Battleme – “Shoot the Noise, Man” (PopMatters Premiere)

The former frontman of Austin’s Lions, Matt Drenik aka Battleme, just recently released his self-titled debut album on Trashy Moped Recordings. Back in 2009, Drenik was diagnosed with uvetis, an autoimmune disease of the eye and he lived in Portland for a while and recorded more than 40 tunes in his girlfriend’s basement and got medical help at a renowned eye clinic in the area.

The illness made him re-evaluate his life and music and, as a result, he fell back in love with old favorites, such as the Flaming Lips’ “Clouds Taste Metallic”, Beck’s “Mellow Gold”, and the Rolling Stone’s “Sticky Fingers”. That in turn influenced his songwriting and he decided to work under the new name Battleme to celebrate his new artistic direction. Today we have the pleasure of presenting the online premiere of “Shoot the Noise, Man”, which you can stream below and, as a bonus, we have the download of “touch” for you as well, along with the video.