Not Many Experts

Up to this point, the “Charting Within Months” series has mainly been aimed at bands who are about to be tipped over the cusp into success. Sleigh Bells, however, don’t exactly fit that mould. Their four or five bedroom-produced, fuzzy and distorted demos are far from polished, but are full of character and display a set of surprisingly well formed and promising songs. From these few demos alone, Sleigh Bells have managed to destroy an unsuspecting CMJ festival in New York, completely stealing the show (or so I hear) and coming out as the band who everyone is calling the “CMJ breakout group of the year”.

Whilst the declarations that the band are going to be able to transform this initial success into a great album or mainstream success go a step further than the well informed conjecture that this series of posts is interested in, there’s no question that we’re more excited about Sleigh Bells than we are about any of the other artists who have featured in this series. Why? Well, sure, it’s great to have the potential to sell hundreds of thousands of records, but it’s equally, if not more, important to have that potential to create one of those albums that could be rivalling Radiohead, Arcade Fire et al in end of year lists next year. So, not “Charting Within Months”, then, just very, very talented.

Sleigh Bells – Ring Ring

Sleigh Bells – Crown On The Ground (Credit goes to Said The Gramophone)