First I need to start out by saying, Helloooooooo, Los Angeles! I am finally all moved in to my new WeHo pad and it is glorious. I miss my family back in the 305 something awful, but LaLa Land has definitely always felt like home and I’m ecstatic about being back. Now that my new high-speed internet is up and running, I can finally get to re-establishing Now Hear This – West Coast style.
So I’m what you would call an extremely confident person. I have always been happy with all things me and rarely find myself wishing I were someone else. But there are always the occasional exceptions, and the first time I laid eyes on the fury that is Alexis Krauss of Sleigh Bells a couple years ago at a tiny, sweaty club show in West Palm Beach, I knew she would be one of them. To say that Sleigh Bells literally tore the roof off that bar would not be hyperbole at all.
It isn’t just that along with guitarist/producer Derek Miller, the Brooklyn-based duo put out Treats, one of my favorite records of 2010 and put on three of the best live shows I saw that year as well…it isn’t just that Alexis rocks a custom Sleigh Bells Bulls-style Jordan jersey on-stage that makes me die with envy…and it isn’t just that her perfect bangs, neo-punk style, insane vocal prowess, total stage domination during shows and catchy-as-hell noise-pop jams are all something I wish I had come up with first. It is all of that and then some. My love of Sleigh Bells is exactly why the term “girl crush” was coined.
If you haven’t yet heard of them or been lucky enough to see them absolutely crush stages when they’ve played live at fests like Coachella and Bonnaroo or while on tour with LCD Soundsystem or CSS, welcome to the party. If you’re like me and have been following these two since their EP release in 2009, then you are also eagerly awaiting their new album Reign of Terror, which is out February 21st. Krauss and Miller have been slowly leaking info and track samples of the new record which they have promised will be less hard-partying, more complex but just as head-bangingly loud as it’s predecessor. Being touted as the first “official” single and being sneak previewed this week, ‘Comeback Kid’ definitely delivers on that promise. Derek’s trademark heavy-riffed guitars are slicker and slightly siffused, laying the base for Alexis’ sugar-sweet R&B vocals which hit a new level of smooth for her too. The cut follows the familiar Sleigh Bells formula while pushing the band into a new direction that I’m totally digging.
Take a listen below or on the band’s website, where you can also watch a super dope teaser trailer for the upcoming album. For all you fans of the HG feature, Get Yo’ Nails Did, make sure you take a peep at the totally insane nail art Alexis is rocking in the clip. As far as sophomore efforts go, I have a feeling Reign of Terror is going to more than live up to the hype…and my plan to somehow pull a Freaky Friday-style life swap with Alexis begins anew.
See Also: ‘Rill Rill’ and ‘Tell ‘Em’
the first time i saw sleigh bells live, the paint literally rained down from the ceiling like confetti. mind blown. i could talk for days about the awesomeness of sleigh bells but i think that’s all that needs to be said.
Thanks for the feedback guys…happy to see HG readers are into Sleigh Bells. Great idea for a Halloween costume too! Can’t wait to see what Alexis is rocking on stage this round of shows. Go see them live if you haven’t yet. It will blow your mind, no joke.
wow!!! i definitely want to check-out this band in depth!!!! love her style too!!!!
i dressed up like her for halloween and told everyone i met that my name was alexis. i want to be her haha. that said, i’m slightly disappointed with the songs they’ve leaked so far. they lack the loud/in your face quality that i absolutely loved about the songs on treats. so hopefully there will be some out of control hype jams on this album too.
“My love of Sleigh Bells is exactly why the term “girl crush” was coined.” it’s so true! I think I want to be Alexis Krauss when I grow up XD Sleigh Bells rocks. Thanks for writing about them!