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Author: breno
Date: 12-26-10 11:22
I finally got around to listening to the Sleigh Bells album and am a bit mystified by the buzz around them. I'm at a loss to see what exactly is so special about half-baked riffs and song fragments dolled up with cheerleader vocals.
However, in fairness I have to admit I probably haven't really given their songs a fair chance because their album joins Guided By Voices' Mag Earwig on the list of discs that are quite frankly physically unpleasant for me to listen to. And I'm not speaking metaphorically there - those two albums seem to be mixed at the exact pitch needed to set my teeth on edge. They're like Q-tips dipped in ground glass and shoved into my ears. I honestly just can't listen to them without extreme discomfort, and it has nothing to do with the songs themselves.
Anyone else have that experience with Sleigh Bells (or Mag Earwig)? Or any other album that they physically can't listen to, not due to the content (so no gratuitous Journey slams here) but because the mix on the album just makes you damn uncomfortable?
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Author: jcakp
Date: 12-26-10 17:53
i agree breno, i liked everything i heard about sleigh bells but hated their album. it just doesn't sound right to me.
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Author: nosepail
Date: 12-27-10 07:49
I am in total agreement, Breno. I couldn't listen to more than 2 minutes of the Sleigh Bells record. The cheerleading vocals doom them on the launch pad. Unbearable stuff.
Mag Earwig is a solid, solid record, to these ears. Perhaps GBV's 3rd finest. Jane of the Waking Universe, Learning to Hunt, Bulldog Skin, Portable Mens Society, are all great songs. Not sure what bothers you about it. There is nothing extreme about the songwriting, production, or instrumentation either, so I don't see what irritates you so much. Can you elaborate?
Post Edited (12-27-10 07:53)
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Author: breno
Date: 12-27-10 08:03
Nosepail, it's just something about the guitar sound on Mag Earwhig. It's pitched at a frequency or something that just makes it unpleasant for me to listen to. It's nothing to do with the content itself. There's something about the sound of the album that personally hits me like nails on a blackboard. I really can't explain it any further than that. But every time I've ever tried listening to the album it makes me feel like I have ants crawling around under my skin.
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Author: randysan
Date: 12-27-10 08:37
thank you brad, your post was like a little christmas gift, confirming that i am not crazy. after all the great press i decided to give it a try and allotted some precious listening time to Treats, only to find the thing unlistenable, physically. It sounds harsh and gimmicky. I was relieved: one less album to assimilate in a year already at that time (i think it was july) overwhelming me with must-listens which i'd be happy to get to some time this decade.
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Author: HollowbodyKay
Date: 12-27-10 09:54
Quote:
"... every time I've ever tried listening to the album it makes me feel like I have ants crawling around under my skin."
As if mere earwigs weren't enough?
:::cues up "Bug Day" from The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall:::
...
Just imagine a time when Sleigh Bells (the band) takes up its deserved permanent residency on some token-indie "Second Stage" float in the inevitable Dick-Clark's-Brain-In-A-JarŪ Rock & Roll Christmas Parade.
Maybe it'll be in Vegas? Maybe it'll all stay in Vegas?
This is American niche-marketing at its finest. My captive ad man is weeping even as I type this - and I didn't even have to hit him.
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Author: nosepail
Date: 01-11-11 13:53
OK, I was a little harsh on this record. At its worst, it is unlistenable in my opinion, but "Rill Rill" is a delightful song. I just bumped the records grade to a C+.
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Author: breno
Date: 01-11-11 15:44
"Rill Rill" indeed raises the average grade for the rest of the album.
I've tried listening to it a few more times, but that blown out speaker sound for the percussion is nails on blackboard territory for me.
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Author: Paganizer
Date: 01-11-11 19:42
Not bad for something recognized by the mainstream but not, like, one of the greatest indie releases of the past year. Top 50 maybe. If someone puts it on, fine. Today I had to wait in a store playing Fleetwood Mac's famous whatever-it-is. Sleigh Bells would have been preferred.
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Author: Jermoe
Date: 01-12-11 11:52
For the most part, everything about this album sets my teeth on edge. Makes me feel like I've been having a really bad migraine for several hours.
The second-to-last song, however ("A/B Machines") is damn good. Probably one of my very favorite tunes from last year.
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Author: nosepail
Date: 05-06-11 11:44
OK, I've heard Rill Rill on the radio 19 times in the past week. How did this become a hit? I'm done with it. Going back to my original grade.
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Author: nosepail
Date: 02-20-12 15:08
Pitchfork today:
Quote:
Sleigh Bells arrived fully formed with blunt rock riffs, crunk beats, and airy, feminine vocals. Their debut, Treats, may be the first record to fetishize the negative consequences of the Loudness War, with guitarist and producer Derek E. Miller pushing an already bombastic sound to absurd extremes by deliberately narrowing the music's dynamic range to the point of clipping even at moderate volumes.
I guess this is why the first album was so unlistenable. I am not anxious to hear the sophmore effort despite the 8.2 rating.
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Author: breno
Date: 02-20-12 16:20
I suspect they were predestined to get a high rating on this album regardless of what the album actually sounds like. It seems like one of those situations.
My opinion towards them eventually mellowed out to the point where I could tolerate them and even made it through a listen or two where I thought "I can see why people might like this" - I guess I built up a resistance to the physical pain it initially gave me, but I still didn't think it was anywhere near deserving of the hype it received. I'm interested to hear the new one but I'll take the Pitchfork review with a grain of salt.
I've heard "Comeback Kid" and it's nowhere near as grating as the first album was to the ears. It pretty much sounds like Giant Drag with hyperactive percussion grafted on the back that doesn't really add anything to the song besides clutter and noise, and a much weaker hook than Giant Drag would ever trot out for a lead single.
It's not awful or painful, but if "Comeback Kid" is representative of the rest of the album then they're definitely benefiting from the "We anointed these people as geniuses on their first album so now we have to follow through with that on their second or we'll look stupid" syndrome.
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Author: erikalbany
Date: 02-21-12 10:19
I'm not liking the brief (and inaccurate) Crystal Castles comparison. . . I actually like Crystal Castles, who--unlike Sleigh Bells--are, like, *good* and stuff.
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Author: breno
Date: 02-21-12 11:09
Yeah, that's a weird line. I didn't see the Crystal Castles comparison as being negative towards them (or Sleigh Bells, for that matter), but was kind of mystified as to when Crystal Castles have ever sounded like a "shattered Cyndi Lauper nightmare." They definitely have their '80s influences, but I've never noticed Cyndi Lauper to be among them.
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Author: erikalbany
Date: 02-21-12 11:19
"They definitely have their '80s influences, but I've never noticed Cyndi Lauper to be among them."
Exactly. But I bet the writer rubbed his hands together thinking "that line is gold. . . gold I tell ya!"--even though it has no reference point to reality or the sound that goes into people's ears when they listen to this music.
Sacred Rule #1 of music criticism (feel free to add to this list): You can't just say ANYTHING. It may be subjective, but it still should have an element of journalism.
(#2 has to do with guitars never "jangling" [like keys, if you think about it] or being "angular")
Crikey, I'm turning into a grumpy middle-aged bastard. I hope Ira is proud.
Post Edited (02-21-12 12:17)
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Author: Jermoe
Date: 02-21-12 14:11
Listening to the new one on Rhapsody. I like it better than the debut, but I'm still kind of mystified why/how they've managed to gain a following with this stuff.
Anyhoo, Rhapsody's little sidebar review concludes with this: "If nothing here makes The Hunger Games soundtrack, then somebody screwed up." Right on.
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Author: zwirnm
Date: 02-23-12 10:05
Listening to it on Spotify. Some of it is ghastly, but I kind of liked "End of the Line" and "Crush" so far. "True Shred Guitar" is a terrible opening.
I think they are doing things that other bands of the 90s have done well: bubble gum melodies, sing-songy chants, buried under bludgeoning noise. The glaring production is what's more noticeable. Of course we'll all listen to this on crappy laptop speakers or iPod earbuds, so who can tell how awful it is?
Suggest: JPSE or Garbage instead of these guys.
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Author: HollowbodyKay
Date: 02-23-12 10:42
Quote:
As I've said before, I cannot bring myself to listen to the band due to its awful name.
Is a mystery to me why anyone is paying any attention whatsoever to this sort of baleful, post-Jackofficers noise. Having heard the actual sounds on the CD, it seems fair to say that the moniker now seems like the least of their issues.
I use a body rub called "Halitosis." ...
It makes my breath seem sweet."
.
.
.
Sleigh Bells. One of the worst listening experiences ever. It's not even bad in a funny or entertaining way.
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