All Entries Tagged With: "CMJ Festival"

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

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.