I used to be that guy.
The one who hated every song you played him. It wasn't good enough for my tastes. I only liked the obscure, the different, the true musicians. And true musicians can't make danceable music...all the critics know that.
I usually listen to bands like this:
The Gaslight Anthem
Two Gallants
The Kills
The Heartless Bastards
The Weeks
Left-Lane Cruiser
Real bands with real musicians.
Respectable...and not at all danceable.
Sleigh Bells are slowly changing my mind and destroying my good taste.
I started listening to them early this summer, called them a guilty pleasure. No way were they reaching higher status than that. They were dance music. Incredibly poppy. Not the cream of the crop that I generally listened to. Plus, they made their music on the computer...and that's just not how it's done.
Then, last weekend, my musical life changed.
I saw these guys live.
Let me paint you a picture.
 |
| Sleigh Bells as art? |
It's got to be a Pollock to show the necessary insanity of the experience.
Hundreds upon hundreds of people flailing on a dance floor made for a couple dozen. Pushing and shoving and dancing and loving. Fantastic.
It was literally breathtaking awesomeness of the most grandiose kind. The music was everywhere, flowing through everyone. I could feel the bass lines thumping louder than my heart.
Doesn't this sound amazing?
It does, but it shouldn't. I shouldn't be this excited over a guilty pleasure. I should get this excited over one of my favorite bands. This is where the problem comes in.
Sleigh Bells have become one of my favorite bands.
I don't know how it happened, but seeing them live proved it...they're one of my favorites.
On the surface, this may not seem like a band thing...but get to know me and you'll see the problem. These guys are everything that I've called wrong with the music industry. It's loud, techno-y, poppy, bass driven, tubthumping, over dubbed, computer enhanced, embarrassing, pounding, occasionally remixed, incredibly danceable, no musicianship music. I feel like I'm letting down those aforementioned bands by listening to this.
But, for some reason, I'm hooked.
All I want to listen to now are bands like these. I want this loud, overproduced, no skill techno crap.
I love it. Guilty pleasure has become legitimate joy.
Listen (and dance) with me...but be careful. It'll get ya.
Shiny Toy Guns
CSS
Zach Hill
Sohodolls
Tobacco
Deadmau5
At least these are still relatively obscure and I can pull away a little bit of credibility from that.
