Revisited: Crystal Castles

Revisited: Crystal Castles (Self-Titled)

So far in this mini series of album reviews, we've brought you The Psychedelic Furs, The Strokes and Tubeway Army. This month we are taking a different approach. In 2008 Crystal Castles released an album which went on to make number 39 in the NME's Top 100 Albums of the decade. Eight years on and one member down Crystal Castles are still going strong. But their debut album still remains a signal-post in modern electronic music. 

Album opener is simple at best. Lyrically, it's just one line repeated throughout "La cocaina no es buena para su salud / La cocaina is not good for you". The line is sampled from a track by Death From Above 1979 called "Dead Womb". In terms of the instrumentation, this song largely reflects the entire album. It's very minimalist electronic music with a rudimentary beat. From here on, the energy on the album intensifies. Exemplified by the following track "Alice Practice" which in simple terms is a platform for vocalist Alice Glass to shout incomprehensible lyrics over some jarring and harsh electronic sounds put together by Ethan Kath. In fact Kath stated in an interview in 2008 "I want to make the most annoying sounds ever for Alice to scream over". (NME 2013) 

Following track 'Crimewave' is where we hear what Crystal Castles can do with electronic music. The melodies they create with the music are at times, sublime. There are clear characteristics of glitch music within the album and this song in particular. At times the music is loose but it's clear that this is done on purpose through experimentation and listening to strange chiptune music. 

The album is a lengthy affair with 16 tracks in total. The midway point of the album takes a slightly different direction, gone are the harsh electronic sounds and in come softer pleasant sounds. 'Good Time' sounds like it could have been lifted from a GameBoy edition of Pokemon and 'Vanished' is one of the strongest songs on the album. Sure, lyrically it doesn't really make any sense and the vocals are - at times hidden behind an effect - but the hook of the lead instrument (whatever that may be) draws you in like a fish on a rod. 'Knights' is a relentless instrumental that comes out of nowhere. Its driving beat is infectious; but the harshness is lifted meaning that the mash of electronic glitches aren't irritating. They come together to create something soft in comparison to previous tracks.

If one song would summarise this brilliant album it would be 'Black Panther'. Instrumentally it's pure chiptune. But somehow it creates a sense of euphoric emotion leaving you shocked that this electronic music does have soul behind it. Again, the lyrics are incomprehensible, but that doesn't matter when the instrumentation does all the talking. It's so breezy and joyful that it leaves the dark opening set of tracks far behind. The album is a journey. A journey that you will never want to end.

9/10

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