Review: Crystal Castles -- "Crystal Castles"
The June, 2010-released sophomore effort of dreamy Vancouver electropunk outfit Crystal Castles (interestingly eponymous yet again) is a satisfying treat for the legions of fans courted by the group's debut. At first listen, the musical growth of the group becomes readily available, evidenced even in the abrasive opener "Fainting Spells". The track--ominous and challenging-- is an orchestrated mess of garbled static effects and a backbone of beats shifting from penetrating, punky electro to more elegantly developed hip-hop extravagance. Immediately familiar are the frenetically-shouted aggressive vocal stylings of the group's trademark vocalist Alice Glass. At once jarring and disturbing (and not altogether catchy or even danceable), the track demonstrates the emerging evolution skirted skirted by the artists that their music is not exclusively club-oriented. When paired with Crystal Castle's first record, it becomes clear over the album's duration that the group is both versatile and true to their stylistic form. Giving little indicatation of the rest of the album, the song is followed (almost hastily) by "Celestica", the most immediately catchy, danceable, and accessable pop-oriented track besides "Suffocation", a track featured deeper into the record's depths and the recording's immediately obvious single.
This contrast and flexibility of sound is one of the essential assets of the duo's success and acclaim. Much like the contrast between the harsh and angsty "Alice Practice" and the restrained electro groove of "Vanished" (two of the group's early singles), the new album flirts with both the abrasive and the tuneful, the avant-garde and refined electropop sensibility. Outstanding track "Baptism" displays both realms gracefully, utilizing a melodic retro synth hook in the interludes and exploding into a fury of indecipherably shouted vocals and shimmering electronic synth crashes.
The vocal production (styled in a fashion critics and fans have become enamored with) shines on "Baptism", emerging from the cacophonous blips and beats as a glimmering and beautiful but dually sharp-edged sound, both detached and confrontational. Echoing from a distance beneath layers of sleekly polished electronic assault, the delivery is a gorgeous cornerstone of the song, and a stylistic milestone of both the album and the groups catalog as a whole, making it an exemplary statement of the sound developed by the group. Thanks to excellent mixing, production by Ethan Kath, and overall conceptualization, both "Baptism" and the rest of the album do much to (no pun intended) crystalize and encapsulate the group's sonic niche of sound, specifically its vocal stylings. This exemplification of vocal sound preference and technique is furthered by the following track, "Year of Silence", which employs nonsensical vocal sounds that could amost-just be a real language looped creatively to make the song just short (due solely to its lack of real words) of possessing the qualities for a rowdy singalong while the listener grooves in both spotlit nightclub or bedroom retreat alike.
Other experiments on the record, such as dirgier and more electronically-styled dream pop (a style made popular towards the close of the 2000's) audioscapes and stripped-down, stylistic minimalism (presenting yet another handshake to modern hip-hop producers) pepper the record, keeping it fresh (though at times sprawling).
A series of recordings simultaneously danceable, listenable, and at times rather disturbing, there is little room if any for a listener previously exposed to the group's sound to question the identity of the act responsible. The entire album is presented clearly to the listener as the distinct product of the moniker Crystal Castles. While Glass's vocal development is gloriously exemplified, she remains true to her chosen form throughout all of the album's varying experiments. Perhaps the highlight of the group (specifically when paired with Ethan Kath's musical accompaniments and production skills), Glass's simultaneously melodic, aggressive, and desperate-sounding vocal capabilities are an outstanding cornerstone of electronic music in the late 2000s. If ever there lay question of her abilities as a vocalist (and there probably hasn't), the new record leaves little room left for her to be disparaged.
Nevertheless, the album does possess its inevitably occasional inadequacies. Some songs (specifically when presented in the midst of the record's track sequencing) tend to bore after a minute or two's passing, and for this reason fall short from time to time. Overall, much of the album lacks the depth and some of the sporadic, elegantly randomized spontaneity that pampered, cushioned, and showcased the glittering originality of the first album, but not to the extent of diminishing the total success of this recording. Perhaps the downfall of the group is also its greatest strength: the originality and zest of the duo's remarkable first efforts is an almost masochistically challenging act to follow, even by its own members. In the shadow of the group's debut, it is difficult to imagine how the second album would have sounded if the release dates had been reversed and the new record had instead been the debut. Perhaps the albums would have fared better conceptually in this order, but such an idea is difficult to imagine (and furthermore to prove) in argument for or against either of the group's LPs. It is hard to recall the immediately immersing originality and deeply embedded personality of Crystal Castles' first set of recordings, but their impact was perhaps felt more strongly upon the initial presentations of their sound. However, this new album is by no means a sophomore slump, and the group's latest act to measure is both a successful continuation of the group's exploration of the fringes of electronic sounds and genres, as well as a departure for a group both promising for the future and truly impressive in the present.
This contrast and flexibility of sound is one of the essential assets of the duo's success and acclaim. Much like the contrast between the harsh and angsty "Alice Practice" and the restrained electro groove of "Vanished" (two of the group's early singles), the new album flirts with both the abrasive and the tuneful, the avant-garde and refined electropop sensibility. Outstanding track "Baptism" displays both realms gracefully, utilizing a melodic retro synth hook in the interludes and exploding into a fury of indecipherably shouted vocals and shimmering electronic synth crashes.
The vocal production (styled in a fashion critics and fans have become enamored with) shines on "Baptism", emerging from the cacophonous blips and beats as a glimmering and beautiful but dually sharp-edged sound, both detached and confrontational. Echoing from a distance beneath layers of sleekly polished electronic assault, the delivery is a gorgeous cornerstone of the song, and a stylistic milestone of both the album and the groups catalog as a whole, making it an exemplary statement of the sound developed by the group. Thanks to excellent mixing, production by Ethan Kath, and overall conceptualization, both "Baptism" and the rest of the album do much to (no pun intended) crystalize and encapsulate the group's sonic niche of sound, specifically its vocal stylings. This exemplification of vocal sound preference and technique is furthered by the following track, "Year of Silence", which employs nonsensical vocal sounds that could amost-just be a real language looped creatively to make the song just short (due solely to its lack of real words) of possessing the qualities for a rowdy singalong while the listener grooves in both spotlit nightclub or bedroom retreat alike.
Other experiments on the record, such as dirgier and more electronically-styled dream pop (a style made popular towards the close of the 2000's) audioscapes and stripped-down, stylistic minimalism (presenting yet another handshake to modern hip-hop producers) pepper the record, keeping it fresh (though at times sprawling).
A series of recordings simultaneously danceable, listenable, and at times rather disturbing, there is little room if any for a listener previously exposed to the group's sound to question the identity of the act responsible. The entire album is presented clearly to the listener as the distinct product of the moniker Crystal Castles. While Glass's vocal development is gloriously exemplified, she remains true to her chosen form throughout all of the album's varying experiments. Perhaps the highlight of the group (specifically when paired with Ethan Kath's musical accompaniments and production skills), Glass's simultaneously melodic, aggressive, and desperate-sounding vocal capabilities are an outstanding cornerstone of electronic music in the late 2000s. If ever there lay question of her abilities as a vocalist (and there probably hasn't), the new record leaves little room left for her to be disparaged.
Nevertheless, the album does possess its inevitably occasional inadequacies. Some songs (specifically when presented in the midst of the record's track sequencing) tend to bore after a minute or two's passing, and for this reason fall short from time to time. Overall, much of the album lacks the depth and some of the sporadic, elegantly randomized spontaneity that pampered, cushioned, and showcased the glittering originality of the first album, but not to the extent of diminishing the total success of this recording. Perhaps the downfall of the group is also its greatest strength: the originality and zest of the duo's remarkable first efforts is an almost masochistically challenging act to follow, even by its own members. In the shadow of the group's debut, it is difficult to imagine how the second album would have sounded if the release dates had been reversed and the new record had instead been the debut. Perhaps the albums would have fared better conceptually in this order, but such an idea is difficult to imagine (and furthermore to prove) in argument for or against either of the group's LPs. It is hard to recall the immediately immersing originality and deeply embedded personality of Crystal Castles' first set of recordings, but their impact was perhaps felt more strongly upon the initial presentations of their sound. However, this new album is by no means a sophomore slump, and the group's latest act to measure is both a successful continuation of the group's exploration of the fringes of electronic sounds and genres, as well as a departure for a group both promising for the future and truly impressive in the present.