Crystal Castles S/T Finally Out

The first thing I did after listening to a mastered copy of Crystal Castles new self-titled album was delete all of their bootleg and demo recordings off my computer. Don’t worry, I’m still a big fan of their work, that’s just how complete their new sixteen song album is. 1 | 2 If you haven’t had the chance to give the new album a listen, you might be surprise like I was that it isn’t a total rehash of the songs that have been circulating around the web the last couple of years. At times the original demos could come off as abrasive, unstructured noise with annoying video game blips for the new listener. The mastered copy of the album has added balanced bass and noise levels plus contributed to clearer vocals that may have never been there before.

CC have become the king/queen and darlings of the whole DIY Myspace electro-experimental-thrash-8-bit movement thats become all too familiar in music these days. Originally known for a Klaxons remix, they’ve gone on to remix others from Bloc Party to Uffie to The Whip. One thing one finds out quickly after giving the Self-Titled a listen is that they actually have pop sensibilities.

If you don’t think so, check out the smooth sounding new bridge on ‘Air War’. They may just not come across as being electro-pop because vocals are at times so distorted and filtered. CC just seem to have a knack for playing dissonant melodies over major chords which leave the listener in limbo though I’m not sure whether or not they do this on purpose. But it works for them on popular songs like ‘Untrust Us’ and ‘Knights’. ‘Black Panther’ sounds like something I imagine being played at some dance club on the Jersey shore during the Summer where you’d get smashed in the head with a beer bottle by some meathead named Tony. All they need to do is drop in a repeating chorus like “better off alone” or “do you miss me?” and their act is moved from the basement to the bottle-service crowd. The same can be said for ‘Courtship Dating’. On ‘Vanished’, instrumentalist Ethan Fawn gets in on the act and does lead vocals. Alice Glass ends up with Suburban Lawns-esque and beach bunny vocals on the tunes ‘Good Times’ and ‘Courtship Dating’. Most surprising is the last song where CC create what seems to be perfect goth/shoe-gaze ballad with just guitar strumming. Like I said, this is a complete record and not just a dance album. Album out now on Last Gang Records.

[MP3]: “Crimewave” (Crystal Castles vs. HEALTH)
Check out the video for Crimewave

Crystal Castles finally play our longley anticipated FRICTION party on March 26th with HEALTH, Team Robespierre and Apache Beat . Plus an appearance at Studio B in Brooklyn the night before.