I've never been into them, but this is really good. "Lightning Turns Sawdust Gold" is a highlight on first listen. Also, this is on NPR.
Shame it seems like no one cares anymore, because this is their best album. They're one of the most prominent victims I can think of when it comes to the way we consume music now. They had one album with a cool gimmick. Stumbled trying to figure out how to turn a gimmick into a band. And by the time they righted the ship on the next one and took a great step forward with this one, nobody was covering them anymore.
What am I being like? I'm genuinely curious what you consider a "gimmick" about the first record. This is like the people in the shitty thread who think yellowcard having violins is a "gimmick". The word is a negative connotation about something they're doing, and I don't see anything about the first record that way
Literally just meaning they were a one trick pony. They had one cool, innovative sound and they did it well and with little variation. And blogs and music writers ate up that gimmick, but allotted them no room to grow. As soon as the second record flopped, they were an afterthought. Which is a shame, because they've really figured it out.
the last record was abysmal. reign of terror was at least okay. the only thing they're a victim of is not being able to live up to their original potential.
I thought Bitter Rival was solid, myself. They figured out a sustainable sound, which they finally got right on this one
Yeah Bitter Rivals was a step up from Reign of Terror in my eyes, it was reminiscent of the first album yeah, but I thought the songs were killer.
Interesting conversation here. I am digging Jessica Rabbit a lot, as it seems to draw on elements of all of Sleigh Bells' prior efforts: the frenetic production and big beats of Treats are there; the heavy guitar riffage of Reign of Terror drives a lot of these tracks; and Alexis' vocal performances that she started to stretch out on Bitter Rivals go even further on this one. I could stand for them resequencing JR a little bit, as I feel the couple of slower tracks kind of take out the steam where they are currently placed, but on the whole I would say Sleigh Bells have finally found their sound.
There's a few places where I love the tracking. "Loyal For" into "I Can Only Stare" works very well, and I really like "Torn Clean" as track #2 between those two huge songs on either side of it
Sleigh Bells: Jessica Rabbit Album Review | Pitchfork not sure why I still read this site's reviews of anything like this album
i mean you should be able to guess the score beforehand, the review ratings go very accordingly with the hype at the time. even the second record got an 8.2 at the time
don't really mind scores as much as that all the reviews basically amount to "i don't like this kind of music anymore" in a lot more words
I'm listening to the stream without individual tracks, but if "I Just Can't Stand You Anymore" is the one I think it is, wooooooooohooooooo yeah its a banger EDIT: It was Crucible, but both are really awesome!