Last week, New York City-based dance rock duo Sleigh Bells bounced up and down the California coast, opening up the LCD Soundsystem show (along with Hot Chip) at the Hollywood Bowl on October 15, then opened up for Hot Chip two days later at The Warfield in San Francisco before heading back down to Southern California to headline shows in Orange County and Los Angeles. We here at For Young Moderns, who flew to the East Coast a few weeks ago to catch LCD Soundsystem/Sleigh Bells in Boston (read coverage of that show HERE), were on the guestlist for their show at Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa. On these headlining dates of Sleigh Bells' tour, they brought along one-man dance-rave party Pictureplane (from Denver), and the lo-fi pop rock of NYC's The Sundelles.
Sleigh Bells battled through some unfortunate PA system issues that significantly took away from their signature sound of deafening yet danceable guitars. For much of their set, guitarist/songwriter Derek E. Miller had to rely solely on his Marshall stacks behind him rather than the amps being aided by the venue's PA system. When the sound was coming out correctly, the distorted guitars made your skin vibrate.
Luckily, singer Alexis Krauss always bring along more than enough charisma and energy to make up for any technical issues the band suffered. She's a one-woman party monster and can definitely hold her own and keep the crowd fully entertained even when she is rocking the stage solo during one of the guitar-free, sample-heavy tracks. A combination of alluring, mysterious, and dangerous, Krauss commands and receives the crowd's attention and affection throughout Sleigh Bells' set.
Their set was a bit brief, with no encore. They played for not much longer than their opening slot sets recently played when opening for LCD Soundsystem and/or Hot Chip. Highlights from their set are the same songs that are highlights from their excellent debut album, Teats, including "Rill Rill" (a song of the year candidate) and "Infinity Guitars", which has a music video you can check out here:
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