Sleigh Bells

In episode 119, I catch up with Alexis Krauss and Derek Miller, the noise pop duo better known as ⁠Sleigh Bells⁠. I have been a massive Sleigh Bells fan since their first few singles back in 2009 — brash, genre-defying bangers like “Crown on the Ground” and “Infinity Guitars” that sounded unlike anything else, combining elements of pop, metal, hardcore, hip-hop and punk. They’ve continued to blow my mind with the leaps they’ve made since then. 

The three of us are also old friends at this point, and though we’ve done shorter interviews in the past, it was great to finally get to ask them some of the classic LSQ podcast questions about all the shit they were into as kids. In this episode, Alexis talks about what she learned from her experience in a teen pop band, revelations she had at the punk and hardcore shows she frequented during her New Jersey youth, and learning to integrate the diverse parts of her musical voice.

Derek describes falling in love with the soundtrack to La Bamba as a kid growing up in Florida, and then discovering 80s pop greats like Janet Jackson and Cyndi Lauper before venturing into alternative and hard rock (Nirvana, Silverchair) and then having his mind blown by ground-breaking artists such as Radiohead and Björk, and then eventually joining metal core band Poison The Well in his later teens. They also share the story of how they came together to form Sleigh Bells, and how their current approach builds on the foundational principles they established for the band more than fifteen years ago.

Sleigh Bells’ new sixth studio album, Bunky Becky Birthday Boy, comes out this week and it’s stellar. Find out more (and get tickets for their upcoming tour) at:⁠ tornclean.com⁠

Bon Iver – Justin Vernon – LSQ

An all-time favorite artist sits for an all-time favorite interview! Bon Iver's Justin Vernon is my guest in this episode of the LSQ podcast — the final episode of 2025 and season 8 of the show. We recorded this at his home studio back in June, shortly after the release of Bon Iver’s brilliant latest album, SABLE, fABLE, which recently earned him another couple well-deserved Grammy nominations. I loved this conversation so much, and I’m so grateful to Justin for his openness in a talk that explores his entire history as a creative person and music maker. Justin and I go back a ways and have done shorter interviews over the years. But this gave us a chance to go super in-depth, and I loved hearing stories about his early life and definitive creative experiences — about listening to John Prine’s “Hello in There,” on his Discman in the back of his my parents’ minivan and realizing music was his calling, about discovering music he loved by Fugazi, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, the Dave Matthews Band, and Baaba Maal, about his dad driving him and his friends from Eau Claire, Wisconsin to Minneapolis to see Stone Temple Pilots and Soundgarden, about the deep camaraderie of his high school band with friends he still collaborates with today, and the vital growth that came from moving the band to Raleigh, North Carolina when he was in his twenties. Oh, and you’ve also gotta hear the story about Prince coming to a Gayngs show at First Avenue, and nearly joining the band onstage.

1. Bon Iver – Justin Vernon 57:54
2. The Lemonheads – Evan Dando 36:50
3. Neko Case 27:32
4. Mdou Moctar 35:21
5. Suede – Brett Anderson 37:26