Sleigh Bells: Treats

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.

It's a common fetish for a doting Ned
to ballerina on the coffee table, cock in hand

*yack*

i'll take vampire weekend

Listening to this Sleigh Bells album streaming from NPR. Take away the redlined production and you're left with a bunch of middling *things* that, structure-wise, just aren't very interesting and effective as pop songs.

It's like they've written a load of catchy 10-second hooks, but then fail to write songs around them all.

^i think i agree with this post

That said, I give you this again:

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

i really want to like this cuz i dig their aesthetic in theory, but i can't get into the album -- just don't think there are great 'songs' here, but maybe i'm being too rockist or something -- i guess ppl who dig this album would say that that doesn't really matter? or maybe that it runs counter to what they're trying to do? -- either way there are parts of songs that i dig but it all falls rather flat to me -- also still have major problems with the productions & don't really see how it's a selling point at all

rill rill/ring ring is a masterpiece tho

i really want to like this cuz i dig their aesthetic in theory

Me too. Times New Viking pull this thing off a lot better -- distorted/catchy as fuck, in tandem.

i don't really mean the lo fi thing -- more of like, dude shredding on guitar/drum machine/chick chanting all over the place

like, "crown on the ground" would be away better if it was whistle-clean

i guess ppl who dig this album would say that that doesn't really matter?

erm, no, there are def great songs here

i don't really see what the distortion at all adds to these songs

I feel like I'm at a hockey game listening to this album.

i think i like the ones that sound like m.i.a. the best

i.e. "riot rhythm"

i think i'm gonna listen to ponytail's 'ice cream spiritual' now

This album rules. \m/ O_O \m/

Sleigh Bells' Rubies: 10.0 Best New Music!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!