Battles are one of those too-rare bands that are as dazzling to watch as they are to listen to. There’s Jon Stanier’s athletic drumming, with his trademark crash cymbal perched high off the ground like a flag planted atop whatever mountain the trio have most recently conquered. There’s the tricky interweaving guitars and dual keyboards bounced back and forth by Ian Williams and Dave Konopka. And most of all, there’s the way it all coheres into some Rubix cube–twisting rhythmic jams, as precise as anything from the band’s storied “math rock” past but giving off the illusion of a jam band in their grooves. For their lead singer-less album Gloss Drop, the trio have been playing along to smartly synched (and stuttered) video screens of the album’s guest vocalists (Gary Numan, Matias Aguayo, Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino). It’s a hell of a show. With Walls. ERIC GRANDY

Wed., Oct. 12, 8 p.m., 2011