Yeasayer, w/ Sleigh Bells, @ The Troc, 5/5/10

By, Nick Rizzuto

If you were in the Trocadero last Wednesday, May 5^th, despite missing all of those Cinco de Mayo parties, then you at one point heard the words “When you see me, better make a phone call.” Now to me when I read those words – I’m thinking old school Ice Cube or some other West Coast gangsta rapper. Amazingly enough though – these words actually came from Yeasayer’s Chris Keating – the lead-singer and percussionist of the newest indie band from Brooklyn to make a national stink.

Despite not being N.W.A., Yeasayer have begun to sweep the U.S. with an eerie sound that, despite not having very clear predecessors, has attracted thousands of fans. In fact, they may be one of those “big bands you’ve never heard of” as their February 2010 release Odd Blood #63 on Billboard’s Top 200 Chart and #5 on Billboard’s Independent Album Chart.  Finally the band brought the songs of Odd Blood to Philadelphia on Cinco de Mayo to a sold-out room (about 900 tickets) that even featured five Philadelphia Eagles (according to @R5productions).

I’ll tell you more about Yeasayer’s performance in a bit, but you’ll also want to know about the band’s incredible opener Sleigh Bells, who hail from Brooklyn as well. The band has their first LP Treats coming out May 11^th on N.E.E.T. – which is M.I.A.’s division of Mom + Pop Records (Metric, Freelance Whales, Tokyo Police Club). The band unleashed a wave of internet buzz after this past year’s CMJ Festival and were picked up by Drexelist favorite M.I.A. despite many fighting bids from even bigger labels. M.I.A. has since been working with the band in the studio with the likes of Philly native and Temple graduate producer Diplo. You may know Diplo for his work as half of Major Lazer and for producing everyone from Santigold to Snoop Dogg. Despite this big time producer fame for Diplo, he has now turned his attention to Derek Miller, formerly of Poison the Well, and Alexis Krauss of Sleigh Bells.

Don't be fooled - this girl is fierce!

Now that you have some background, let me try to explain Sleigh Bells sound to you. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to do. Okay… so start with all of your conceptions of pop music. Alright. Now throw them out the window. Shatter the window. Now you’re one step closer to understanding Sleigh Bells. Go over to their Myspace and listen to “Infinity Guitars” or “Crown on the Ground” to see what I mean because I couldn’t find an mp3 to stream.

What you’re hearing is a production style in the same ballpark as the lo-fi movement that has been going on for a couple years now in indie music. M.I.A. exhibits this tendency but essentially what it comprises of is pushing down the overall mix of the vocals to the point where they seem to be drowning in the rest of the song. Instead of emphasizing the vocals the production works to emphasize the guitar, synths, and drums – something that is usually the first no-no you learn as a producer. Yet, despite sounding wrong and unorthodox, there is some undeniable beauty to this sound. And, no one does it better than Sleigh Bells.

So how does this translate live? More fantastically than I could personally have ever imagined! Alexis Kraus is an absolute star and could very easily rival M.I.A. herself on stage, not to mention veteran indie rock girls like Karen O. Alexis owned the entire room at the Trocadero last Wednesday and even was able to entertain the crowd while partner-in-crime Derek Miller underwent technical difficulties. Performing alone on stage with only her voice and a backing track for one song, it was evident that Alexis was ready for the big time and is a natural born rock-n-roller. M.I.A. has called the band’s up-coming LP as the definitive album of our generation and this live performance last week made me think that this may not be entirely pure hype.

One would think that such a fantastic performance would take away from the appeal of the headliner but, nay, Yeasayer (pun intended) continued to wow the crowd after they took over for opener Sleigh Bells. Their mix of songs from 2007’s All Hour Cymbals and 2010’s Odd Blood had the audience singing along, dancing, and even moshing to the otherworldly sounds that the band has been able to concoct over their short two-album existence. Somehow, these songs manage to take from African traditional music, as well as contemporary styles of pop to create something entirely unique, yet no so much of a far cry from current indie heavy-hitters like MGMT and Animal Collective. As I’ve said before, there must be something in the water in Brooklyn (LSD?) because the amount of innovative music surging from that local on a daily basis is staggering.

Previously mentioned Ice Cube antithesis Chris Keating and guitarist/ synth player Ira Wolf Tuton (who celebrated his birthday on the 5^th) traded off vocal duties from song to song and exhibited why I believe bands with more than one vocalist throughout history on the most endearing. It’s one thing to have great harmonies, but when band members switch off song-writing and singing duties from song to song, it gives the band a much greater depth and each song a different personality. I mean, this dynamic is why the Beatles are so beloved! I’m not going to go into for fear of lengthiness, but you should really check out the “Composition” section of this Wikipedia page for Odd Blood, which describes how the band went about molding together the amalgam of songs on the album. Absolutely fascinating individuals!

“2080” live with good old Jools Holland:

Anyway, the band killed the audience with fan favorites like “Ambling Alp” and “O.N.E.” and made at least 900 fans for life at last week’s performance.  Unlike many bands when playing live, Yeasayer wasn’t afraid to change things up – making their life performance that much more interesting. Although many of the songs didn’t depart too much from the recordings, it was always evident that the band was experimenting slightly with the song, whether by manipulating its tempo, arrangement, or even adding sections. What resulted was a new take on each song and shed a new light personally on some of my favorite Yeasayer-penned songs. Instead of recreating their albums, Yeasayer instead made an entirely new piece of art from the songs and the overall live experience.

Definitely a band I would suggest listening to, purchasing music from, and locking yourself in a room with until you know every word for next time that they’re in town.

Video for “O.N.E.” – as seen in the Hans on MTVu:

Yeasayer “ONE” By: Radical Friend from ODDBLOOD on Vimeo.