yeah I remember that happening, and people generally thinking he was a fucking dickbag because of it. I certainly never gave them any time again after she left
― akm, Thursday, 26 October 2017 04:13 (six years ago) link
Also someone should tell him CC best known song is Crimewave.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, 26 October 2017 04:13 (six years ago) link
You know in the context of Alice's statement that facebook post from Ethan is proof that he is an insecure piece of shit and he did enjoy undermining her.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, 26 October 2017 04:16 (six years ago) link
Seems all of CC upcoming concerts have been cancelled. Hope this is a career killer for him.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, 26 October 2017 04:18 (six years ago) link
I can't defend Alice either though, two friends worked with her in some venues and she's also very rude and shitty to everyone.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, 26 October 2017 04:23 (six years ago) link
Seems like that's two rather different things being compared.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 26 October 2017 04:26 (six years ago) link
also sounds like she may have some reasons for being emotionally uncomfortable in work situations with strangers
― shackling the masses with plastic-wrapped snack picks (sic), Thursday, 26 October 2017 05:01 (six years ago) link
Yeah of course they’re different things you’re right. Ethan apologists on the CC fb page right now are making me sick.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, 26 October 2017 06:12 (six years ago) link
So much of that fourth Crystal Castles album was trolling Alice. He diminished her in statements, literally wrote her out of the band's history in its official press material, and seemed to be mocking her (and really all women) with that cover. It all seemed distasteful at the time, but in light of all the new information it's fucking abhorrent—an entire album of an abuser taunting his victim. Maybe the most morally unconscionable record since Chris Brown's Graffiti.
― Evan R, Thursday, 26 October 2017 14:33 (six years ago) link
Yeah I feel like Alice's past rep as "difficult" has to be understood in this context. First of all she was just a kid when she started, and who knows what kind of encouragement he gave her to act out, how much she was following his lead, etc. No consolation to people who had to deal with snotty-young-punk behavior, but she was clearly coming from a weird place throughout the CC experience.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, 26 October 2017 14:44 (six years ago) link
I was surprised that until this week there hadn't been much observable backlash from their fanbase (and some people who liked them enough to buy tickets to a show didn't even know that Alice wasn't in the group anymore).
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 26 October 2017 15:06 (six years ago) link
https://www.facebook.com/pictureplane/posts/1688757071187015
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 26 October 2017 15:19 (six years ago) link
jfc some of the comments on that thread
― Simon H., Thursday, 26 October 2017 15:21 (six years ago) link
"seemed to be mocking her (and really all women) with that cover" the girls on swings? really?
― akm, Thursday, 26 October 2017 16:06 (six years ago) link
Four nearly identical girls, on an album that swaps out one woman for another like it's no big deal. Seemed meant as commentary on how replaceable/interchangeable women are to me. How did you read it?
― Evan R, Thursday, 26 October 2017 16:20 (six years ago) link
i never got into this band but i almost did cos i liked the name alot (and she was v compelling as a performer) . i remember Hipster Runoff talked about them a lot and did some ironic/unironic objectifying of the lead singer. the whole thing is disgusting. really glad that she is out of that situation. holy crap.
fuck that fb post btw
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 26 October 2017 16:23 (six years ago) link
i read it as some goth kids on a swing, but I didn't think about it very much either.
― akm, Thursday, 26 October 2017 16:37 (six years ago) link
(I've never listened to this band btw, but at one point was booked to open for them on this tour so ended up reading way more about them than I ever wanted to)
― change display name (Jordan), Thursday, 26 October 2017 17:19 (six years ago) link
#humblebrag
― kurt schwitterz, Thursday, 26 October 2017 17:23 (six years ago) link
Swapping out Alice Glass for basically a doppelgänger when she quit was eerie
― Treeship, Thursday, 26 October 2017 17:23 (six years ago) link
I feel very disturbed by all of this given how much I listened to those first two albums in college
― Treeship, Thursday, 26 October 2017 17:24 (six years ago) link
i thought the last album cover was just a nod to the horror film meme re scary dead eyed kids.
― mark e, Thursday, 26 October 2017 18:30 (six years ago) link
I see someone's throwing a cow.
https://consequenceofsound.net/2017/11/crystal-castles-ethan-kath-sues-alice-glass-for-defamation/
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 3 November 2017 22:12 (six years ago) link
Suing her for just 300k? This will not end well for him.
― kurt schwitterz, Friday, 3 November 2017 22:16 (six years ago) link
The actual facebook post with his comment is worse:
https://www.facebook.com/ccrystalccastles/photos/a.10151199490370335.807013.21720030334/10159505110390335/
Passive aggressive asshole makes me think Alice is the one telling the truth and it will backfire to him. He's publicly drawing her as a drug addict with mental issues to try to discredit her account and then goes on to suggest that the only reason she is coming forth is that CC has "new success" without her - despite the fact that almost nobody really cares about either of them anymore, music-wise.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Saturday, 4 November 2017 03:36 (six years ago) link
Also what the fuck at him saying he fully supported her when she left? Talking shit left and right to the media about her the minute she left, publicly shaming her doesn't seem very supportive tbh
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Saturday, 4 November 2017 03:38 (six years ago) link
four more accounts of ethan's predatory behavior towards fans aged 14 to 19:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-indie-rocker-accused-of-sexually-abusing-young-fans
― sophistipop 2 (stritram), Saturday, 17 February 2018 11:58 (six years ago) link
Surprised that nobody has replied to this. Then again, not sure what to say about it myself, apart from "fuck you Ethan Kath."
― mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Sunday, 18 February 2018 00:37 (six years ago) link
pretty much.
― Simon H., Sunday, 18 February 2018 00:39 (six years ago) link
not being sarcastic or trying to make light of but the answer i truly think is far fewer people care about crystal castles than they did a few years ago
― flappy bird, Sunday, 18 February 2018 00:43 (six years ago) link
The transgressive thrill of their abrasive feral/digital sound is kind of undermined by knowing it was made by a predatory creep and a woman under duress. It's a shame because I did love it.
― startled macropod (MatthewK), Sunday, 18 February 2018 04:40 (six years ago) link
Of all the stories of abusers in music over the last couple of years, I think this is the one that sickens me the most, because this is the one critics were most complicit in. Sometimes the a musician is trash comes as a total surprise, but in this case the signs were there—three albums that sounded like a woman being abused; that vile Madonna image; Kath's horrid personality. We bought into myth that it was all just art. I feel retroactively gross for having enjoyed those albums so much.
The Madonna thing alone should have been a "fuck this, this is exploitative and gross" deal breaker, but we looked the other way.
― Evan R, Sunday, 18 February 2018 19:31 (six years ago) link
three albums that sounded like a woman being abused
Genuinely curious what this means? (I've never listened to one of their albums)
― change display name (Jordan), Sunday, 18 February 2018 20:43 (six years ago) link
Their stuff is all over YouTube, that's kind of a hyperbolic description of Alice Glass' raw, distressed vocal style rather than suggesting actual abuse took place during the recording. At least I assume it is.
― startled macropod (MatthewK), Sunday, 18 February 2018 21:27 (six years ago) link
It's really not hyperbolic at. Don't want to embed anything b/c I don't want to be responsible for giving this band a cent of revenue, but one of their defining aesthetics, starting with "Alice Practice" and peaking on their third album, is "subjugated woman trapped in torturous hell, clawing like fuck to get out." Which is pretty powerful until you learn that may not have been a vision she consented to; it was a situation her bandmate put her in. This shit genuinely sounds like torture porn now.
― Evan R, Sunday, 18 February 2018 21:42 (six years ago) link
on the other hand, the idea that a critic, even the most empathetic possible listener paying the closest possible attention, would be able to (let alone expected to) make the leap from "this album in an abrasive-sounding genre sounds abrasive" to "a woman is actually being abused in real life" doesn't sound reasonable. (it also isn't a perfect one-to-one correspondence -- there are legions of cases of industry abuse where the music sounds perfectly shiny and innocuous.)
(also in case it isn't clear abusers are scum and fuck them)
― algorithm is a dancer (katherine), Sunday, 18 February 2018 22:46 (six years ago) link
I was going to say something akin to that but katherine said it better
― Simon H., Sunday, 18 February 2018 22:48 (six years ago) link
yup
― crüt, Sunday, 18 February 2018 23:16 (six years ago) link
Glass herself has debunked the myth that “Alice Practice” etc were recorded without her consent or knowledge. She cites them as Kath’s campaign to minimise her creative role in the band, a bit like “well she didn’t know what she was doing but I saw the potential.” So that’s not abusive per se, whatever the ugliness of the relationships outside that context.
― startled macropod (MatthewK), Sunday, 18 February 2018 23:39 (six years ago) link
Although if you meant that the motivation behind the extremist/desperate tone of her vocals was her real life horrifying relationship, and that’s abhorrent, then yes agree absolutely.
― startled macropod (MatthewK), Sunday, 18 February 2018 23:42 (six years ago) link
yeah I agree there was no way to make that leap based on the music alone. But critics did look the other way when the band cynically exploited domestic abuse for marketing purposes, and critics readily bought into the narrative that both Kath and Glass were both difficult, almost equally problematic people. Again, not saying we could have or should have known what was actually going on, but there were some red flags that make me feel a shitload guiltier about having supported this band than I do compared to, like, Pinegrove or something
― Evan R, Sunday, 18 February 2018 23:47 (six years ago) link
Although if you meant that the motivation behind the extremist/desperate tone of her vocals was her real life horrifying relationship, and that’s abhorrent
yeah exactly, even disregarding the circumstances of the recordings, which I can't know (maybe they were fun and enjoyable and a great experience for everybody), it's horrific knowing the muse wasn't fictional, that it was in some pretty clear ways a reflection of a toxic, controlling relationship. And it's really not much of a leap based on the reporting to guess that Kath justified his abusive tactics as "in the interest of the art" or some horrid BS like that
― Evan R, Sunday, 18 February 2018 23:50 (six years ago) link
Extremely good news.
I won in court today!! the defamation lawsuit against me was dismissed !thank you so much for the love and support throughout this ugly process— ALICE GLASS (@ALICEGLASS) February 23, 2018
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 23 February 2018 18:37 (six years ago) link
very nice
― flappy bird, Friday, 23 February 2018 18:37 (six years ago) link
Excellent news
― Simon H., Friday, 23 February 2018 18:41 (six years ago) link
katherine otm
I really liked this band and definitely part of that was this obscurely sinister aspect of their sound, but now those features can only be understood as sickening. But only in retrosepcr. At the time I never thought it “sounded like a woman being abused,” I thought it sounded like a dynamic, unusal vocalist giving voice to feelings like desperation and anger.
― treeship 2, Friday, 23 February 2018 19:01 (six years ago) link