Ginnard’s Album of the Month: Sleigh Bells – Treats

*In an attempt to contribute to the ever increasing glory that is BFD I have come up with Ginnard’s Album of the Month.  An album does not have to be recently released in order to make the cut, I just have to have been listening to it a lot for the past 30 days

Sleigh Bells – Treats

For fans of: M.I.A., Crystal Castles, Dirty Projectors

Sorry for the delay this month everyone, I moved into a new apartment and just got this thing called the internet.

What is a man to do when his hardcore band doesn’t quite make it to the big time?  Wait tables in NYC of course!  Derek Miller was once the lead guitarist for the post-hardcore band Poison The Well (boy that one takes me back).  Miller ran into the other half of Sleigh Bells, Alexis Krauss, while waiting on her and her mother at a Brazilian restaurant in NYC.  Miller mentioned he needed a vocalist for a new project and Krauss’ mother happily offered up her daughter who used to sing in an all girl pop band.  After cutting only a couple of demos and playing a few shows they were added to last years CMJ fest in New York where they were signed, all this before recording a professional track.

Treats is Sleigh Bells debut full length.  If I were to use one word to describe this album it would be “loud”.  Throughout Treats there is the ever present smashing, banging, and blown out drums that you would think overpower the vocals, but they don’t, it works.  Miller uses this sound in combination with Krauss’ pop influenced vocals to create an album that can’t quite be pinned down.  Songs like Kids and Tell Em use ever present, fast tempo drum loops to reel in the vocals, keeping the guitar lower in the mix while tracks like Infinity Guitars and Riot Rhythm bring them to the front.  Its this ever present mix of these elements that give this album a new sound altogether, metal pop?