A Visual Introduction to Sleigh Bells
Brooklyn's finest indie darlings debuted the second music video from their debut album, Treats yesterday. Here's a breakdown of their cinematographic excellence and why you should be banging these beats as often as possible.
"Rill Rill" continues the patterns established in Sleigh Bells' other music video despite the fact that "Rill Rill" is kind of the album's sore thumb. It's completely devoid of guitar distortion, the rhythm track is minimal and there this is one of the few songs on the album by a band named after bells that actually has bells on it.
Rill Rill
Minor Tarantino nod aside, it may come as a no surprise that Sleigh Bells is signed to M.I.A.'s record label particularly since they share similar sonic themes: rap beats, metal guitars and rebellion lyrics backed by videos that reinforce those themes. Hot women, hot cars and weapons are all easily synonymous with your everyday rap video. The leather jackets, Wayfarers and guitars ooze with nothing but some of the most essential rock and roll roots; whereas weapons, fire and blood bring rebellion and physical disagreements to mind.
Infinity Guitars
The affinity for high schools, letter jackets, cheerleaders and yearbook photos is the most interesting aspect of all, though. It could be a reference to the time vocalist Alexis Krauss spent as a fourth grade teacher, yet what fourth grade teacher teaches in a high school? Perhaps the idea is to suggest the levels of enjoyment they're attempting to reach: this is feel-good music you were missing out on high school, the kind of stuff that both the rap kids and the metal kids could agree on.
Or it could just be the easiest venue to express the excitement of their live shows. Sleigh Bells have a reputation for using just an iPod to queue up their backing beats and for, more importantly, being really loud. Nothing says, "If you like this video, you should come check out our awesome live show" like destroying a high school, physically, visually and metaphorically. High school wasn't really that great for the indie kids, but they know it's going to just keep getting better.