from the experimental New York trio oozes colour. "Ice Cream" (featuring Chilean techno dude Matias Aguayo) reconfigures calypso while sampling Teena Marie, but the centrepiece is "My Machines", on which a typically alienated Gary Numan is only outshone by a clattering backbeat from former Helmet drummer John Stanier.