From the opening blast of electronic beats, primitive fuck-you electric guitar and girlish chanting you can get a very definite idea of where this album is going to take you – this is a journey of youthful noise, out on the town, with its knickers off, ready to shag against a wall. It’s brutal, hardcore and joyously exhilarating. If you’re fifteen it’s the record to lock yourself in the bedroom with, turn up the volume to the maximum and piss your parents off big time. If you’re thirty five it’s the record to love because of its incessantly poppy hooks that sit side by side the crunk, metal, cacophonous synths and ear shredding noise that you just know you’re going to annoy your neighbour with. Probably time to move out of the neighbourhood.
It’s easy to be dismissive about Sleigh Bells – a male female duo consisting of Derek Miller and Alexis Krauss from Brooklyn, USA – because as they emerged the band received the kind of hipster blog orgasms that would make even the most open minded of music fans cynical. But get over that, because Treats is the sound of M.I.A, The Go Team, Crystal Castles and Extreme Noise Terror checking into a hotel, shooting a porn film there and somehow winning an Oscar for it.
Treats is a chaotic and pulverising album, yet it’s stuffed full of infectious pop thrills. The best headache you’ll have all year. A….er….treat.
Sleigh Bells "Infinity Guitars" from Phil Pinto on Vimeo.
A/B Machines by Sleigh BellsCrown On The Ground by Sleigh Bells
3 comments:
I'm not too big on these guys, but they're definitely a step up from The Ting Tings.
I loved this when it 1st came out but its immediateness was its downfall - not such a fan now.
Vibe Girl - Way more steps up than the Ting Tings surely ?????
Dave - read the introduction to the Breaking More Waves albums of the year piece - you see yes, agree there are some albums you initially love and then fall out of love - maybe in a years time we'll pick up Sleigh Bells and think 'what were we thinking?' but this list represents our favourite listens of the year right here right now, and it hasn't fallen out of favour here yet.
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