The spunky and energetic CSS – Cansei de Ser Sexy not Cascading Style Sheets – tore up the Firestone and played as if they were headlining. Aptly named uber-cutey, Lovefoxxx, invigorated the near capacity crowd with sassy dancing, pseudo-stripping, and audience engagement in between songs like the one-time ubiquitous iPod anthem, “Music is My Hot, Hot Sex.”
Sleigh Bells – defined as ‘noise pop” – has always struck me as an indie sugar pop band trapped in side the muscular frame of a metal / punk outfit. Kind of like The Refused meets She and Him or something; SB marries ultra-catchy hooks with walls of guitar and deafening volume. My perspective on them is only codified when the wall of Marshall amps on the stage is revealed and a guitar tech is tuning a classic metal guitar – I can’t remember if it was a Jackson or B.C Rich now, but either way it very thrash-y or Slayer-ish. Like Slayer, the crushing amplitude is probably achieved with the house sound system and the amps – save one or two – are probably shells there simply for decoration.
The eighties pop being played between sets (some great classics and a perfect extension to the bands showcased) faded out, the lights dimmed and then came some blasting death metal. As the stage lights hummed to life, Sabbath‘s “Iron Man” came on in synch with stacks of LED strobes between the amps. The “Iron Man” track was accompanied by Derek’s live guitar and given a Sleigh Bells remix treatment before giving way to “Crown on the Ground.”
They ripped through a short set comprised of tunes from their debut, Treats. The ultra hot hottie, Alexis Krauss, joked after a rousing encore from Firestone fans, “You should see a band with more than one album!” She crawled down from the stage to do an a capella rendition of “Run the Heart” for the crowd before announcing, “That’s all we have.” I was hoping with all the time since the release of Treats and since they were last here opening for LCD Soundsystem that they may have whipped up a few more anthems, especially since its a 2-person operation, but nothing. I’ll let it slide this time!