Well, thankfully Alexis Krauss and Derek E. Miller, aka Sleigh Bells surpass all expectations, reservations and discriminations to erect a towering long player that's equal parts visceral and disco. The duo, signed to M.I.A.'s N.E.E.T. Recordings (punctuation nightmare) were sampled by their label mogul on her latest outing, (prepare punctuation downfall) /\/\/\Y/\, Meds And Feds pivoting on the devastating humbucker crunch of title-track, Treats. Yet there's far more thrills and spills at the gooey centre of Treats than merely sample filler, to which the arresting, jolting Tell 'Em testifies as it bursts from the blocks with guitar scratches and vox devoid of emotive. In the most positive of manners. Kids is just as indebted to hip hop as it is to Killswitch Engage or Hatebreed, as Krauss wheels out her most acute Arulpragasam impression, Infinity Guitars is infinitely more brattish than The Breakfast Club were Donny Tourette and John Lydon warming the classroom pines, and the arpeggiated no-fi disco of Run The Heart is as exhilaratingly unique as a post-Sónar Mediterranean gargle. The vibrations of illicit cane usage introduce Straight A's, a marauding bluster through yelping thrashcore, yet it's the impeccably produced, heart-melting Rill Rill that soars nebula-like over Treats, Krauss breathing heavily over sampled utopian twangs and twinkles. Effectively Sleigh Bells transform M.I.A.'s glitchy hip hop lilt into a band format, albeit with guitars being the only genetically organic instrumentation. Drenched in the sweat of others, stars in your eyes and penniless, you'd take the ecstatic confusion of Crown On The Ground over XXXO any day...
