The first time I saw Crystal Castles play, back in the summer of 2006, they neatly divided a small crowd at Sneaky Dee’s in half. About twenty people up at the front thought that their shrill blips, lo-fi beats, and manic screaming was the coolest sound to come out of Toronto since Broken Social Scene, while an equal number huddled in the back, unable to make any kind of musical sense of the electronic cacophony. While the duo have had their unique sound—described as “8-bit terror” and “Gremlin dance music” by blogs ad nauseum — and controversial antics both praised and derided in the indie spotlight for well over a year now, its seems as though the local mainstream is moving fast in their direction.
This debut LP, released by Last Gang (Metric, Death From Above) comes at a moment when Crystal Castles are enjoying much more success in the UK, France, and Germany than they are here at home. Correctly hailed by foreign critics as one of the most challenging and exciting bands of this decade, could it be that long before Ethan (keyboards) and Alice (vocals) are rocking “Air War” at the Air Canada Centre, posing for the cover of NME and Rolling Stone?
The 16-track LP compiles selections of their work dating back to their inception in 2005, including hits like “Alice Practice,” “xxzxcuzx me,” and “Untrust Us,” that are already well-known to electro-webcrawlers, as well as new material like “Through the Hosiery,” “Black Panther,” and “Love and Caring.” The fact that this LP is essentially an un-premeditated collection of singles and b-sides speaks to the decline of the album as an art form—many fans will download their entire Crystal Castles collection one song at a time from mp3 blogs. However, that the same rebellious duo, known to flake on big shows and treat the media with a fair amount of tongue-in-cheek scorn, are even submitting to the album format at all speaks to a mean conservative streak in the Canadian music industry that still feels fans need to buy songs in bundles of at least ten to feel like they are getting their money’s worth.
Still, there are plenty of reasons to shell out for this particular record—even if you’ve already hacked their MySpace player. Versions of “Alice Practice” and “Air War” have been updated and extended to include awesome new parts, and “Crimewave,” their colab/remix with California’s HEALTH now features an innovative coda of cool, filtered drum beats. “1991,” (formerly titled “1983”) contains addictive artifacts of their brilliant-but-still-unreleased remix of Soho Doll’s “Trash the Rental,” albeit slowed down and in a minor key.
What also makes this an excellent record is that it isn’t top-heavy. In fact, if you’re already a fan I would recommend listening to the record back to front, as the final three songs are all new stand-out tracks. “Black Panther” delivers a driving, club-ready beat beneath a ridiculously melodic synth line, peppered with Alice’s trademarked cut-up-and-processed vocals, while “Reckless” borrows the bass line from TV on the Radio’s “Wolf Like Me” and soaks it in groovy, downtrodden electro.
The album’s closer “Tell Me What to Swallow” deserves special attention. Conceptually, this acoustic guitar-driven ballad could be taken to be part of their project to fuck with everyone’s collective expectations—sonically it’s the most unique material they’ve ever produced, more shoegazer than electro—but that’s only half the story here. In its own right, this is the highlight of the record. Just as dark as the rest of their catalogue, the dreamlike “Swallow” swells between pretty verses and two haunting choruses, the last of which is enveloped by a wash of hopeful synths. This is the first song in a while I’ve listened to on constant repeat, and is a fitting (if unexpected) conclusion, to one of the most important avant-garde releases to hit the Canadian indie-mainstream to date.
