Final Review

"The fate of the world is safe in Crystal Castles" this line reefers to He-Mans Twin sister's She-Ra air born fortress.

Crystal Castles newest self titled album blast waves of Experimental music to the listener making them surf or sink.

The band was created by Ethan Kath in 2003 as a solo project. Alice Glass would later join the group, after Ethan watched her sing in her then noise-punk rock band. The two of them and only them combined can make the Crystal Castles.

In art experimental electronic music the DJ takes control from the MC, and now is back navigating the beat star ship through the cosmos.

If you’re looking for good hard core dance music and want to shy away from today's uninspired techno music that really hasn't evolved much since the days in the London factor scene, electronically is the way to go. The Club that was filled with neon hippies with over grow pacifiers and white man dreads is now because bands like Daft Punk and Lsd sound system filled flannel, lather jackets and empathy. The sweat may seem the same, but the motions that bring one to it have changed from hands twirling to fist pumps. The blood of Disco has once again been drained by punks.

It is funny to think the word sample means the same thing as it did back in the when Villain Ice was steeling the beet from Queen Songs as it does today. This brings up the point when Crystal Castles sample Sigur ros are they themselves steeling. When dose inspiration change to theft? Is the idea of copy write, and originality in need of an update. The ones that can feel the beet say ”YES". The digital age is among us, like our friendships Art has become socialized.

The vocal’s that come from Alice Glass are as clear as an overheard argument from the apartment next door, and you find yourself inclined to try to piece together the story from their muffled voice. In a live show I would guess it would be hard to tell the difference from live vocals and those reused from an old 12inch recorded. The lyrics are not well understood but felt, leading or misleading the lost listener to and from safety.

In a reduction to the recognizable elements of the songs, the pieces left over would feel like something from the 80s new wave movement.

The synth tracks seem to be mourning the death of Ian Curtis, or at least encapsulating his ghost. The rhythmic loop’s sound like electric waves crashing on the microchip shore’s of Tron’s beach house where he sits back drinking a martini that glows in the dark. Most of the musical chords seem to be taken from 1950’s low budget space invader Sci Fi B movie then slowed down and reversed.

The Drummer is still the dance clubs enemy. Neil Peart would not be welcomed among the Ethernet plugged in youth as they opted for the golden skin simple hart beat of a striped down android who’s thoughts are reduced from self awareness too ones and zeros.

Instead of using old video Game consoles to play Adventure, or Pitfall they use the technique known as circuit bending to make a rhythmic beats out of them. Much like the Ichigenkin a Japanese one string guitar, this type of Music instruments sound can be limiting. To make songs this way is like composing an orchestra with two buttons and a joy stick. With help from a screwdriver and soldering Iron they unmask the 1980s processor that runs deep inside the modern hipster generation. Though to some the sound a 8 bit .wav file can sound like an Error message rather than beating the final boss in a choose your own adventurer dungeon Floppy Game.

The music remembers or takes apart 1980's youth culture with the precision of someone playing the game operation but meaning to hit the sides and make that buzz sound. For a band whose name comes from a Saturday morning cartoon, it feels like the music should be taken as just that. This is low art, but it’s not low art. Just because something airs with ads for new colorful more fruity tasting cereal doesn’t mean that it’s not action packed, goofy, fun, entertaining, and dare I say it, good.