Sleigh Bells

An apparently strange pairing between experimental/hardcore songwriter, producer and guitarist Derek E. Miller and pop singer Alexis Krauss, who'd formerly starred with teen band Rubyblue, Sleigh Bells emerged in the "noughties" to impress audiences with their vigorous guitar riffs offset by incessant rhythms and sugary sweet vocals. The story goes that Miller was waiting tables in a Brazilian restaurant in Brooklyn when Krauss and her mother came in and they fell into conversation. On discovering that Miller was a musician planning to form a band project and was looking for a singer, Krauss's mother volunteered her daughter. Sleigh Bells was the result. The group gained attention with a notable performance at the CMJ Music Marathon in 2009 and after Miller had worked with M.I.A. on the track Meds and Feds on her Maya album, she signed them to her N.E.E.T label. A series of online releases sparked further interest and they released their first album Treats in May, 2010 full of powerful "noise pop" tracks like "Tell Em", "Crown on the Ground" and "Rill Rill" (which samples "Can You Get to That" by the old funk band Funkadelic). It won huge critical acclaim, setting Sleigh Bells on the road to further triumphs. Signed by the NY indie label Mom + Pop Music, the duo followed with Reign of Terror (2012) and Bitter Rivals (2013). Miller and Krauss then found their own lable, Torn Clean, and recorded their fourth full-length, Jessica Rabbit, in 2016, followed one year later by the EP Kid Kruschev. Preceeded by "Locust Laced", the fifth album Texis, entirely composed and produced by the band, saw the light via Mom + Pop in September 2021. Four years later, they returned with "Wanna Start a Band?", ahead of the album Bunky Becky Birthday Boy.

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