Crystal Castles

Even though you may have already heard Crystal Castle's hit split with HEALTH, "Crimewave", I've decided that anytime my mornings start with a cup of coffee, BIG FEAST BARS (recipe to come) and hitting play on the same album everyday, I must blog my obsession.

Supposedly, the duo's first ever released track, "Alice Practice", was recorded "accidentally" as a microphone test by lead vocalist, Alice Glass, in 2005. Since then, Crystal Castles have recorded their first (self-titled) LP, that brings a raw, trashy, disco-punk sound, that I at least have never seen in other 8-bit/chiptune recordings.

The album opens with "Untrust Us", which places distorted, chopped up vocals on a synth loop before ending in a (F Yeah!) Death From Above 1979, "Dead Womb" sample. The next track is the aforementioned, "Alice Practice", which features Alice's screaming siren over Ethan Fawn's chaotic Atari-laden beats, before hitting "Crimewave". The album continues in this fashion of disembodied vocals, chopped up 8-bit keyboards and general nosiemongering, while still having tracks to dance to like my favorite, "Courtship Dating". The album finishes with CC gradually bringing you back down to Earth with a fantastic shoegazing closer, "Tell Me What To Swallow".

And just in case you're wondering, the band did not name themselves after the 1983 Atari game, but rather She-Ra's refuge atop Sky Dancer Mountain...