Battles were dealt a seemingly fatal blow in 2010, losing their avant-garde lightning-rod frontman, Tyondai Braxton. But the slaphappy New York math-rockers dusted off their MIDI cables and effects pedals for 2011’s Gloss Drop, infusing their digitally manipulated loops with world-music gusto. Now the band faces a strange predicament with La Di Da Di, their first all-instrumental set: Is it possible to surprise a fanbase accustomed to such lunacy? The trio (guitarist/keyboardist Ian Williams, guitarist/bassist Dave Konopka, drummer John Stanier) can’t coast by on shock value—the barbed opening grooves of “The Yabba,” with its monster fuzz-bass and frenetic hi-hats, sound like Battles on autopilot. But subtle deviations and dovetails keep you guessing—the Middle Eastern dissonance bubbling up through “Tricentennial” and “Dot Com,” the gradually dissolving merry-go-round atmosphere of “Luu Le,” the orchestral surge of underwater guitars on “Cacio E Pepe.” Over a decade since their debut EP, Battles sound less like a malfunctioning robot than a well-oiled machine.