Posts Tagged ‘Crystal Castles’
First Spins: Crystal Castles
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
Crystal Castles is back with the follow up to 2008’s career defining self-titled album. The Canadian duo, made up of Ethan Kath and Alice Glass, have cultivated a following of devout fans comprised of both music lovers and industry professionals alike. Their highly distinctive electronic sound has been compared to everything from Moby to Mario Bros.
With the release of their sophomore album, Crystal Castles II, the duo is showing that they plan on defending their title as one of electronica’s most ground breaking groups.
Glass and Kath will be touring their home country of Canada for the first time this summer as headliners of the 2010 Hard Festival. In 2008, their slot at the Glastonbury Festival was cut short after Glass climbed the stage rigging to repeatedly crowd surf into the thousands of concert-goers. In additional to Glastonbury, Coachella and Bonnaroo, Crystal Castles has opened for Nine Inch Nails and Blur on tour.
The new album is a 14 track compilation of sounds from past and present eras. Crystal Castles’ signature 1980s video game sound effects are contrasted sharply with Glass’s frantic signing on Baptism. What sounds like a VHS tape being rewound over the tranquilly of electronic beats and operatic string instruments makes I Am Made of Chalk sound like the poetic death of the digital era. The track Celestial has the tranquil repetition and slow rise in tempo that will make listeners feel as if their heartbeat is being reset by the band.
Crystal Castles’ album Crystal Castles II is released on May 24 but you can listen to the album in its entirety now by clicking here.
Favourite Tracks: Suffocation, Pap Smear, Not In Love, Doe Deer
Tags: Alice Glass, blur, Crystal Castles, Ethan Kath, first spins, Moby, Nine Inch Nails
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4/13/10 News briefs: MGMT, Crystal Castles, NXNE, Tokyo Police Club and Jose Gonzalez
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
Despite mixed reactions to the much-talked-about second album Congratulations, MGMT have told the Guardian that it was not done to kill their career. “To anyone that thinks we’ve intentionally committed commercial suicide with this album, it’s far from it,” says Ben Goldwasser. “If we really intended to do that, we’d be really good at it.” Added Andrew VanWyngarden, “It would be awesome. We’d make an album like Royal Trux’s Sweet Sixteen. You know that? With the toilet on the front full of shit and puke? So, you know, please don’t see this as that attempt.” Another mouthful of dessert, another giggle. “Because it would be a sorry attempt at commercial suicide. Really.”
Speaking of suicidal second albums, Toronto’s volatile electro rockers Crystal Castles will release yet another self-titled album on June 8th. Not a whole lot has been revealed other than a pretty awesome shot of the cover and that it was recorded in an Icelandic church, a Canadian cabin, and a Detroit garage.
NXNE has announced the first batch of bands for this June’s festival. Unlike previous years, this year looks amazing! Scheduled to play are Iggy & The Stooges, X, De La Soul, Mudhoney, Les Savy Fav, Japandroids, Cold Cave, Surfer Blood, Wavves, Thee Oh Sees and of course, Sloan. NXNE takes place between June 14th and 20th.
Tokyo Police Club have signed to Toronto’s Dine Alone (City and Colour, Hot Hot Heat) label. The Newmarket-cum-Toronto band will release their second album, Champ, on June 8th.
The Extraordinary Ordinary Life of Jose Gonzalez is the name of a new documentary about the lovely Swedish folkie named, yes, Jose Gonzalez. Here’s a description: “With a combination of video diary, surveillance camera, concert and tour footage as well as animations the filmmakers Mikel Cee Karlsson and Fredrik Egerstrand have followed one of Sweden’s most interesting artists - José Gonzalez.” You can watch the trailer here.
Tags: Crystal Castles, Dine Alone, Jose Gonzalez, MGMT, NXNE, Tokyo Police Club
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3/30/10 News briefs: LCD Soundsystem, The Libertines, Crystal Castles, Rival Schools and The Chemical Brothers
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
LCD Soundsystem has named their HIGHLY anticipated new album This Is Happening. The band’s third album will be released on May 18th. You can hear the first single, “Drunk Girls” right here.
It feels a little late, but English rockers The Libertines have announced they will reunite for the Reading and Leeds Festivals this summer. Carl Barât and Pete Doherty have officially buried any outstanding hatchets and according to the Guardian, they’ll be paid more than $2 million to play. Let’s hope Pete doesn’t invest that coin into any more chemicals.
Sleazy Toronto electro punks Crystal Castles have announced they have a new four-track 12″ on the way. Alice Glass and Ethan Kath will release the brand new “Doe Deer”, which is backed by three older tracks. The single will be released just in time for Record Store Day, on April 17th. It’s strictly limited to 500 copies, so you’re gonna have one shot at getting yours before it hits eBay for a three-figure price. Crystal Castles are also set to play Toronto’s Twist Art Gallery this Saturday (April 3rd).
Post-hardcore heroes Rival Schools will return on September 21st with their first album in eight years. Speaking with Exclaim!, frontman Walter Schreifels said that the band’s own Photo Finish label will put out the yet-to-be-titled record through a distribution deal with Atlantic. He also added that a reunion with his old band Quicksand is never gonna happen!
Finally, The Chemical Brothers are set to make a comeback with a new album they’re calling Further. Clash Music calls it “a stunning return” that moves “from Beach Boys harmonies to relentless Krautrock rhythms.” Ed and Tom will also release eight short films made in conjunction with long-time visuals collaborators Adam Smith and Marcus Lyall.
Tags: Crystal Castles, LCD Soundsystem, Rival Schools, The Chemical Brothers, The Libertines, Walter Screifels
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Album review: CFCF - Continent
Thursday, November 26th, 2009
CFCF Continent [Paper Bag]
In the age where any teenage kid can remix the likes of Radiohead and get thousands of hits on his/her blog for it, Montreal’s Mike Silver is one of the few who’s actually launched a career out of it. After winning a Crystal Castles contest by transforming their bratty electro punk anthem “Air War” into a pulsating barrage of rainbow synths, the attention positioned him to remix others like HEALTH, Justice and The Presets. But it’s his own compositions that really show his true colours.
The debut album by CFCF fulfils the promise he first showed on the You Hear Colours 7-inch on Acephale and the Panesian Nights EP at the beginning of the year. While rumours circulated that Silver rushed into completing Continent, the outcome doesn’t suggest anything as such. And the timing couldn’t have been better, what with the ripple of “chillwave” acts like Neon Indian, Washed Out, Memory Cassette/Tapes and Toro Y Moi clogging our ears.
CFCF is arguably the most multifarious among that group of artists, to the point where he’s more unclassifiable than anything. As the title indicates there is a long list of influences at work here and surprisingly, the mixed bag helps things flow and even give it some cinematic depth.
“You Hear Colours” embarks on a blissful journey that then becomes bombarded with squelching guitar licks that unfurls like something from one of Goblin’s soundtracks; “Monolith” leisurely transcends into a splash of Italo house; “Break-In” follows more of an intergalactic ambient path with arpeggiating synths; “Letters Home” dives right into the Balearic euphoria with woodwinds and strings complementing the shimmying rhythms; “Summerlong” is a pithy, tranquil interlude built from an acoustic guitar and crackling air; and most surprising is a straight cover of Fleetwood Mac’s late ‘80s hit “Big Love,” which Silver unwinds into cosmic disco.
If Continent is about taking us on a journey, then Silver certainly thinking more about a transatlantic trip instead of a short connection flight. Nine of the album’s 12 tracks hover around and above the five-minute mark, which makes giving it your full commitment trying if you’re not in the mood.
That said, CFCF is unmistakably mood music bent on channelling a class of verdant, picturesque scenery that most of the time takes you to a luminous, white sandy beach. And who doesn’t want to be swept away to that sort of destination every now and then for 65 minutes?
Rating: A
- Cam Lindsay
Tags: acephale, CFCF, chillwave, Continent, Crystal Castles, Mike Silver, Paper Bag
Posted in Reviews, The New Music | 1 Comment »
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