Sleigh Bells – Treats

Another day, another buzz band. Sleigh Bells’ demos have been tickling the blogosphere’s fancy over the past six months and with the release of debut LP Treats the New York duo are notching the hyperbole setting to stratospheric. Clustering Derek Miller's unearthly guitar/bass bombast with the schoolyard chanting of Alexis Krauss, the record is an earthquake of rambunctious space age beats. Distortion is key to every laser-guided brawl here, with Tell ‘Em and Straight As channelling thunderous white noise riffs into a mesh of ear bleeding punk.

It may sound like the music of the future, but its roots are firmly lodged in the past. Remove the amplified crunching from Kids and Crown On the Ground and the influence of electroclash squealers Le Tigre is all too apparent. Sadly, this is Sleigh Bells’ overarching flaw: instead of offering an invigorating blueprint for tomorrow, they’ve rehashed a pale imitation of yesterday. [Billy Hamilton]