Simple keyboard lines bookend Battles’ fourth album, “Juice B Crypts” (Warp). In between, a matrix of sonic crosscurrents — keyboards, voices, drums, guitar and more keyboards — frantically dance, smash apart and scurry like mice in search of cover. It sounds like a mess at times, revved-up cartoon music that threatens to crack apart any second, but the arrangements never quite lose their grip on the song.

The veteran indie band has been whittled to two core members — former Helmet drummer John Stanier and former Don Cabellero multi-instrumentalist Ian Williams – but their compositions contain multitudes. Among the guests are rappers Shabazz Palaces, Tune-Yards’ Merrill Garbus, Taiwan-based psychedelic rockers Prairie WWWW and Yes’ Jon Anderson — a sign of Battles’ outrageous ambition. The dense arrangements approximate both the intricacy of progressive rock and the cutting-edge mix-and-match aesthetic of hip-hop and dance music, while also nodding to Stanier’s and Williams’ pedigrees in guitar-drums rock combos.

The vocals often are another ingredient in the collagelike production, to stunning effect on “They Played it Twice,” in which Xenia Rubinos offers jazzy counterpoint to the racing drums and zigzagging electronic textures. On “The Last Supper on Shasta Pt. 1,” Garbus keeps her poise amid a bombardment of synthetic noise, drums, cowbell and more cowbell. Anderson gamely weaves a melody beneath the maelstrom of “Sugar Foot” and Shabazz Palaces creeps through the lysergic thump of “IZM.” Liquid Liquid’s Sal Principato stutters and yelps as if approximating the synthetic “blips” and “bloops” exploding around him on “Titanium 2 Step.”

The instrumentals could get lost in the shuffle, but Battles builds “A Loop So Nice …” into a hypnotic two-minute exercise in rhythm that could have easily been three times as long. For those setting off on a long drive, this is the loop that keeps on giving. The title track essentially serves as a forum for Stanier to go bonkers on the drums, and his riotous performance appears destined to be a showstopper on stage.

Though Battles might be viewed from a distance as a potentially daunting listen, “Juice B Crypts” provides multifaceted kicks, whether on the dance floor, through the headphones, or riding, screaming with joy, on a roller coaster.

Greg Kot is a Tribune critic.

greg@gregkot.com