Sleigh Bells: Treats

(not that i think you're full of shit, just funny)

Is "Kids" the new version of "Crown on the Ground"?

Oh no wait Crown comes later

Kids is the new version of Beach Girls, but takes away all the nice seagull noises :( and tones it down somewhat? Not sure what they did to it, but it's the only demo that isn't IMPROVED by the album.

the bursting/scintillating drums tire a bit by the end of the album. the last track could definitely do without them, at least.

Kids is the new version of Beach Girls, but takes away all the nice seagull noises :( and tones it down somewhat? Not sure what they did to it, but it's the only demo that isn't IMPROVED by the album.

this record rules, but all i want to listen to right now is Paramore. don't sleep on their last record, everyone! it rules

did they remaster crown at all? haven't listened to the demo in awhile but it still feels pretty demo-y

Why would anyone put their crown in the ground? If I had one I'd be sporting it and whacking people on the forehead with my sceptre.

I realise that's kind of the point. It just sounds unprofessional as opposed to 'professionally distorted'

Um, yeah, so this is fucking hot imo.

http://rekkerd.org/img/200912/PLP_Sleigh_Bells.jpg

IRL LOL

Mr. Sleigh Moose would like to be incorporated into ksh's review of this album.

On "Infinity Guitars" Alexis Krauss sounds like Andrea Zollo from Pretty Girls Make Graves.

Okay maybe I was too quick to dismiss this, it isn't bad.

So how many reviews are going to mention that this is a relatively short record (little over 30 minutes)

Wrt the Paste review, "You either buy the Brookyln duo’s central conceit or you don’t: bombastic synth-rock for bombast’s sake, with mixing cranked so high your speakers sound like they’re about to combust," I heard this description a lot when listening to the demos ('speakers sound like they're about to combust') but doesn't actually sound right on this album. The distortion is actually much cleaner and easier to pick out -- it's no longer just amorphous static.

Yeah, I think that is exactly why I like this album more than the demos I listened to, the distortion isn't really so muddy and overwhelming. I feel like its used to much greater effect on these tracks.

lol these guys kinda remind me of MCR.

OMG the last 35 seconds of "Infinity Guitars"!!!

paste is the absolute worst music magazine in the world

"Rill Rill" is fantastic.

The album sounds like the soundtrack of a Vin Diesel action vehicle as directed by Sophia Coppola.

paste is the absolute worst music magazine in the world

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, May 11, 2010 2:13 PM (3 minutes ago)

no one cares about Paste iirc, but publishing a challopsy article with the title "Is Indie Dead?" is a really easy way to increase page views and, consequently, ad revenue, b/c there's a segment of people out there who like to blog/tweet/tumblr about stuff like this

― kshighway (ksh), Thursday, February 18, 2010 12:47 AM (2 months ago)

thats what im saying jon that ending is incredible and even better if youve listened to the demo enough times that you sort of take the last 30 seconds for granted

a few xps

A/B Machines sounds a bit weaker than the demo I think, but other than that: YES.

Also, maybe it's just the album cover, but I keep thinking of "Nevermind" while I listen to it.

part of the reason i like this is bc i keep thinking of a LOT of things while i listen to it. it's not as pigeon-holed as it could have easily been.

Really glad I gave this a chance. I'm having a hard time remembering the last time when hearing "polished" versions of demos I pretty much hated managed to change my mind.

this is a fun little album

have a heart, have a heart

have a heart

HAVE A HEART HAVE A HEART HAVE A HEART HAVE A HEART

This's gonna chase me for the rest of the week

sampled ur heart

It's kind of crazy. If someone came up to me and thrust a heart at me and was all HAVE A HEART HAVE A HEART, I'd be pretty O_O

lol

i would be pretty freaked out; who's heart is this dude!

a blogger's

skeptical...

i thought ratatat were kind of bullshit too.

even better if youve listened to the demo enough times that you sort of take the last 30 seconds for granted

OTM. Listened to the album three or four times since last night and it still catches me by surprise!

i thought ratatat were kind of bullshit too.

they were pretty bad

The might Maura weighs in: http://www.theawl.com/2010/05/sleigh-bells-treats

Uh, mighty.

That's an excellent review but one where I agree with the larger thesis at the end than the worth of the album used to illustrate the point!

ned that is a confusing sentence

Written in a rush. :-D

Actually the key points appear at the start and the end:

One of the things that I bemoaned about "indie" for so long was its overly mannered nature — bands that would garner accolades from critics seemed to me like music made for droning one's life away in a vaguely creative cubicle farm, full of beautiful, correctly executed moments that had zero resonance except to serve as placeholders until the next batch of aesthetes came along. Sleigh Bells feels like it was created as a direct protest against this type of music — the songs that spill out of Derek Miller and Alexis Krauss are vital and fun, maxing speakers' volume in a bone-shaking way that can't help but transfer outward to the rest of one's person.

...

But for the most part, the album is loud, and aggressive, and fun. When I talk to people about Sleigh Bells, it's interesting to see what points of comparison come up: Krauss' cheery voice lends comparisons to pop; the blown-out sonics cause people to reach back to '90s techno. While perusing Twitter earlier I saw comparisons to Ludacris, Dirty Projectors, and T. Rex. Treats is probably going to be a very polarizing record, but after an era where inoffensive blandness ruled the roost, I do not think that's a bad thing at all.

In both these parts Maura's larger point completely matches with my point of view -- 'indie' as such contains a vast drab world of dullardry that squashes my brain, nice to have something to kick against that. Where we differ is that I don't think this is the album for it -- but not in a sense of 'ugh, this is horrible,' more like 'man, SO close, but they're not working for me somehow.'

(Also, as with anything like it, a mad sudden rush of 'OMG THE BEST THING EVER' = me going "Uh, you sure?" If that's a character flaw of mine then oh well.)

I mean, if you want another point of comparison, right this second the thread below this one on the new answers page is for the frickin' National. Kill me.