Artist: Sleigh Bells
Album: Treats
Released: May 2010
Label: Mom & Pop Music
Genre: noise pop
Purchase date: 28 May 2010
Source: iTunes
Format: AAC files
The debut album from this noise pop duo from Brooklyn is brash, loud, as subtle as a sledgehammer, and one of the most fun records of the summer of 2010. Singer/keyboardist Alexis Krauss and guitarist/producer Derek E. Miller form a band that generates some of the most polarized opinions this side of Capitol Hill.
Treats opens with "Tell 'Em": a drum machine assault on the eardrums backed with a heavily distorted blaring electric guitar, showing Miller's previous experience with hardcore punk and thrash metal bands. The intensity of the energy is arresting, and then Krauss' extremely melodic voice brings a humanity to the aggressive energy. The drum beat outro of "Tell 'Em" becomes the intro beat of "Kids," which together make the best one-two punch of an album opener as I've heard in a long time.
Other outstanding tracks include the more radio-friendly "Infinity Guitars" and electro-noise track "A/B Machines." The band slows things down with "Rill Rill," which incorporates a long riff sampled from Funkadelic's "Can You Get To That?" from their 1971 classic Maggot Brain.
While this isn't the kind of music that I normally like, I loved the energy of this album, and I played it a lot on my car stereo over the summer. Critics seem to either love this album or hate it. I'm in the former camp, and I strongly recommend that you give this record a listen.
Rating: A-
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