Crystal Castles-Crystal Castles
Crystal Castles were named after the old Atari game, or maybe they were named after a She-Ra toy. Who knows, really? They’re from Toronto, that’s for sure. And they write shimmery electro songs that borrow equally from Ed Banger records and Atari Teenage Riot. In a lot of ways, their debut album, Crystal Castles, sounds like a demo album. Few of the songs seem to fit together in any logical way. Some of the songs evoke digital hardcore. Some of the songs evoke old video games. And some of the songs are just plain crazy.
Lead track “Untrust Us” is essentially a remix of Death From Above 1979’s “Dead Womb.” “Xxzxcuzx Me” could have come from any early-’80s video game. “Crimewave” is a HEALTH cover, and a snazzy one at that. “Courtship Dating” is reminiscent of Freezepop, or even early Ladytron. Crystal Castles has a definite case of multiple personality disorder. The point is that Crystal Castles wear their influences on their sleeve. But they take them in some utterly fascinating directions.
“Courtship Dating”
According to their myspace page, they are named after the SheRa toy. Untrust Us samples the vocal that appears before Dead Womb, so I wouldn't say it was a remix of Dead Womb as that track has nothing to do with Untrust Us. Crimewave is not a cover. Again it's just a sample from the Health song. Listen to Health's version and you can hear where the vocal sample is taken from and how much it has been manipulated and drastically changed: myspace.com/healthmusic
ReplyDeleteI think you'll agree that it's not a cover. I listened to Atari Teenage Riot, I think they suck compared to CC but I think Ladytron meets Ed Banger is a good description. The Courtship Dating video looks really pretty, I've never seen it, thank you for posting it.