Treats by Sleigh Bells

"Loud" like Beastie Boys means "rowdy"; like Public Enemy, "confrontational"; like Slayer, "brutal" perhaps. For Brooklyn duo Sleigh Bells "loud" takes on shades of meaning which is only possible because they're hasn't really been a record that was loud in this blown-out amp, drum machine explosion way before. The first time I put it on it infuriated me (headphones); trying it again in my car it made me rapturuos. Tipped way above safe decible levels with "Infinity Guitars" and "Riot Rhythm" that trudges along with dependable steadiness until overwhelming you, the songs often recall those of label-mate M.I.A. they way their bombastic density clobbers you. With songs about superficial "Kids" on a vacation and another track called "Straight A's" the loud here is a reaction to the overstimulation of young people, the shallowness of modern radio and the pitfalls of attention-seeking blog behavior (uh-oh I'm caught up in it too).

These people aren't hypocrites though, they're not fighting overstimulation with overstiulation as much as attempting an alternative, intelligent album about overstimulation. You know, the way Randy Newman's "Rednecks" didn't actually glorify racism. They get the fuel to make that commentary from the sweet suger-laced melodies that chime from singer Alexis Krauss who has far too much respect for teenyboppers (as she says "I know the part") to deride them or condecend to their audience, something label-mate M.I.A. does too much these days. The lyircs are simple, the melodies catchy, the sound LOUD. This is an album about the fracture between mainstream music and independent music, partuicularly for teens who are just carving their own aesthetic niches, and it insists that they meet eachother half way. Sleigh Bells mine dangerous territory here(the glorious thud of rap, dancefloor synths, abrasive punk guitars, and shoegazer vocals are all derided among some listners) but those sounds combine into something unabashedly (even frighteningly) contemporary. "You gotta march" a chorus of giddy tweens boast in "Riot Rythym" and Sleigh Bells make pop worth marching for. Doubt the kids'll listen, much less march, but glad someone is trying. 4.5/5

Brothers by The Black Keys

It's obvious that this duo bought their first instruments and started mining blues tropes to get the girls almost all these songs are about. That's why each tune is shimmering with the smoky atmospherics of a Quentin Tarantino movie, cutting into White Stripes' stomping ground without the trickness of Jack's lyrics or the intensity of Meg's unrelenting stomp. Instead the beat is laid back into
R&B turf for the seduction of those drawn to oddly vague, cool rock-and-roll.We never learn about who that is exactly since The Black Keys treat women as demographics, not individuals, in songs which go for universalism but end up as glorified song skeletons, lacking the meat of real relationship details. After all, it'd be a shame if those girls found out the whole show was for them. That would make the band and their audience appear to be tangible people instead of faceless blues archetypes, ruining the magic. Only on the last track does the gentleman who does the crooning truly sound flustered, and it's not about girls at all. 3/5

Cosmogramma by Flying Lotus

I heard this in a posh restaurant/hotel once. Or maybe it was a dream of a posh restaurant/hotel. I guess they're the same thing which would be the long-labored point of this record if the West Coast DJ who made (he'd say crafted it) was as interested in points as he was in finding new sonic contexts for windchimes. 2/5