Those that have caught onto Bowerbirds in the last few years, whether it was through their 2007 debut album Hymns for a Dark Horse or its 2009 follow-up Upper Air, probably have a pretty good grasp on what the band is all about. The word “rustic” gets thrown around a lot when talking about a band like this, presumably because they’ve got a down home charm that transcends all the way into their lyrics. So you get a lot of acoustic guitars and graceful pianos, maybe some violins and glockenspiel for good measure. Imagine a less inventive version of Fleet Foxes without more muted vocal harmonies, and Bowerbirds is a band that should come to mind. Perhaps it’s better to simply say they’re peers with Iron & Wine and Midlake in their pastoralism. Navigating an urban jungle while listening to their songs never feels quite as good as it does when it soundtracks your trip into the woods or through an open field. That was the case with the band before, and with their third long player The Clearing it’s essentially more of the same. The changes made to their sound are largely cosmetic, with the instruments a little less buzzy and the vocals a little more up-front in the mix. Bowerbirds have also grown a little in their compositional abilities. That’s clear from the opening track “Tuck the Darkness In”, starting with just an acoustic guitar and vibraphone but slowly building and adding more instruments until it explodes in a cacophony of noise for the final 90 seconds. Following that up is “In the Yard”, which invites a whole other collection of instruments into the fold paired next to Beth Tacular’s sweet vocal, also essentially a paradox to Philip Moore’s from the track before. This pair of songs is evidence of growth not because of how far apart they are sonically, but rather how close. They compliment one another to help form a fully functional portrait of the band. It’s a shame that can’t be said of every track on The Clearing, but there are definitely more winners than losers thanks to moments like “Stitch the Hem”, “Hush” and “Sweet Moment”. Most follow the same slow burn beauty pattern established at the very beginning, though it’s consistently fascinating to keep track of the many instrumental layers that are placed atop one another. Sometimes it doesn’t work, as is the case with “This Year” and “Overcome With Light”, both of which are burdened with the curse of being too conventional for their own good. Lyrically speaking the band continues on the path of their prior albums, using nature imagery as metaphors for our personal lives. Great as it all sounds when it comes together, so much of The Clearing feels like a musical safety net. There’s so much beauty in these songs, yet they often feel like things we’ve heard before in their catalogue and the catalogues of similar bands. Bowerbirds may have grown some on this record, but they’ve only moved a foot when a yard was needed.
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I hope you had a grand weekend. Welcome to Monday, the stuff of workplace nightmares. To help you prepare for the five day battle, let’s jump right in and talk about today’s Pick Your Poison. Be sure to get your download on for tracks by Amanda Mair, Big Baby Gandhi, Dot Hacker, Mr. Gnome, Diplo’s remix of PO PO, Prevrat, Tortelsen, Tyburn Saints and The Voyeurist. That’s all the effort I can muster up for you on a day like today. We’ll talk more tomorrow.
Big Baby Gandhi – Blue Magic (ft. Das Racist)
Bonfire Nights – Own Worst Enemy
PO PO – Let’s Get Away (Diplo Remix)
Power Brothers – A Friend Amongst the Clouds
Prevrat – With Our Eyes Closed
Talibam! – Step Into the Marina
Tyburn Saints – Broken Bottles
Whitehorse – Killing Time Is Murder
SOUNDCLOUD
Fanfarlo’s 2009 debut album Reservoir was quite a bombastic and enthralling indie pop record that earned them comparisons to early Arcade Fire. The melodies were big and often incorporated violin and horns into their vast soundscape. Singer Simon Balthazar can quite easily channel Zach Condon of Beirut on any given song, so it’s no wonder there were a few mentions of that band as well when making reference points. But no band wants to be pigeonholed, and bearing the status as a second-rate Arcade Fire or Beirut can be a little frustrating. Of course there are worse bands to be compared to. Still, Fanfarlo were conscious of this when putting together their sophmore effort, Rooms Filled With Light. They’ve expanded their sound and instrumental arsenal to work in more synths and samples, among other things. The results are still very indie pop-inspired, but with a heavier 80’s touch. It’s not so impactful you’ll think the band has gone new wave, but a few tracks might bring to mind some great Talking Heads moments. Have a listen to tracks like “Lenslife” and “Feathers” to see if you can hear some of that bleeding through. What’s utterly fascinating about the whole record is that in spite of its broadened influences and instruments, there’s nothing on it that feels retro or dated. The band’s ability to make older elements sound new again goes a long way towards proving they’re more than just a flash in the pan. Still, that pan has so much flash in it, as almost every song on Rooms Filled With Light is extremely well structured to maximize enjoyability and memorability. The band has already technically released 3 singles (or at least 3 music videos) for “Replicate”, “Deconstruction” and “Shiny Things”. Don’t be surprised if additional videos emerge for “Tunguska”, “Tightrope” and “Dig”, as they’re worthy of that sort of attention as well. Delightful as it all is, there are moments like on their debut where the band goes a little too cutesy or twee. They tread into the waters of Noah and the Whale, who are by no means a bad band, just a slightly misguided one. When you’re always looking to that next chorus repetition to hammer that hook home sometimes you forget that the road off the beaten path can sometimes be even more rewarding. For all the satisfaction that comes from broadening your influences, it means less if you play it safe anyways. Fanfarlo have made one of the more addictive records so far in 2012, but it satisfies with all the grace of a summer movie blockbuster. It’s big, loud, brash and will send a little thrill up your spine, just don’t expect to hear it talked about during awards season.
I try to keep things light and fun on Fridays, so I want to point you in the direction of two how new music videos. The first comes from Chairlift for their song “Met Before”. You can watch the video by clicking here. It’s a Choose Your Own Adventure video, which means using your arrow keys at various points will take you in different directions. It’s really cool and I’m kind of addicted to finding out how many different paths I can take. The second video comes from Grimes for the song “Genesis”. Claire Boucher hangs out at places you might not expect her to hang out at – a men’s locker room, a dirtbike race and a football game. The paradox of course is that she wears her headphones and dances around there with a smile on her face. It’s a great video, and you can watch it at my Tumblr. All that cleared up, let’s talk Friday Pick Your Poison. I’ll recommend tracks from Brendan Benson, Child Bite, Chocolate Robots, CSLSX & I Break Horses, PS I Love You and Young Hines.
Canyons – When I See You Again (Duke Dumont Rain on Kilimanjaro Remix)
CSLSX & I Break Horses – Violent Sea
Lina Horner – Back on Your Feet
Modern Time Machines – Rocketship
PS I Love You – Sentimental Dishes
SOUNDCLOUD
The Penelopes – Sally In The Galaxy
Portico Quartet – City of Glass (LV Remix)
As I was very distracted yesterday by Leap Day, I neglected to mention the death of Davy Jones, which was absolutely the music news of the day/week. The Monkees are not a band I love, but I did have a solid amount of respect for what they tried to do. To go from a fictional TV band, in which all your songs and instruments were created for you and then making an honest effort to do it on their own, it takes some guts. Talent, too. No disrespect to Mike Nesmith, but Davy Jones was my favorite of The Monkees, and that’s mostly because I knew a guy in high school named Dave Jones. One of my teachers made good use of it by singing “Daydream Believer” every time he called on him in class. That was really what I thought of when hearing of Davy Jones’ passing. One of my favorite Monkees stories was when Nesmith stopped by Abbey Road studios when The Beatles were recording. Nesmith reportedly asked Lennon “Do you think we’re a cheap imitation of the Beatles, your movies and your records?” to which John Lennon assuredly replied, “I think you’re the greatest comic talent since the Marx Brothers. I’ve never missed one of your programs.” While Jones wasn’t present for that meeting, it was nice for that moment to know that at least one of the Beatles had some sort of respect for those guys. So R.I.P. Davy Jones, you’ll certainly be missed. Onto today’s Pick Your Poison. I’ll place my yellow highlighter on tracks from The D.A., Dope Body, England in 1819, Gemma Ray, Gold Beach, Moonlight Bride and Vanbot. In the Soundcloud section you’re not going to want to miss streaming tracks from Bryan Scary, Dent May, Michael Kiwanuka with Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, and Sean Bones.
Follow Me – A Mission Nocturnal
SOUNDCLOUD
Black Strobe – Italian Fireflies
Bryan Scary – Ziegfield Station
Michael Kiwanuka & Dan Auerbach – Lasan
After a criminally ignored debut album “Learning” in 2010, Perfume Genius (Mike Hadreas) is back with a graceful sophmore effort titled Put Your Back N 2 It. Kitschy and fun as that title may be, the music contained within is anything but. Those familiar with his first record will find many of the same or similar painful topics tackled once again with serene grace and aplomb. Physical and mental abuse, drug addiction and sexual trauma are all parts of Hadreas’ world, as they are parts of so many others’ as well. On “Learning” he fully embraced that darkness, which often made the record difficult to listen to. It was the warmth of his sparse, lo-fi piano arrangements that helped to turn these ugly moments into bearable ones. He’s cleaned up his sound quite a bit, expanded his instrumental palette just a little, and injected a touch of positivity to his lyrics to help make Put Your Back N 2 It feel like a good cry and a warm hug. On “Dark Waters” he comforts a victim of molestation with the quavering words, “I will take the dark part of your heart into my heart.” Hadreas also pushes for strength in sad times on “No Tears” by singing, “I will carry on with grace/Zero tears on my face.” Songs such as “All Waters” and “Hood” deal with love in all its forms, the former a meditation on the acceptance (or in some cases non-acceptance) of homosexuality in our world today. A 16-second promotional video for the album, which featured Hadreas being cradled like a baby in the arms of gay porn star Arpad Miklos, wound up being pulled from YouTube under the controversial excuse that it was promoting mature sexual themes (there was no nudity in the video). That’s more tragic than the song itself. Instrumentally speaking, Hadreas keeps things pretty simple: almost every track is either a piano ballad, a quiet acoustic guitar number, or a murky synth soundscape. Only moments like the title track and “17” dare to incorporate some violins and cello to flesh out arrangements for dramatic effect. So much of the emotion on this record is contained within Hadreas’s vocal performances, which at times quake in the precious style of Antony Hegarty and Stephin Merritt or gently whisper with the heft of “Seven Swans” era Sufjan Stevens. Few people have dared to make an album so brave, honest and topical, and that’s a big reason why Put Your Back N 2 It is such a success. With two excellent albums now under his belt, it appears that Perfume Genius is certainly living up to the second part of his name.
Perfume Genius – Dark Parts
Perfume Genius – All Waters
Perfume Genius – Hood
Happy Leap Day! Happy Hump Day! Happy Lump Day! Yes, today is that magical one day every four years we get an extension to February and get the chance to do whatever we want. Okay, so pretty much everyone probably did what they would normally do on a Wednesday. The world doesn’t stop simply because we have an extra day. I hope you had some fun though and maybe indulged in a little bit of folklore about Leap Day William. For this special edition of Pick Your Poison, there’s a couple extra tracks in there for you to enjoy. I’ll recommend songs from Autumn Owls, Brave Chandeliers, Grave Babies, Royal Headache, The Valery Trails and Variety Lights. In the remix pile be sure to download Diplo’s remix of Katy B as well as Elite Gymnastics’ remix of Korallreven. And hey, there’s a new Regina Spektor song available for streaming in the Soundcloud section! It’s a Leap Day miracle!
Autumn Owls – Acrobatics of a Patchwork Heart
Dale Murray – The Wind Is Trying to Kill Me
Emma Grace – Outlier
Emma Grace – Stuck in the Air
Katy B – Witches Brew (Diplo Remix)
Korallreven – Sa Sa Samoa (Elite Gymnastics Remix)
Ladyhawke – Black, White and Blue (Nile Delta Remix)
My Toys Like Me – Lost (Ink Project Remix)
Shawn Magill – All Fancies Are Motions Within Us
The Valery Trails – On the Perfume River
Variety Lights – Silent Too Long
SOUNDCLOUD
Emergency Bible Study – Birthday Girl
Luise Pop – Fast And Frightening (L7 cover)
One of the first things you’ll hear mentioned in any press about School of Seven Bells surrounding their new album Ghostory is that they’re down a member. After two albums as a trio of Benjamin Curtis (ex-Secret Machines), Alejandra Deheza and Claudia Deheza (ex-On!Air!Library!), Claudia abruptly left the band in the middle of a 2010 tour suporting their last full length Disconnect From Desire. There was no official explanation given for her exit, but it’s very possible that the romantic relationship between Benjamin and Alejandra left Claudia feeling like a third wheel both personally and professionally. Soldiering on without her certainly leaves a twin-sized hole in the band’s sound, as the intertwining vocal harmonies of the two sisters were one of SVIIB’s defining characteristics. As a means of offsetting such changes, the duo uses vocal overdubs and multitracking to keep things stable, even as the overall style of their music continues to evolve as well.
Ghostory is at its core a concept album, though you might be wise to simply take it at face value rather than closely analyze plot and characters. As the album’s title suggests, there are plenty of ghosts floating around in these songs, and they haunt the main character of Lafaye in both a positive and negative way. They aren’t literal ghosts but figurative ones, as our memories of people and places and strong emotional events can stay with us and haunt us for much of our lives. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that many of the songs are thematically dark, about predators and toxic people that we’ve all mistakenly become friends or lovers with at times. Our judgments are not always perfect. “Low Times” feels fitting as the album’s 6.5 minute centerpiece, an insistent and rather bitter track that pushes back against a particularly bad break-up. Similar themes permeate much of the record, though none perhaps moreso than “Scavenger”, where Deheza angrily criticizes her ex with lines like, “I made you feel something because you could feel nothing.” And though it is never officially spelled out for you, a couple tracks are informed or at least partly influenced by Claudia’s departure from the band. Listening to opening track and first single “The Night”, lyrics such as “The light of day gives me no relief/because I see you in everything” and “You have my arms, you have my legs” seem to reference the physical and mental connections that twins share. Press materials for the album mention that Ghostory is as much about Lafaye’s journey as it is the band’s, so of course making such connections are about as obvious as they can get without somebody spelling it out for you.
As much as SVIIB’s journey the last couple years has been about loss, listening to Ghostory you understand it has also been about growth and strengthening perceived weaknesses. Somehow they seem to have gotten better in spite of everything, as the new album is their most cohesive and exploratory to date. Their first two records Alpinisms and Disconnect From Desire took on gothic synth-pop with the sort of vigor reserved for a band like Depeche Mode in their heyday while also drawing accurate references to shoegaze and My Bloody Valentine. There’s still a lot of that on the new album, but they’re also bringing in a heavier electronica influence to make their songs more beat-heavy and dancefloor ready. The choruses and hooks are better than ever too. If you thought SVIIB’s music was ripe for clubs before, don’t be surprised if they recruit some friends and unleash a remix record several months or a year down the road. Tracks like “White Wind” and “Lafaye” are just two standout moments of a handful best experienced in a dark room with a pulsating light show and bodies writhing up against one another. But in case all of that wasn’t enough, Ghostory wraps up with “When You Sing”, an 8.5 minute thrill ride that stands right next to the even longer “Sempiternal-Amaranth” from Alpinisms as a band-defining moment. Whether their songs are 3 minutes or 10, School of Seven Bells are always careful to not let a melody go beyond its expiration date.
2008 was the year School of Seven Bells toured with M83. The two bands shared something of a sonic bond then, and now a few years later they have even more in common. There are moments on Ghostory that would be right at home on M83’s highly acclaimed 2011 double album Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, and vice versa. That says something about the evolution of both bands. Heavy reliance on shoegaze textures and hazy vocal performances/lyrics have given way to extremely clean production, up-front and clear vocals, along with a greater openness and warmth to the lyrics than ever before. The fog is gone and we’re now left with the realization there was an even greater band being obscured by it. In spite of all they’ve been through the last couple years, SVIIB are blossoming rather than retreating. They’ve always been meticulous in crafting their songs, but Ghostory is the first time that Benjamin and Alejandra have truly collaborated in the writing and composition of a record – something they used to do separately. The results are right there across 9 beautiful and darkly fun tracks that function best as a defining statement of what this band is all about. Hopefully working their magic and putting out this excellent third record won’t come back to haunt them when they try to settle in and make a fourth.
School of Seven Bells – The Night
School of Seven Bells – Lafaye
Okay, as it is Tuesday, allow me to give you a rundown of some of the new albums being released this week. As usual, keep in mind I’m not recommending all these, but rather simply informing you of their existence on store shelves or at your favorite digital music retailer. That said, you may be interested to hear this week sees fresh full lengths from The Cranberries, Cuff the Duke, Dirty Three, Elliott Brood, Erin Passmore, Eux Autres, Fanfarlo, Geographer, Hunx, the 4 man supergroup of Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker and Yim Yames, Jim O’Rourke, Memoryhouse, Mind Spiders, Mouse on Mars, Plants and Animals, Prince Rama, School of Seven Bells, Softoft Techech, Sophia Knapp, Stars in Coma, TRUST, and The Wooden Sky. A very healthy and long list there. Now let’s get to the list of mp3s in today’s Pick Your Poison. I’ll affix gold stars to tracks from Cultfever, Death Grips, Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, Hollis Brown, Radiation City, and White Woods. In the Soundcloud section please be sure to stream songs from Craft Spells, Django Django and Peelander-Z.
Ed Schrader’s Music Beat – When I’m In A Car (ft. Randy Randall of No Age)
Hollis Brown – Spoonful
Hollis Brown – Gypsy Black Cat
Radiation City – Find It of Use
Silver Medallion – The Young and the Reckless
Summer Camp – Losing My Mind (Dawn Golden & Rosy Cross Remix)
White Woods – Where Did You Go?
SOUNDCLOUD
Craft Spells – Still Left With Me
I realize that many of you visit this site for the mp3s. It’s the reality of the world we’re living in these days. But did you know there’s more, genuine content on this site? Like, I write album reviews and show reviews and do the occasional artist interview? Believe it, friends. Anyways, I’ve made mention of it already in a non-Pick Your Poison post, but wanted to bring it up again for those nosediving straight to this page, that I’ve started a new little thing called Snapshot Review. Unlike the very in-depth analysis of albums I’ve been doing a couple times a week since the site began, the Snapshot Review is a much quicker and broader take on an album. I’ll still be doing the longer reviews like normal, but the Snapshot Reviews will enable me to generate more overall writing pieces without sacrificing too much more of my time. Believe it or not, my days are pretty packed, which is why I manage this site the best I can. Okay, that business is done, let’s get to the mp3s. Today I’ll advise you to give a fair shake to tracks from Coast Jumper, Crystal Bright and the Silver Hands, Flosstradamus, Hunx, Work Drugs and Yellow Ostrich. Oh, and Cuff the Duke’s John Lennon cover isn’t half bad either. In the Soundcloud section you may want to stream the song from New Multitudes, which is the supergroup of Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker and Yim Yames. They worked together on this tribute album to Woody Guthrie that will be out tomorrow.
All Will Be Quiet – Wide Eyes and Space Flights
Crystal Bright and the Silver Hands – Drowned Out
Cuff the Duke – Instant Karma (John Lennon cover)
Rags and Ribbons – Even Matter
Tigercats – Full Moon Reggae Party
Vato Gonzalez and Aldair Silva – Digital Lies (Birdee Remix)
Yellow Ostrich – The Shakedown
SOUNDCLOUD
Eyes On Film – Something Wicked (This Way Comes)
I Am the Avalanche – Brooklyn Dodgers
Mike Delinquent Project – Evacuate (Instrumental)
You may know Frankie Rose from any number of bands she’s been in the last few years. She’s been the drummer for Vivian Girls, Crystal Stilts and Dum Dum Girls, which if you know all those bands you know they’ve got a lot in common sonically. They were all part of the lo-fi garage rock revival that took place not so long ago, and her leaving those bands also pretty much coincided with the hype dying down on that sort of music. In 2010 she took matters into her own hands and started Frankie Rose and the Outs, an all female band that had a very retro 60s girl group vibe to it. Once again restless and discontent with what she was doing musically, the Outs became out of a job late last year. Rose is now continuing on her own, under her own name, though with a couple supporting players to fill out the sound. She’s also changed her sound again, and her new album Interstellar takes a cue from 80s new wave. Listen carefully and you’ll hear shades of New Order, The Cure, and The Human League in their finer moments. The synths sparkle, the drums burst open and echo, and Rose’s light, airy vocal keeps it all afloat. There are great retro pop moments all over this thing, from the beat-heavy “Know Me” to the ridiculously catchy “Night Swim”. She’s overdubbing her own vocal harmonies now too, and it adds a precious beauty to ballads like “Pair of Wings” and “Apples for the Sun”. The focus and strength on display across the record is remarkable, and it’s a real pleasure to hear her embrace that and excel despite the continued tweaks to her style and band personnel. Interstellar isn’t the sort of album you deeply analyze, but the more time you spend with it the more the little moments make their presence felt. In some ways, those are the most rewarding kinds of albums.
In honor of it being Friday, I’m going to keep this short and sweet like usual. I will make a quick mention though that starting next week I’ll be trying something new on the site. I’m not going to reveal the details of it just yet, but let’s just say it allows me to get more done and provide more content to you on a daily basis. We’ll see how it goes and if it works out then great. In the meantime, enjoy these songs to give your weekend an extra boost. I’ll recommend tracks from Baby Teardrops, The Clean, The Dead Ships, Gorillaz collaborating with Andre 3000 and James Murphy, The Great American Canyon Band, Mystery Pills, Pond and The Wooden Sky. In the Soundcloud section there’s a pretty good remix of Bombay Bicycle Club, and new stuff from Lazer Sword and Reptar, among others. Have a great weekend!
Baby Teardrops – I Can Live My Life Alone
Born With Stripes – …You Stole the Laces From My Shoes
The Clean – Tally Ho
The Clean – In the Dreamlife U Need A Rubber Soul
The Cuban Brothers – You Don’t Have to Take Your Clothes Off
The Dead Ships – Bones Cracked
The Dead Ships – Before You Go
Gorillaz, Andre 3000 and James Murphy – DoYaThing (ZIP)
The Great American Canyon Band – Tumbleweed
Mystery Pills – The Glass Traditions
Night Beds – Wanted_You in August
Romanthony – Hold On (Logo’s Hold-Up Remix)
The Sweet Serenades – Moving On
SOUNDCLOUD
Bombay Bicycle Club – How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep (Scuba Remix)
Quantic & Alice Russell with the Combo Barbaro – Look Around The Corner
What to talk about today. Oh, I don’t think I’ve officially weighed in on Chris Brown yet, so long after the fact, let me talk about that briefly. There’s been a bit of talk about Brown these last few weeks after a few things happened. First, they let him into the Grammys. Then they let him on stage at the Grammys. And let him perform. More than once. Brown stepped up his swagger a bit on Twitter, basically condemning those “hating” on him. Throw onto the fire some girls Tweeting that they would let Brown beat them up. Plus all sorts of evidence that Brown and Rihanna had become very friendly again, possibly even reignited their relationship. Plus, they recorded a song together. All these things happened within the last month. Most recently, and we’re talking days ago, WWE Superstar CM Punk got into a bit of an online feud with Brown, resulting in some rather hostile exchanges. Punk took to YouTube to give his side of things, and his response has gone viral. Personally, I’m in agreement with Punk and a whole lot of other people that feel like Chris Brown should just go away. I’m not saying “go away” like no longer exist, but instead just retreat from the spotlight. The doors of success and fame should be closed to him. So should every woman. If you hit a woman, you don’t deserve to be with one. Period. Sorry to go all dark and social issues and talk about artists that really have nothing to do with the content on this site. Some mp3s will make it better. In today’s Pick Your Poison, I’d advise you to have a listen to tracks from Bosco, Cadence Weapon (who samples Grimes on the track below), Crocodiles, Dustin Wong, Morningbell, Ryan Monroe (of Band of Horses), and Wooden Wand. Have a look in the Soundcloud section too for new stuff from M. Ward and TV Buddhas.
Crocodiles – Sunday (Psychic Conversation #9)
Go Back to the Zoo – Beam Me Up
Gotye ft. Kimbra – Somebody That I Used to Know (Francis Prève Remix)
Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires – Centreville
Les Jupes – If This Is the Light
Morningbell – You Think I Don’t Know (But I Know)
Pink Mink – Earthquake on the Loose
Ryan Monroe – Any Way, Shape or Deformity
Spottiswoode – Beautiful Monday
Wooden Wand – Motel Stationary
SOUNDCLOUD
Dani Deahl Ft. Oh Snap! – Diplo Hates You (Original Mix)
M. Ward – Primitive Girl (Single Version)
Sleigh Bells have an expiration date. That expiration date is sooner rather than later. Quite simply, their sustainability factor is very low. They are in many ways the equivalent of a ribbon of magnesium set aflame – igniting quickly, burning white hot for a few seconds and then going dark. The reason why they’re working on such a limited time frame has less to do with the hype cycle and more to do with the niche they’ve carved out for themselves. Their heavy metal riffage and schoolgirl innocent vocals are unique to a fault, because as exciting and headbangingly good as the songs on their debut album Treats were, they failed to expand beyond that realm. There’s only so much that can be done with the tools the duo is currently using, meaning that unless they get truly inventive, they’re liable to go stale at any minute. Enter their sophmore record Reign of Terror. For those that thought Treats was a wild experiment in volume and excess, it appears that was just the tip of the iceberg. Now the band is looking to take down the unsinkable Titanic.
Reign of Terror opens to the sound of crowd noise and singer Alexis Krauss shouting from a distance, “What the fuck is up? Come on!” If you’ve ever seen Sleigh Bells’ intense and fun live show, you know that intro is pretty true to life. Fists in the air and devil horns held high, the band wants you to know that this record is more than just a collection of songs – it’s an Event with a capital E. After a solid minute of shouting slogans behind some riffs to pump people up, “True Shred Guitar” actually kicks into full stereo mode sans crowd. “Push it, push it, push it,” Krauss insists beneath a healthy layer of vocal fuzz. That seems to be the band’s mantra for the entire album as they attempt to go bigger and bolder than ever before. If the guitars were cranked up to 11 last time, they’re now at 12, buzzing hotter than a nest filled with angry hornets. Yet in spite of the much more heavy metal nature of the songs courtesy of Derek Miller, the vocals are decidedly more stable and pop-oriented than they were on the previous record.
For much of Treats, Krauss resorted to cheerleader-like shouting that often wound up being obscured by an already crowded and red-level mix. Listen to “Infinity Guitars” or “Crown on the Ground” or “A/B Machines” and you’ll find they have more in common vocally with straight hip hop verses than they do pop songs. That record’s best moment came via “Rill Rill”, where acoustic guitars calmed the noise level and Krauss delivered a sugary sweet schoolgirl vocal. They seemed to take that song as the vocal model for most of Reign of Terror, which as a result makes it sound that much deeper and more balanced on the whole. It helps that Krauss is much more up-front and unobscured in the mix, sharing equal weight with the supremely heavy guitars. The best example of how the two opposing forces meet in the middle comes via the album’s first single “Comeback Kid”, which is bouncy and poppy without losing its harsh edge. One of the record’s quietest and most ballad-infused moments comes on “End of the Line”, where Krauss is given enough room to whisper parts of her vocal while Miller puts the power chords on the shelf and settles for some snaking 80s-esque guitar solos. “Road to Hell” holds a remarkably similar constitution to it, only the execution is a little choppier and less catchy on the whole.
Those craving something more in line with earlier Sleigh Bells material will find a couple moments to take in some fist-pumping nostalgia. “Crush” feels like it should have a music video that’s thematically similar to Nirvana’s classic “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, which is to say the band should be performing with cheerleaders at a high school pep rally inside a smoky gymnasium. And “Demons” works exceptionally well when paired with the delusional, drug-induced visions that Beavis and Butt-Head experience while lost in the desert in “Beavis and Butt-Head Do America”. Considering the main riff in the song was ripped almost directly from that TV series, the comparison makes even more sense. As the record winds to a close, the band chooses to try a few different things that work well thematically but turn in mixed results. “You Lost Me” is about suicide, but plays up a sympathetic angle to it that results in the most beautiful track Sleigh Bells have ever composed. From there it only gets darker and less distinctive. “Never Say Die” is unable to stave off death, and “D.O.A.” takes what little signs of life it has and sends it spiraling downwards. Both bear the marks of 80s metal ballads, but fail to be inspiring or memorable.
In so many ways, Reign of Terror is a better record than Treats was. Sleigh Bells show promising advancements in their sound and the way they structure their songs that would seem to suggest they’ve got a real chance at surviving far longer than anybody might think. Perhaps the best thing about the changes they’ve made on this new album is how purely subtle they are, remaining close enough to what they did on their debut to satisfy those fans while making it easier to court new ones. But for as smart as the album is, it’s also more limiting than the last one. The band has entrenched themselves further into the metal-meets-pop dynamic than ever before, and it could come back to bite them in time. Also, while built upon a stronger foundation, the songs on Reign of Terror are less immediate and memorable than the in-your-face nature of Treats. In the longer term though the new album grows on you and its charms become that much more evident. Sometimes those are the real treats.
Happy Ash Wednesday to you and yours, and if that’s not your thing, hopefully the fact that it’s also National Margarita Day entices you just as much. Today is a little bit of a sad day for the music world, as last night we found out that Women guitarist Christopher Reimer died in his sleep. He was 26 years old. Women have essentially been on a hiatus these last couple years after they fistfought one another in the middle of a show. Still, they put out two damn good records and I was always holding out hope they’d patch things up and start making music again. With Reimer gone that seems less likely than ever. I’d like to offer my condolences to his family and to his bandmates, who in spite of their differences must be putting those aside for at least a little bit. Now let’s get to today’s edition of Pick Your Poison. I’ll advise you to check out tracks from BBU, Ceremony, Ducky, Inca Gold, JD Samson + MEN, Sauna, Sonoi, U.S. Elevator and Violens.
BBU – Please No Pictures (ft. Das Racist)
BBU – Beau Sia
Damon Moon & the Whispering Drifters – Lungs, Dirt, & Dreams
The Danvilles – Seemed So Easy
Seun Kuti – The Good Leaf (Spoek Mothambo Remix)
U.S. Elevator – All Through the Night
Violens – Unfolding Black Wings
SOUNDCLOUD
The District Attorneys – Confusion of Trust
EJ – Mama, I’m Gonna Sing (Pete Tong Remix)
