The only reason I’m not writing this entire review in ALL CAPS is because that would be tough to read. If I had my druthers, though, I would be pumping Sleigh Bells into your eyes with bold serifs and large fonts. There’s really no other way to ingest this band except at high volume. At their debut release party in Brooklyn on Tuesday night, they proved that to a mob of supporters, exploding blistering dancecore tunes that shook the very foundation of the Ridgewood Masonic Temple. It seems futile to try to describe this concert in words. The English language doesn’t have the raw power that I need.
I don’t even know where to start. This show left me breathless, threw me out on the street like a sweaty ragdoll. It chewed me up and spit me out. It melted my face, scooped my features up from the floor, and arranged them back on my skull in an uncontainable grin.
An opening set from Cults revealed a buzz band perhaps not quite ready for the spotlight; Sleigh Bells displayed quite the opposite. This duo is hyped – in six months of existence they’ve signed with M.I.A, been acclaimed by Pitchfork and Stereogum, played the penultimate set of SXSW, and opened for Major Lazer and Yeasayer. Additionally, they managed to not leak their debut album, Treats, cultivating a voracious internet appetite for anything new from the band.
Tuesday night celebrated the release of that tension and the release of that album - the venue was packed full of fans who knew the words to songs that had finally been unleashed only twenty hours earlier. As the headlining act approached the crowd was a rabid, pulsing beast, primed for the condensed crush of both the music and the masses. After a stuttering metal house track warmed up the eardrums, Derek Miller struck the first chord of lead single “Tell ‘Em,” and all hell broke loose. Beach balls flew, flash bulbs popped, and we embarked on perhaps the most breakneck thirty minutes of live music I have ever come in contact with.
Alexis Krauss is a vision on stage, moving with a confidence that is electrifying – she is captivating, both visually and aurally, punching the air and screaming at full voice into the microphone. It’s a good thing she can carry the show, because Sleigh Bells relies on her energy in concert. While Miller does his share of ripping guitar licks, the large majority of sound produced on stage comes through the stereo – aside from the vocals and guitar the concert consists of pre-recorded tracks.
Fine by me.
In fact, this music would probably rock out pretty hard in a dark room. As it was, the show was without unnecessary frills and accoutrements. The lighting was basic, the soundsystem was about half the strength of a typical venue, and the temple – despite being fairly cool – had limited personality. The coolest visual effect of the night was the non-stop strobe of dozens of cameras in the front four rows.
Musically, the show was untouchable. Sleigh Bells craft nasty pop hooks and disguise them under layers of crunked out compressed fuzz and icily crisp guitars. These tunes melt in your mouth, not in your hand. Krauss and Miller tore through almost all of their repertoire, closing the set with a rendition of “Crown on the Ground” that almost turned into crowd on the ground. During the set closer, Krauss dove off of the stage, smiling as she surfed sweaty hands to the center of the venue. The song ended while she was still in transit; amongst the cheers of the crowd she kindly requested to be returned to the stage where she spun around, smiled at the crowd, and headed off.
Encore “Rill Rill,” a Parliament sampling recapitulation of an earlier demo called “Ring Ring,” was a post-coital breath that reminded me that there’s more to this band than noise and edge – like the lyrics of the encore, Sleigh Bells have a heart. The crowd sang along with Krauss throughout “Rill Rill,” jubilantly shouting the line “wonder what your boyfriend thinks about your braces.” There was a sense of irony in the final chorus of the song – “You’re all alone, friend?/Pick up your phone then/ring ring, call them up/tell them ‘bout the new trends.” Here’s a hint about new trends: you’re looking at them.
Treats has been out for a few days now, and the backlash has begun; Sleigh Bells have become a poster band for the internet hype era, and the haters will only intensify as the band moves forward. The next months and years of Sleigh Bells existence will be burdened with the high expectations of a band birthed directly into success. But on Tuesday night, none of that mattered. None of it was even close to mattering. The only thing that mattered? Sleigh Bells. Sleigh Bells. Sleigh Bells.
