Gotta say, I'm a little disappointed that they've apparently decided they're too cool for videogame sound effects. That they blatantly ripped off the chiptune scene that they claimed to have no idea existed. But that's sorta besides the point when their songs were so fucking great.
― OffensiveBeard, Sunday, 25 April 2010 15:29 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.american.com/archive/2010/february/soul-music
― iatee, Sunday, 25 April 2010 15:40 (fourteen years ago) link
I stopped listening to them because of their ongoing assholishness - we're all assholes some or a lot of the time but these guys take it too goddamn far, there's enough other good music that I'll be fine if I miss out on a good CC jam because of my reactionary stance
― brad whitford's guitar explorations (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Sunday, 25 April 2010 16:31 (fourteen years ago) link
I don't miss the video-game sounds at all; there's so much else going on with their sound that they don't need to fall back on that gimmick.
I understand the sentiment, because I hear it all the time from friends who refuse to listen to Kanye West, but those people are missing out on fantastic music.
― Evan R, Sunday, 25 April 2010 16:36 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah if there was a fantastic music shortage & CC wasn't being dicks to people I know personally to be stand-up dudes, it might be one thing - but really, "missing out on fantastic music" just makes room for more fantastic music, so fuck listening to these assholes no matter how good their records are imo
― brad whitford's guitar explorations (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Sunday, 25 April 2010 16:48 (fourteen years ago) link
like, the bigger issue here is: they work within a subculture. kanye west being a loose cannon, who cares, all the people he's actively making trouble for are also multi-millionaires. crystal castles relies on a community made up largely of people who work long hours for low pay to make it possible for touring bands to get paid for their work, and they routinely screw over the members of that community. the only possible recourse against such assholism, within the community, is to deny them the attention & money that enables them to continue. (I suppose one could also try to engage them and persuade them that fucking people over is wrong. Good luck.) missing out on their good music seems a small price to pay if in the exchange one increases the likelihood of such dickheads being driven from the community.
― brad whitford's guitar explorations (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Sunday, 25 April 2010 16:52 (fourteen years ago) link
you could also download their album illegally and burn 50 copies and give them away to anyone you know who likes them before the album is released
― nabisco infiltrator (J0rdan S.), Sunday, 25 April 2010 16:57 (fourteen years ago) link
but maybe i'm an asshole too idk
I agreed with that stance totally until I read http://www.pileup.com/babyart/blog/?p=201. It seems like dude was perfectly okay with their idea theft after they threw some $ his way. Dolla, dolla billz y'all.
― Blancminaj (Spinspin Sugah), Sunday, 25 April 2010 16:58 (fourteen years ago) link
deny them the attention & money that enables them to continue
Or just download their stuff for free, enjoy it, and stay away from them in a live setting. You've got about a 30% of them not showing up or Alice throwing an onstage temper tantrum and canceling the show anyway, so it works out for the best, really.
― OffensiveBeard, Sunday, 25 April 2010 17:05 (fourteen years ago) link
I think listening to it is still support - gotta hit 'em where it actually hurts by not listening. downloading & listening = "it doesn't matter how we treat people, you're still going to listen to our music"
(and also by not responding to attention-seeking behaviors obv. but too late on that call lol)
― brad whitford's guitar explorations (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Sunday, 25 April 2010 17:09 (fourteen years ago) link
I know this ends up in an all-musicians-are-dicks-anyway classic argt btw so we ain't gotta really get into it, I just think in this case where the subculture within which they function actually has a choice about whether cc's behavior has consequences or not, everybody should opt for actually making a difference & not giving them coverage/bookings/etc
― brad whitford's guitar explorations (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Sunday, 25 April 2010 17:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Why can't everyone be more like Andrew W.K.
― Walter Melon (Abbott), Sunday, 25 April 2010 20:39 (fourteen years ago) link
...helping children blow things up?
― mashup, Sunday, 25 April 2010 20:45 (fourteen years ago) link
He also helps them have fun and be safe while doing it!
― Walter Melon (Abbott), Sunday, 25 April 2010 20:51 (fourteen years ago) link
the hired actor or the real andrew wk? http://walrusmusicblog.com/blog/the-andrew-w-k-from-the-i-get-wet-album-was-a-hired-actor/
― mashup, Sunday, 25 April 2010 20:57 (fourteen years ago) link
Nooooo let's not go down that rabbit hole on this thread.
― Walter Melon (Abbott), Sunday, 25 April 2010 20:58 (fourteen years ago) link
Really like most of this album, although I skip some tracks which are just too abrasive for too long (/too old).
― Spencer Chow, Tuesday, 4 May 2010 23:53 (fourteen years ago) link
yes, I'm feeling this one for the moment. Can't wait to listen to it in a car
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 5 May 2010 07:43 (fourteen years ago) link
i like this a lot too
― johnny crunch, Wednesday, 5 May 2010 11:58 (fourteen years ago) link
some of the softer songs are, weirdly, pretty reminiscent of Mylene Farmer (esp. the single).
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Thursday, 6 May 2010 07:34 (fourteen years ago) link
they're on a more manic thing than gang gang dance, but that's who they make me think of these days. sort of a post-everything dance band.
― a tenth level which features a single castle (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 18 May 2010 03:42 (fourteen years ago) link
Actually really looking forward to following this band in the future. I just wish Alice would differentiate herself from Karen O a little more.
― kelpolaris, Tuesday, 18 May 2010 04:54 (fourteen years ago) link
I got worked up for a moment, then I realized its Crystal Stilts I'm partial to. Oh well...
― ImprovSpirit, Tuesday, 18 May 2010 18:22 (fourteen years ago) link
sampling Sigur Ros like this is nagl imo
― ksh, Tuesday, 25 May 2010 15:09 (fourteen years ago) link
Castles fans should listen to some DAT Politics.
― Davek (davek_00), Tuesday, 25 May 2010 15:22 (fourteen years ago) link
still on my first listen, but i'm enjoying this! unsurprising, though, b/c i really liked their last record
― ksh, Tuesday, 25 May 2010 15:37 (fourteen years ago) link
wasn't even planning on buying it or listening to it, but randomly picked it up when i saw it in the "new" section of my local record store earlier. glad i did!
― ksh, Tuesday, 25 May 2010 15:38 (fourteen years ago) link
HOLY SHIT is "Not In Love" gorgeous
― ksh, Tuesday, 25 May 2010 15:39 (fourteen years ago) link
like, ridiculously so
I really wish they'd tone down the massive self-conscious hipster bullshit thing they've got going because some of their music is really quite affecting. I like the last track that sounds like they're wrenching animal noises out of their equipment.
― Matt DC, Thursday, 3 June 2010 11:08 (fourteen years ago) link
I'm really loving this album. I haven't heard anything off their first record save "courtship dating" so I don't really understand the connections to 8-bit or that scene because I'm not getting it so much off this one. The music sounds more like A Sunny Day in Glasgow than anything else.
xpost animals drowning. It works in their favor that they've used these noisier moments sparingly. The harsh vs comforting sound of this album is really satisfying.
― scarfs, Saturday, 21 August 2010 17:35 (thirteen years ago) link
nick from diamonds is reporting that these dudes died of PCP overdose.
― Lazarus Niles-Burnham (res), Monday, 27 September 2010 20:13 (thirteen years ago) link
wait - both of them?
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Monday, 27 September 2010 21:09 (thirteen years ago) link
hm.... he's also posting that the New Pornographers all died in a fiery bus crash. I think he's fantasizing out loud.
― Lazarus Niles-Burnham (res), Monday, 27 September 2010 21:20 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeah, pretty hilarious.
These sorts of 'jokes' = dud
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Monday, 27 September 2010 21:25 (thirteen years ago) link
maybe the New Pornographers did die and Crystal Castles were just trying to blatantly rip them off?
― got electrolytes (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 27 September 2010 21:31 (thirteen years ago) link
RIP
― I ain't that kind of player I just foul a lot (DJ Mencap), Monday, 27 September 2010 21:46 (thirteen years ago) link
hope you're being a pair of unpleasant turds in heaven
― I ain't that kind of player I just foul a lot (DJ Mencap), Monday, 27 September 2010 21:47 (thirteen years ago) link
Er, wow. Saw them in Nottingham last night, really wasn't expecting much - but that was the best gig I've seen this year. (Well, I say "seen" - the band were barely visible behind the smoke and strobes). The music scales up brilliantly, tracks like Crimewave and Baptism turning into thunderous juggernauts.
― mike t-diva, Friday, 22 October 2010 12:02 (thirteen years ago) link
i'd like to see them based on what you say. LP favourites are 'Empathy' and 'I Am Made Of Chalk'.
― sock lobster (blueski), Friday, 22 October 2010 12:11 (thirteen years ago) link
This is awesome.
― schwantz, Tuesday, 26 October 2010 20:13 (thirteen years ago) link
loving this
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 26 October 2010 21:07 (thirteen years ago) link
Okay, when did this band decide to actually go from bad to great?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32udqal_lyQ
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 26 October 2010 21:09 (thirteen years ago) link
I've avoided the second album until now because I just assumed it was more of the first.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 26 October 2010 21:10 (thirteen years ago) link
This sounds good with Robert Smith. I can finally make sense of the lyrics. I wasn't that off I think:
NOT IN LOVE
I found your picturein the back of my door.Wont keep you at home, no one lives here anymore.and now it burnsnow we can't be friendsnothing here should endHere we go again. Bwa bwa bwa.Cause it's cold outside, when you coming home?cause it's hot inside, we could lay in the park.
I'm not in love
Could it be that time has taken it's tollwon't take you so far, I am in controland now it burnsnow we can't be friendsnothing here should endHere we go again. Bwa bwa bwa.Cause it's cold outside, when you coming home?cause it's hot inside, we could lay in the park.
I'm not in loveWe are not in love
― Moka
transcribe crystal castles lyrics
― Moka, Tuesday, 26 October 2010 21:10 (thirteen years ago) link
The new album is fantastic.
― altered boners (rennavate), Tuesday, 26 October 2010 21:11 (thirteen years ago) link
I like the first album but then again I also like Atari Teenage Riot and Severed Heads
― O'Donnell and the Brain (HI DERE), Tuesday, 26 October 2010 21:13 (thirteen years ago) link
Why does no-one mention 'Celestica' on this thread?!? Top ten for me this year.
― Harrison Buttwhistle (NickB), Tuesday, 26 October 2010 21:15 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JITI0FskSG0
― Harrison Buttwhistle (NickB), Tuesday, 26 October 2010 21:16 (thirteen years ago) link