Sleigh Bells Bring Treats to Brooklyn

PHOTOS BY JESSICA AMAYA

“What up Brooklyn?” Sleigh Bells stunner Alexis Krauss asked, in a small but sassy voice. She giggled, out of breath from tearing up the stage. She threw her head in her microphone and plunged her sleeve-tattooed arm straight up. After taking in air, she belted a ten-second: “What up Brooklyn?” This time, she got a heftier response. And giggled again. Sleigh Bells (Krauss and Derek Miller on guitar), were in good spirits last night at their sold out record release show at the Ridgewood Masonic Temple in Brooklyn. After stampeding on stage to a Slayer track, the pair transitioned perfectly into their first single, “Tell ‘Em” off their new album, Treats (N.E.E.T. and Mom+Pop Records). At that moment, the packed crowd bit—and held on through heavily gated “Infinity Guitars” and “Rill Rill,” complete with crowd-surfing. The show also marked the second-ever performance of the somewhat mysterious Cults, who opened: “We were not that good back then,” Krauss said of the bashful indie pop duo. Good back then or not; Sleigh Bells are pretty damn good now.