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Kevin Warwick: Such a thinking man’s response. I’m going to just shut my brain off, because Sleigh Bells isn’t trying to stump me. I’ll agree that Reign of Terror was a bit of a step back from the megabeat, sparkly Treats, which has very little to dissect other than the fact that it’s xxxtreme party pop, or “shred pop” (a genre I didn’t know existed until Rolling Stone dropped it in describing the duo). Bitter Rivals is back to the same personality as the duo’s debut. First, it’s loud as hell, with some Atari Teenage Riot-like beats drowning out Alexis in a skull-shaking sort of way. Second, who cares about a second? It’s a blast and catchy and, as you said to me the other day, like Mountain Dew for your ears. Cheerleader jock jams supreme.
LG: I like when a band like Sleigh Bells can wallop me over the head with jock jams tremendous enough that it makes me forget I’m essentially listening to jock jams, and part of my issue with Bitter Rivals is it occasionally lacks that power—or, like the title track, there’s something slightly out of place that takes me out of the moment. On the xxxtreme carbonated beverage scale Bitter Rivals is a slightly watered down Mountain Dew Code Red—it retains some of the taste that makes it resemble Treats and it has a totally new color as Sleigh Bells mix in elements of house music (“Sing Like a Wire”) or sound like nu-metal Aqua (“Young Legends,” which is admittedly better than most nu-metal and Aqua), but it’s missing its zing. It’s a step up from the lukewarm terror of Reign of Terror, but there are enough weak moments that leave me searching for the food nutrition label hoping that what I’m gorging on won’t make me feel awful in the morning.
KW: Clusterfucks are pretty extreme. And here I thought you liked living the extreme lifestyle. I know you love shred pop, at least. You haven’t shut your mouth about it the last week. The tail end of the record, I will agree, is a little lackluster. A little Wilson Phillips, for sure, but if more bands worked at mimicking “Hold On,” the world would be a better place. Sleigh Bells are at their best when the beats are blown out and sound like they’re clipping your speakers. Will you at least admit that Alexis Krauss is magnetic as hell, cornball lyrics and all?
Final thoughts?
