As a person who actually cried the day Sleater-Kinney announced their indefinite hiatus, I am constantly looking for new music to seriously rock out to. A girl can only listen to Live Through This so many times before her friends start to think she’s losing it. But this week, thanks to the buzz-happy bloggers over at Pitchfork, I discovered Sleigh Bells, a rockin’ duo from Brooklyn fronted by tattooed badass Alexis Krauss (who may be the only person in the history of the world to successfully rock American Apparel Disco Pants).
Her bandmate Derek Miller, formerly of hardcore rockers Poison the Well, brings the noise — so much noise that the faint of heart might want to turn down their headphones before checking out Sleigh Bells’ tunes. If your ears aren’t ringing after your first listen, you’re doing it wrong. My personal favorite is ‘A/B Machines,’ a banger with an opening guitar riff that sounds like a rocket blasting off. Or maybe a motorcycle getting revved up by a giant leather-clad biker — basically whatever sounds you associate with ‘ear-splitting.’
You can listen to a few of Sleigh Bells’ noisy jams here, and if you’re in the NYC area, check ’em out tomorrow night at Le Poisson Rouge. If the shaky YouTube vids on their MySpace are any indication, you’ll be dancing right along with Alexis. Don’t forget your ear plugs.
photo courtesy Stereogum
