Cow

CRYSTAL CASTLES
Crystal Castles (Shock)

Drawing notably (but not exclusively) from Atari 8-bit soundboards to inform their abstract electro synth-pop, Canadian duo Crystal Castles superficially slot into an increasingly divergent scene of artists utilising game soundtracks as a key influence on their sound.

In actuality, however, Crystal Castles’ debut is light-years away from the kitschy irony of artists like Horse the Band and Colon Open Bracket, transforming a rather mundane collection of influences (Atari, electronica, synth-pop) into a jaggedly poetic and surreally, urgently beautiful form.

‘Alice Practice’, the group’s very first single released in 2005, remains viciously and heart-achingly potent; explosions of gameboy electronics and electro beats swirling around the primal, indecipherable howls of vocalist Alice Glass, somehow inspiring one of the most affecting experiences a listener can have in this age.

Elsewhere, the album remains similarly impressive, ranging from the sublime and corrosive post-raver bliss of ‘XXZXCUZX Me’, to the diffident pop pulse murmurings of ‘Crimewave’ and the glacial yearning of ‘Vanished’.

It feels odd to pile praise on something of such kitschy origins, but Crystal Castles have taken something mundane and unremarkable and crafted something truly astounding, the only apt comparison being Joy Division’s transformation of punk from cheerful aggression to existentialist poetry.

Throughout, the album is suffused with a revelatory air of vibrant, violent urgency- imparting and infusing the original aggressive digitised euphoria of early techno with a viciously romantic streak of minor-key melody. The combination is overwhelming, drenching the listener in adrenaline while simultaneously ransacking their emotions, such a feat made doubly impressive by the fact that Alice Glass’ lyrics are indecipherable for a majority of the time.

Others might predict greatness for them, and they might be right, but it would be completely irrelevant. Whether this band rule the world or disappear, what matters is that, for a brief moment in time, they created art that was truly boundless in its imagination and almost spiritual in its beauty.

KKKKK

electrocutioner

You wrote that? Nice review.

shand

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honey bee

That video is stupid. Nothing is wrong by sampling their music.
I like their self titled album.

electrocutioner

It seems like a bit of a stretch to say they're stealing some of that stuff. The breakdown in that one song was similar (not exact) but the rest not so much. I'd have to hear some of the other alleged songs that they supposedly ripped off to form an opinion on them.

shand

I'm trying to find some good samples here, but they've already stolen art.

http://www.pileup.com/babyart/blog/?p=81

Cow

Isn't really relevant as to whether their music is good. I'm not going to hopelessly defend their actions in that, since they were clearly acting like douches, but their music remains excellent.

As to the samples, a similar argument exists. It's a question of who does it best vs who did it first. I won't pretend to like the band's modus operandi, and their press release suggested to me that they would be dicks, but it doesn't change the fact that their music is awesome, in my mind.

LTD

Well that band has no shame lol

Vibrating_Duck

Love this album

Nice review... but uhh... why have you rated it "KKKKK"?

Cow

I write for Time Off magazine in Australia and we're asked to submit reviews in that format. I'm just too lazy to change it to something else for here

Praemorior

someone told me they were like The Knife, so i've been meaning to check them out.

shapeup

Some of the most cracked out music I've ever heard. My roommate used to play it constantly. I felt like i was having a seizure.

mastershake

I thought you were just copying Kerrang's style haha.

Praemorior

decent.

3.5/5

Vibrating_Duck

Yeah that's what I thought, hence the

my son

hey this band is pretty fucking sweet last summer i used to listen to them every time i was walking somewhere and it was dark & gloomy outside. air war is awesome as fuck

Spyral2112

Enjoying Crystal Castles means you hate music.

Cow

Oh damn, that review's embarrassing.

wilcaz

Yeah this album is still awesome.

toothy

I guess there will always be some music that I just don't "get."

mattbrat

Still love this, annoyed I arrived at their stage at a festival as they were just finishing though.

TheCuddlyDevil

Thanks to this review I actually went and checked them out.

The melodies are nice and I enjoy the simplistic harmonies, but I wonder how long they can ride out the sounds they're using before they lose the perk of their instrumentation?

Also, I went ahead and listened to Colon Open Bracket because you mentioned, and I don't think they're int he same genre. Although they both use the same type of sounds.

wilcaz

LOL someone told you wrong

wilcaz

His review is pretty misleading. The album is nowhere near as "emotional" as he makes it sound. It's fun as hell though.

Praemorior

yes, yes they did.


for what it's worth, there are many formats of this cd available at no expense somewhere on the internet right now.

Pnoom!

Dude, it's two years old. Of course it's on the internet.

e_brown

i checked this out based on this thread. some of it is really cool but the grittier, dirty tracks give me the irrits. i can't remember song names though.

shapeup

This is actually a really good album.