Tell em!

*sigh*, don't believe the hype. Janelle Monae's and Sleigh Bells' full

length debuts were my most anticipated releases of 2010. Janelle's

lead single Tightrope has been my feel good jam of the year, and the video

subtly outdoes the choreographed dance moves of its peers with an easy

and relaxed confidence. The follow up, Cold War, is a straight up Top

40 dance floor burner reminiscent of Gnarls Barkley's Going On that

furthered the promise that the record would use the building blocks of soul

and funk to forge something fantastical steeped in tradition and

nostalgia while keeping an eye on the innovation and excitement of the

future. Sleigh Bells are the first indie band to appropriate club

influences in a totally awesome way, stripped of any restraint or

irony and Crown on the Ground and A/B Machines are just great, great

songs. Both records leaked around the same time, and what seemed to be my

surefire favorites of the year quickly became my biggest

disappointments.

Promo for Janelle Monae's the Archandroid promised futuristic,

blissed-out party jams, but instead delivers warmed-over psychedelia

and stiff robo-funk. It starts off with a long intro track, which

effectively builds anticipation...then *bam*! The first song kicks in,

and there's nothing behind the curtain. The next few tracks are fine,

but they feel like they're building momentum towards something better,

and don't stand on their own. Track five is a chilled out transition

and...finally! We get to the one-two punch of Cold War and Tightrope,

which are great on their own, but stand out oddly against what came

before. There's yet another transition immediately after and less

than half way through, the record's spent. The rest of the album feels

like an unnecessarily long comedown from a wild ride that never

happened. The stylistic shifts are so dramatic and the tracks so

forgettable, that it feels more like a shitty mixtape than a cohesive

album. By the time it reaches its meandering conclusion, the

Archandroid feels less like a debut and more the product of a veteran

artist who's creatively spent and blindly throwing themselves into

several different styles in a last gasp attempt for relevancy. For me,

that's what's so disappointing. This IS her debut and it's Janelle

declaring "This is who I am!" to the world, which makes me doubt her

ability to ever really put together an album with any sense of

purpose, cohesion or genuine fun.

Sleigh Bells' Treats is less outright disappointing, there's just not

much new here for anyone who's listened to their EP. The first track,

Tell Em, is the only great new song they've written and while the

blown-out production is a great aesthetic that brings out the elegant

simplicity of their older songs,the new tracks feel underwritten.

They're more atonal and synth-driven, a noticeable shift from the warm

hooks and melodies that Sleigh Bells blasted into the stratosphere on

their earlier material. Also, Alexis' often cooes where I feel like

she should snarl, which makes me feel like I'm listening to something

that was initially quiet that was bumped into the red post-production,

rather than a loud and crazy sound pushed to it's logical extreme.

I've wondered if I would have liked this album more if I'd never heard

their EP, but it doesn't ultimately change my opinion that there are

less great songs on this album than there are mediocre and

transitional tracks, which seem largely built from similar riffs as

their better songs. I still have hope for them, but their debut is so

short yet so full of filler and their sound is so of the moment that

it really makes me wonder if they'll really ever fulfill their

potential before their buzz band luster fades.

Anyways, I'm bummed, but check out their cool shit here:

Janelle Monae - Tightrope:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xktMnfb0Q0A

Sleigh Bells- Tell Em:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kJ05P-71gY