Sleigh Bells: Treats

also it doesn't mean they don't listen to that shit year round, it's just the finer qualities of some songs are magnified when married to sun and heat and rolled down windows. stuff that's particularly conducive to being loud and outside.

yeah, i don't drive and even when i did, i put on the air conditioner

― ke$ha in the rye (Whiney G. Weingarten), Sunday, June 20, 2010 5:55 PM (Yesterday)

http://www.lifeinmyears.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/snob1.jpg

"there is no such thing as summer music" is the weirdest opinion for a thinks-about-music dude to have, like to the point of wondering whether you are high or something

i do not mean to pile on whiney but contexts conducive to making music even more awesome are totally worth thinking about all the time.

+ the idea that Pitchfork just thought of this last year is like +10 wtf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWXcjYNZais

can i say whiney's horror at "summer song" enthusiasts may be due to overexposure to brooklyn hipsterdom or would that be a low blow like saying someone's respect for all successful songwriters may be due to them being a songwriter

"pick that scab, counselor"

have you ever listened to sleigh bells ON WEED??--the daily show

that's from half-baked, doofus

In one way, this band do sound like nothing else around at the moment. On the other, they represent the culmination of whatever continuum includes Go Team, Crystal Castles, MIA, chillwave, Ariel Pink, Dirty Projectors, My Toys Like Me, Gang Gang Dance etc - anyone maverickly fusing obstrusive rock with pop and/or contemporary r'n'b and/or cheerleader-style vocals. It was only a matter of time till a band like Sleigh Bells would pop up. A lot of opinions here seem to concentrate on the lo-fi/noise production aspect as if this is a brand new thing, but it's not as though overdriven pop hasn't been done many times before - I don't see why it comes as much of a shock (even offence) to so many people. The noise is solid, dry and crunchy and gives a lot of mid-range energy and sparkle to the tracks, which wouldn't be as exciting without it.

Still, I like it, but strictly in small doses. If anything the sonic barrage and lack of bass definitely renders listener fatigue, and trying to get to the end of Treats and what starts as a fairly novel listening experience becomes tiring after five or six songs. Imagine listening to "Alice Practice" 11 times in a row - you just wouldn't want to. If I'm to really give "classic" status to a record, it's got to flow and move and surprise from track to track. As such most of the songs here are about as powerful and intricate as each other - the odd ballad wouldn't hurt right? (lol)

Hints of Marnie Stern too.

The small doses thing is very true for me. Whenever they come up on shuffle I like what I hear, but when I try to play the album straight through its just too much sound barrage and I end up tuning out.

What are the chances this "indie dates r'n'b" thing that's been going on this last six months going to become a proper "thing" - will the two styles get married and create a proper genre, apropos 80s post-punk's bringing together of punk and disco?

the odd ballad wouldn't hurt right? (lol)

OTM. Ring Ring/Rill Rill is the closest thing they have to a slow song, and it's one of the best things on the record. So that's encouraging.

35 minute live show in DC. I guess that's about all they have...

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/clicktrack/2010/07/in_concert_sleigh_bells_at_roc.html

This is the first time I've heard a record that I simultaneously think is really good and feel a little too old to like.

This album is a treat, am I right?

u r right

...but when I try to play the album straight through its just too much sound barrage and I end up tuning out.

― sofatruck, Tuesday, July 6, 2010 6:06 AM (16 hours ago) Bookmark

hm.. I would say it works as a whole.
It is definitely one big burst of energy, but it is only 30 mins so it is manageable. You just have to be ready for it I guess.
Either way, the songs are all gems.

It gives me what I think must be the "aural fatigue" I always hear about that is supposedly increased by contemporary sound engineering.

"Who are these people who have "summer songs." I listen to the same music YEAR ROUND. Just imagining some clown "summering it up" on his porch listening to sleigh bells and drinking a corona in wayfarers makes me want to puke"

sleigh bells fans can't afford porches

had my iphone on random shuffle this afternoon and a Sleigh Bells song I wasn't that familiar with came on and it was totally rocking. i liked the album as a whole, but otm to whoever said it is brilliant in small doses

Oddly, this sounds surprisingly not out-of-place when I play it loud on my jeep while driving around Flatbush. I mean, you could quibble about some fine details, but the music doesn't sound *that* unlike a lot of the ultra-distorted whatever the hell it is that I hear all the time, and the vocals would be recognizable to most people as "good" vocals. I suspect that it'd be considered a whole lot more normal than, say, Cheap Trick, at least in my neighborhood.

U live in Flatbush! Are you a chassid?

Wouldn't that be more Boro Park?

there's a big charedi community in flatbush too, but yeah, the bigger one is boro park.

Yeah, where I am I think of it as more Haitian/Trinidad/etc. Sleigh Bells really don't stick out as much as one might think...

entire first run of vinyls is gonna be picture disc!

http://www.insound.com/noteworthy/images/sleighbellspicdisc.jpg

"Who are these people who have "summer songs." I listen to the same music YEAR ROUND. Just imagining some clown "summering it up" on his porch listening to sleigh bells and drinking a corona in wayfarers makes me want to puke"

sounds great, actually, afternoon plans now set

people hating on this should have their american citizenship revoked. riffs! beats!

though i halfway expect to hear zach de la rocha. for some reason.

On the other, they represent the culmination of whatever continuum includes Go Team, Crystal Castles, MIA, chillwave, Ariel Pink, Dirty Projectors, My Toys Like Me, Gang Gang Dance

What the "completely non-existant continuum of disparate and unrelated acts randomly thrown together"? Please for the love of god stop trying to do these Reynolds-lite 'grand historical-cultural sweep' posts, it's getting painful.

An old person writes: what continuum was Brassy in?

(I like Sleigh Bells. Let's not talk about whether I have a pile of Brassy 7"s at the back of the wardrobe.)

like the pitchfork interview a lot -- they seem like really cool ppl, wish i dug their records more

yeah their interactions in that interview were funny.

Masonic Boom would like this if she's around.

― Davek (davek_00), Sunday, 20 June 2010 15:36 (1 month ago) Bookmark

Oh my god you are so utterly shamefully correct.

It's kind of like some Sassy covergirl singing over the top of Justice. (That's where I've heard that super saturated super distorted rip the bass out of everything and just replace it with super compressed distortion sound before)

They do make me want to jump around like Brassy or Le Tigre to be honest. Wanna make a mixtape that segues this between My Metrocard and Hot Topic (Is The Way That We Rock) with some Marnie Stern to round it out. I eat this stuff up with a damn SPOON.

If someone had told me to listen to this 4 months ago, mind you, I would have told them to fuck off.

It really is best to let the initial hype pass you by sometimes.

Wish I could get this in pill form, for really bad cases of PMT.

Infinity Guitars is kicking my ass this morning. The neighbors downstairs hate that I love this album so loudly.

I really love the tracks on this where they sound like a dance version of Lush

i liked this briefly and then got annoyed.

i like this album teats

still like this

I think the thing I like the most about this is the relentless onslaught aspect of it (also the shoegaze vocals)

it is very much "Ting Tings + funhouse mirror" but there are worse ideas for a band

it is good walking-to-work music

OTM, it's really good first thing in the morning if you're still feeling slightly dopey.

I really love the tracks on this where they sound like a dance version of Lush

Yup.

Oh, and "Rachel" sounds like Lush remixed by 2 Unlimited.

― DavidM, Thursday, 27 May 2010 10:44 (4 months ago) Bookmark

Still got love for this LP.

I like the album because it's so short I can practically listen to it twice on my morning commute. I'm still enjoying it obviously.

"You take a heart I can take out you"

yeah it is just kinda relentless & energetic & doesn't let up, total playground vibe. But like the cool big sister you always wish you'd had who comes in the playground and if any big boys are bothering you she beats them up for you.

Singles Jukebox reviewed "Infinity Guitars". Good discussion in the comments about what age group Alexis is targeting: adolescent or pre-. (Well, I thought it was interesting, but I was participating.) Love the album; Alexis is pretty hot in the video.

i liked this briefly and then got annoyed.

― thebingo2010 (chrisv2010), Tuesday, 19 October 2010 17:38 (3 days ago) Bookmark

OTM. Like Salem, the initial ear-tingle gets spread very thin on repeated listenings.

is it just me or is "Infinity Guitars" a totally baffling single choice?