We’ve slyly chosen an Xmas-themed band for today…
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[6.57]
Iain Mew: I was almost starting to wonder if this was a new, different Sleigh Bells and then CLANGCLANGCLANG. The compressed noise overload is still effective but limited (and limiting), and if there’s much else here to get anything out of they’re making it very difficult to do so.
[5]
Alex Ostroff: The driving dugga-dugga-dun drum line is promising, the chant-along bit is fun and Alexis’s voice remains pretty, but the vocals and guitar riff are a bit more plodding than I’ve come to expect from Sleigh Bells. I suppose it pummels as hard as “Tell ‘Em” did, but their best moments have always had some lightness of touch and some swing hidden amidst the full-on sonic assault — “A/B Machines” made me want to dance; “Crown on the Ground” had the tiniest bit of stutter. But I suppose that’s the difference between Treats and a Reign of Terror — personally I prefer cheerleaders-on-acid to this.
[7]
Katherine St Asaph: Alexis’s about to drive those guitars into the ocean. Her voice’s about to skim over lyrics bigger than her.
[7]
Jonathan Bradley: Alexis Krauss’s thin voice leaves a mark like an HB pencil amidst the thick crayon jags of Derek Miller’s guitars, but she letters the title in bold enough tones to render the mess inviting enough. I’d stick this scribble on the door of the refrigerator, but this pair has brought home work more deserving of gold stars.
[7]
Edward Okulicz: An impressively noisy piece, nothing shocking for Sleigh Bells, but I’m taken with the elements of the collage nonetheless. The crashing percussion and the big concrete slabs of guitar are really impressively imposing and ear-devouring, and Alexis Krauss has never sounded more like she’s stuck between Lush and Ladytron. That’s a pretty decent place to find yourself.
[8]
Jonathan Bogart: Remember how the Raveonettes were awesome, and then they did that album where they took away all the distortion and tried to do ’60s pop straight? I’m pretty sure that Sleigh Bells is going to do that one of these days. So every release where they aren’t doing that is de facto awesome.
[8]
Andy Hutchins: “Just get on with it” is the perfect lyric for a track this unfortunately undecided between being bombastic and swaying drunkenly.
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