What’s your favourite dog barking on a record moment? We like Been Caught Stealing by Jane’s Addiction. Now Sleigh Bells wade in for a bit of dogging action (whoops) with new track Bitter Rivals. What do you think of it? We ask because for some reason the band (or the band’s team) have disabled the comments on the Soundcloud player, almost as if they’re afraid of negativity.
Is it that bad? Well, we’re pretty certain that Sleigh Bells are never going to have the impact that their debut had ever again. Why? Because having been assaulted with the glorious racket that was Treats, any attempt at repeating the ear shredding guitars, heavy-as-fuck beats and melodic pop vocal delivery will never quite match up to the incredible noise-shag that was the first time. Bitter Rivals (which is also the title track of the bands third LP) sounds a little glossier, a little cleaner, a little less harsh and strangely reminds us of Stourbridge’s finest Pop Will Eat Itself from the late 80’s and early 90’s (anyone remember them?) with a female vocalist. This is not altogether a bad thing.
Copyright of music has always been a difficult issue and at Breaking More Waves we’re very careful not to post any music that isn’t authorised by its owner. It’s why all of the Soundcloud embeds you’ll see on this blog are ‘official’ record label embeds, the bands own Soundcloud account or accounts owned by PR or management companies representing the bands. On occasion we will host a track ourselves but only where there has been consent from the band or representatives. It’s for this reason that in just over 3 and a half years of this blogs life we’ve only ever received one DMCA takedown notice and that was one which was served in error where a PR company had issued a track for us to host without getting full clearance from the US record label. That was one case where the phrase ‘not knowing their arse from their elbow’ seemed very relevant.
So here’s this week’s Saturday Surf. It consists of as usual a few legitimate streams that we didn’t have time to feature in our longer weekly posts and this week each of the artists has featured on Breaking More Waves a number of times before. No doubt the debate about copyright and ownership of music will continue for a long time yet.
Sleigh Bells – Comeback Kid
The visceral dirty riffing Born To Lose marked the return of Sleigh Bells at the end of last year, and this new single has already been all over the blogs. Comeback Kid is weirdly cute even if it’s full of what you’d expect from the band – namely demonic beats and trashy noisy guitars on the rampage. Not exactly that different from the first album for sure, but still a hell of a lot of fun.
Jess Mills – Gabriel
Covering Roy Davis Jr’s soulful house anthem Gabriel may seem like a foolish move – after all this is one of the songs that was credited with starting the whole UK garage scene, but Jess Mills is brave enough to do so and turns it into a sultry, sexy sounding jam. The track will feature on the Pixelated People single bundle which will be available to download on Jan 29.
Trust – Sulk
Our final track in this week’s surf is from a Canadian group that we posted a track from yesterday and then an hour or two after that a new song popped up on Soundcloud. Sulk is full of moody disco synths that take you back to an era when the cool kids with floppy fringes shuffled self-consciously on the dancefloor whilst staring at their shoes trying to pretend they weren’t cool at all. This track is synthetic melodic minimalism that holds a haughty euphoria in its pulses – fancy a dance ?
For six years now the superbly intelligent and literate Sweeping The Nation blog has been running the UK Bloggers Album of the Year poll, with each blog submitting (or in some cases Sweeping The Nation filching) their top ten LP’s of the year for some sort of points scoring contest that smooths out any idiosyncrasies of potential and arguable ‘poor taste.' For examplethe Breaking More Waves choice of Ellie Goulding in the top 10 was hardly likely to be replicated by the rest of the blogosphere – mainstream commercial female fronted pop music albums have nearly always received short change in end of year polls from anything outside ‘true pop’ blogs.
The poll gives us a good aggregation of what LP’s have been collectively floating UK bloggers boats over the past 12 months. The list shows some of the differences in UK bloggers tastes to our American cousins over the pond – for example there is very little hip hop on the list – but then maybe that’s because of the sample of blogs chosen to compile the list.
From the Breaking More Waves perspective it’s also interesting to see where we fall in line with our UK music blog peer group and it seems there’s a fair degree of commonality (Ellie Goulding being an exception) with 7 of our 10 albums of the year featuring in the Top 75 and 3 of our 10 being in the Top 10. The full list of 75 albums can be found at Sweeping the Nation – the link is below. We raised a little cheer when we saw that Hurts came above Crystal Castles and Gorillaz in the poll, were a little disappointed to find that Stornoway haven’t picked up the love from bloggers that we hoped they would and are startled to see that Midlake’s preposterous sleep inducing dirge of prog-folk got any votes at all, but that is the beauty of opinion and taste.
Here’s a summary of our top ten which we voted for with links to each individual blog, followed by a couple of tracks from Sweeping The Nation’s own number 1 album of the year (and number 10 in the poll) Romance Is Boring by Los Campesinos!
We said “In a world where 'alternative' often means recording some fuzzy guitar and wailing vocals and doing a blurred photo shoot, by doing something so uncool and opposite to what most music fans expect, Hurts are in an odd way a real alternative.”
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.
If we were a hip young cool American music blog we’d probably describe Sleigh Bells as ‘awesome’, ‘rad’, or ‘next level sh*t’. But we’re not. So instead let’s just categorically state that we really don’t care about the hype, that by next year there’s a good chance we’ll be sick of it, but since we first got our hands on a copy of the Sleigh Bells album Treats back in June it has never been far from our I-Tunes playlist / CD player. It never fails to get the pulses racing, and although Crown On The Ground is still our favourite track, Infinity Guitars isn’t far behind it – and now there’s a new video for the song.
This is one heavy mother*cker.
Oops. We meant, anyone for a cup of tea and a slice of cake ? Three cheers for Sleigh Bells. Hurrah !
With blog buzz set to overdrive it is completely understandable if you approach Treats by Sleigh Bells with caution. We’ve all seen the over exaggeration that can spout from excitable writers who think they have discovered the next big thing, only to purchase the album and find ourselves shrugging our shoulders.
But the caution that you should exercise with Treats is nothing to do with hype. This time the danger is from the powerful sensory overload of sound that will hit you when you play this recording. Ear defenders may be required because Treats is loud even when it’s played quiet. In fact, Treats is so loud it makes us want to SHOUT. LIKE THIS.
TREATS IS A FORCEFULLY IMMEDIATE RECORD THAT HITS HARD AND HEAVY WITH DISTORTED PROCESSED NOISE, WEIGHTY BEATS AND GIRLISH NURSERY RHYME CHANTS. IT’S AN EXHILARATING OBLITERATING PIECE OF WORK, THAT IS BRUTAL, HARDCORE, INVENTIVE AND YET FULL OF POP SENSIBILITY. DO YOU HEAR WHAT WE’RE SAYING ? NO WE’RE NOT SAYING IT, WE’RE F*CKING YELLING THIS AS LOUD AS WE F*CKING CAN.
RATHER LIKE THE XX ALBUM LAST YEAR TREATS IS A RECORD CONSTRUCTED FROM ONE IDEA, BUT IT’S SUCH A MINDBLOWINGLY GOOD IDEA THAT WE DEFY YOU NOT TO FIND YOURSELF PRESSING REPEAT OVER AND OVER. DO YOU HEAR US ?
IMAGINE M.I.A RUBBING YOUR EARS UP AGAINST A CHEESE GRATER AND THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE BEING INCREDIBLY PLEASURABLE - SO PLEASURABLE THAT BEFORE YOU KNOW IT YOU’VE STRIPPED NAKED AND ARE PUSHING YOUR WHOLE BODY AGAINST THAT GRATER WILLINGLY. THAT’S THE SOUND OF TREATS.
SLEIGH BELLS HAVE CREATED AN ALBUM THAT COULD BLOW NOT ONLY YOUR MIND BUT THE SPEAKERS. CROWN ON THE GROUND IS SO DISTORTED THAT THE FIRST INCLINATION IS TO ADJUST YOUR CD OR MP3 PLAYER. IT SHOULD COME WITH WARNING LABELS. YET AS THE TRACK GROWS IT BECOMES APPARENT THAT THE SOUNDS, THE CHANTS, THE GLORIOUS RACKET SPOUTING FROM THE STEREO IS AS ADDICTIVELY STIMULATING AS CRACK/COCAINE, ONLY IN A GOOD WAY - BECAUSE UNDERNATH THE FUZZ THERE’S SOMETHING HOOKY, BANGING AND HIGHLY MEMORABLE. STRAIGHT A’S IS A PULVERISING, YELLING PIECE OF MAYHEM THAT BEATS YOU INTO SUBMISSION IN JUST A MINUTE AND A HALF - IT WILL LEAVE YOU FEELING WASTED AND SPENT LIKE THE BEST EVER ORGASM OF YOUR FANTASIES. TELL ‘EM, KIDS AND RIOT RHYTHM ARE THREE PERFECTLY FORMED TRIBUTARIES THAT MERGE INTO EACH OTHER TO CREATE A TORRENTIAL FLOW OF MUSIC. ONLY RILL RILL REDUCES THE ILLUSTRIOUS EDGINESS, INSTEAD FORMING A CALMER OASIS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RAGING DESERT STORM - BUT WHAT A STORM. LIKE A DIRTY, TRASHY ONE NIGHT STAND THAT TURNS INTO SOMETHING MORE, IT MAY NOT LAST FOREVER, BUT THIS ABRASIVE INTENSE POP BUBBLEGUM NEEDS TO BE CHEWED FOR SOME TIME YET.
BELIEVE US. BELIEVE THE BUZZ. TREATS IS ONE OF THE DEFINING ALBUMS OF 2010.
“After this you are not going to be normal,” announce Jaakko and Jay as the third and final day of the Great Escape 2010 gets underway under the brick arches of the Life nightclub. Hangovers, sleep deprivation and sunstroke for at least some here could very well mean they are right. The Finnish duo thrash out disorientating blasts of d-i-y acoustic punk reminiscent of an insane Frank Turner with hand bandaged speed drumming of the fastest order. With off the wall songs about parents, thinking outside the box and fingers, yes fingers, they also bring peculiar in between song banter. “The next song is about lighters and flags and how combining them you create more free space. Remember that,” is one such quote. They also talk about cover versions of songs and ask “Can you cover a painting or a book?” It must be the lack of winter daylight in their home country that turns them out that way.
In direct contrast to the Nordic shouters, brother and sister Muchuu play fairytale candyfloss-twee electro-pop with occasional auto-tune. It’s fluffy, starry and so squeaky clean cute that it wouldn’t surprise if the audience was made up of dancing teddy bears and other toys from the nursery. It’s not all infinitely sweet though – a blast of unwanted feedback manages to displace dust from the ventilation ductwork, something that Jaakko and Jay, despite their pummelling sound, couldn’t manage. As the dust falls it wouldn’t be a shock if Muchuu’s sound made it turn into fairy dust, but this is saved for Somebody Tell Me when singer Milky throws a handful of glitter into the air.
The musical diversity continues in Life with Grovesnor, also known as Rob Smoughton, drummer for Hot Chip. The unturned stone of Donald Fagen, Hall and Oates, Billy Joel and Christopher Cross are just some of the references that Grovesnor appear to have discovered, with a sense of joy that seems to lack any knowing irony in cutting slices from the cheeseboard. Grovesnor like the boogie, Eric Clapton styled guitar riffs, cowbells and even the leaning back sax solo. The new millennium Baker Street anyone? It’s hard to throw off musical prejudices, but in doing so the admission is that Grovesnor are the best funky soft rock groove machine we’ve ever heard since our dad stuck on his Lionel Ritchie album.
In the busy streets of the North Laines the Komedia plays host to four bands that all incorporate some element of acoustic or folk base. Australian Sarah Blasko (pictured) draws a large crowd for an opening act. “I miss you Sarah,” shouts one of them. “Sounds like my Aunty,” jokes Sarah. A kooky choirgirl in a white and black smock Sarah runs on the spot and skips light-footed to her pure simple songs. We Won’t Run is punctuated by heavy loose drumming, whilst All I Want has a new age mysticism about it. “This is my first time in Brighton - I like it so far. Don’t spoil it,” she jests and with the crowd on her side by the time she reaches the jazzy elephant stomp of No Turning Back there’s no chance of that.
Erland and the Carnival have had some favourable reviews, but this isn’t one of them. There’s something very old fashioned about their blend of worn fuzzy folk-tinged rock which is played with exceptional competence, but there’s no sense of adventure, charisma or the soul being stirred by their live performance. Admirable but not intriguing.
It takes some balls to have had two of your songs nominated for Ivor Novello awards but only play one of them. Save It For Someone Who Cares is a gleeful twittering and gliding beauty of a song though, so The Leisure Society could be forgiven if they only played that one and nothing else. In their live form The Leisure Society (who incorporate members of The Miserable Rich seen yesterday) have an additional robustness that their eloquent recorded music sometimes loses; strings, harmonies, guitars and keyboards providing an illustrious sweeping romanticism.
Tunng finish the evening at the Komedia with their rhythmic experimental folk, their lead singers warm voice wrapping itself over the audience like a soft blanket, with subtle grooves slowly charming until they wig out at the end and announce “I’m going to do the Motley Crue tour in 2011.” We’re not quite sure what ‘The Crue’ would make about that.
From the traditionalist bearded folk at the Komedia, The Concorde holds a significantly younger, vibrantly enthusiastic crowd, many of whom have probably never even heard of Jean Michel Jarre. Which is just as well as the lush repetitive spacey synth tunes of Chateau Marmont seem like direct descendants of their pioneering French cousin. Bathed in blue light and dry ice the band themselves focus on instrumentation rather than any stage heroics, the audience enjoying the trip to galaxies far away where a space rave is just commencing.
It’s left to the much blogged Sleigh Bells to finish the crowd off and that’s exactly what they do. A riot of hardcore post-industrial guitar noise and beats combined with charged cocky nursery rhyme female vocals, any cynical concerns about over-hyped next big thing status is kicked way into touch with the Brooklyn duo’s live performance that is full of energy, passion and savage momentum. Visually comparisons with Crystal Castles are the order of the day, but their music is from a different place - the likening of an extreme noise-hop version of M.I.A being a good one. Managing to invoke a mini stage invasion during Crown On The Ground, Sleigh Bells create a little bit of havoc and get the pulses racing for a final time before The Great Escape festival 2010 is over.
