photo credit: pooneh ghana

It’s been said time and time again so I’ll say it this one, and final time: SLEIGH BELLS ARE FUCKING LOUD. I wondered to myself if Warehouse Live’s speakers could actually explode, and if and when they do, would it be entirely impudent of me to dive behind a fat kid? As if the wall of towering marshall stacks barricaded upon the stage wasn’t intimidating enough, the sounds erupting from them would be one of the notoriously noisiest bands in recent memory. Thank god I grabbed some ear-plugs beforehand.

Hit the jump for the recap.

– sunbear

photo credit: pooneh ghana

As one of the many bands that has ridden a wave of success following an ipod commercial set to their tune, Sao Paulo, Brazilian synth-poppers CSS were a huge sell. If there was any one band to take responsibility for the eclectic crowd in attendance that evening (hipsters skanks, tech nerds, bros, their bro-in-training younger brothers …) it was CSS. The second playful quintet took the stage, the mood of the entire venue turned to “party-time.” Lead lady LoveFoxxx was a kaleidoscopic sight, dressed up as, what I described on twitter, a “gay matador,” face glossed with harlequin grease. Her energy alone, overshadowed the band’s, as she jumped into the crowd, spending a whole “Beautiful Song’s” worth of song caught in a mosh.

New material from the band’s forthcoming La Liveracíon was unveileded, but it was the golden oldies everyone went gaga for. The band broke out some A-material early on with “Off the Hook” (a Boondocks Bar 2008 anthem) stirring up feelings of my younger self dancing to dance pop – and I wasn’t alone, either. Most everyone was feeling CSS’s infectiousness, their rollicking set culminating with “Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above.” Please, let’s, LoveFoxxx.

photo credit: pooneh ghana

A quick intermission followed where all the rainbowed fisher price instruments of CSS were cleared from the stage leaving absolutely nothing but the monolith of Marshall stacks that loomed so ominously over the hapless hipsters in the first few rows, much like in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Yes, we’re all monkeys. Taking the stage to the jagged riff of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” the two-man team that is all of Sleigh Bells started a ravenous riot that began with “Crown on the Ground” from 2010’s Treats – the band’s one and only album.

photo credit: pooneh ghana

With all the manic energy of a hardcore band (guitarist Derek E. Miller was a You Come Before You – era member of post-hardcore Floridians Poison the Well) Sleigh Bells were an garish, unrelenting ball of bravado. Singer and hipster icon in a Michael Jordan 23 Jersey (‘Bulls’ replaced with ‘Bells’) Alexis Krauss rushed about the stage, whipping her hair maniacally in a strobe’s flash, leaning over her adoring subjects, throttling the mic in her hand as if to kill it. The lack of a true live band meant that the band’s set blazed by at blistering pace, the duo more or less accompanying Treats‘ backing track. But that’s not to say any part of their performance was mechanical – Krauss as a stage presence was as commanding as any frenzied emcee’s could be, male or female. There was never any build up in her person, just blaring climax all the time. Miller was but a supportive shadow to the demigoddess before him – a sound engineer with buzzsaw Jackson riffs and a pedal board to boot (get it?). Forces combined, Sleigh Bells’ merciless attack on our eardrums was almost as over as soon as it hard started. A lone 30 minute album to under their belts, the band had run out of songs like “Rill Rill” and “Infinity Guitars” to encore with, so Krauss was coaxed into an accapella version of “Run the Heart” which was the night’s surprising, and most subdued, moment.

The aftermath of Sleigh Bells’ assault left all in a daze and with bleeding eardrums. I’m pretty sure I saw someone pull a “scanners” as well. If there’s an act out there that can top Sleigh Bells in terms of aural intensity, I plan on keeping away.

[SETLIST]

Sleigh Bells