Power-Chord and Machine Assault From a Mini-Army

Alexis Krauss, the frontwoman for Sleigh Bells, stoked the audience's euphoria and took a couple of crowd-surfing tours at Terminal 5 on Friday night. 

 Sleigh Bells perfected the wallop on “Treats,” their 2010 debut album. Like Run-D.M.C. decades earlier Sleigh Bells’ songwriter and guitarist Derek Miller combined raw drum-machine beats with rock power chords: a syncopated sputter and crunch that offset the sweet, breathy vocals of Alexis Krauss, the band’s other member.

 Sleigh Bells’ new album, “Reign of Terror” (Mom + Pop Music), doesn’t need to wallop any harder. Instead, the songs expand in other ways. They offer long-lined melodies instead of chants, more extensive layers of guitar, and lyrics that open themselves to reflection and sorrow.

But Sleigh Bells fans expect the visceral, and that’s what the band — the two members, their recorded tracks and Jason Boyer on second guitar — served up on Friday night at Terminal 5 in a typically short (51 minutes), forceful set. With or without tongue in cheek, Sleigh Bells have fully embraced the shtick of the big dumb loud rock band. A dozen Marshall speakers were the stage backdrop; there were hyperactive strobe lights. Ms. Krauss, formerly a schoolteacher, played the rocker chick as a cussing party animal, wearing a studded leather jacket, pink top and short shorts. “Push it! Push it! True shred guitar!” she barked in the set’s first song. 

It was mightily effective. As recently as last year Sleigh Bells had trouble living up to their recordings onstage; Ms. Krauss’s singing voice isn’t a huge one. But experience, and some vocals joining the drums in Sleigh Bells’ recorded tracks, have pumped up the band’s stage presence. Strutting authoritatively around the stage, head-banging and gesticulating, yelling, “Here we go!” and working the chants of old songs like “A/B Machines” into shout-along crescendos, Ms. Krauss stoked the crowd into dancing, clapping, hand-waving, screaming euphoria. In “Rill Rill,” she went crowd-surfing twice; she might want to consider using a wireless microphone.

The paradox is that Sleigh Bells’ newer music has more on its mind than elemental impact. Under the salvos of programmed percussion, new songs like “End of the Line,” “Comeback Kid” and “Leader of the Pack” were anthems of mourning and consolation. At times distorted guitars made way for resonant ones for a few pensive moments. But that didn’t last very long; the stomp and screech came back immediately and often. After the live onslaught, Sleigh Bells fans are going to have to discover the new songs’ subtleties on their own.


source