free badge or bag while stocks last. digipack cd. after a four-year recording hiatus, battles release their sophomore full-length, 'gloss drop'. a lot has happened since we last heard from battles...namely, the departure of tyondai braxton, who reportedly split from the band in the middle of a recording session last summer. braxton's role was always dynamic (he tended to jump around between guitar, electronics and a rack of various pedals), but he also posed as the group's lead singer. to fill in the gap, the three remaining members have enlisted a cast of guest vocalists, including gary numan, kazu makino of blonde redhead, yamantaka eye of the japanese group boredoms and kompakt's matias aguayo. there's a good spectrum - some shorter songs, some poppier songs, some total rock songs, some more out-there songs, some manic songs and a semi hip-hop-vibe song.