Recently recommended to me by a very dear friend that knew I was into all kinds of experimental music; Crystal Castles is a band I’d never known a damn thing about up till about a month ago. This would be a good chance for me to flex my analytical muscles, so here we go with some commentaries. If this happens to be a group you like, bear in mind this is all just an *opinion* from a first impression of their catalog by a brand-new listener. I’ll mention right off the bat that this group, amongst other things, has a very troubled history that I don’t feel comfortable describing (one band member seems to have groomed another band member into serving his carnal delights) let alone directing the attention at it in this post. Let us not focus on the controversy of the couple here, dear listener! Let us separate the art from the artists and look at their work objectively! I went into this from their very first album, (I), which was highly experimental and fun, but ultimately, I could tell it was just the duo messing around with different elements/samples of electronic music… equivalent to throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks. I didn’t hate their first outing, and some of the tracks were good on that one, I just recognize (I) for what it was. Sound testing, pure and simple. Their next album, 2010’s (II) concentrated more on group character and tonality and really hit its stride about halfway through, giving the listener more than a few danceable and addictive tracks, then hitting a blistering and crowd-pleasing grand slam for me with Pap Smear. That full album is here if you wish to continue your journey. That’s where the magic dissipated for me though, because with (III) things became a little too witchhouse (inserting occult themes into music) which for an old man like me to sit through was like wanting to scream at the young folk to get off the lawn of my personal taste. Sure, there’s a few interesting tracks on (III) but nothing too-too memorable, and I can’t help but feel like the music-makers were sort of phoning in their vocal and production performances near the end. It just didn’t sound very inspired in the least, it was dreary, and left me with a hollow feeling. Their last album, Amnesty (I), was just flat out dull, what a waste of potential and momentum. It had one decent track, Char, the rest you can avoid unless you’re into self-torture. This is a golden example of a group that probably got too damn big too damn quick, resulting as it normally does in a brilliant but fleeting spark of ingenuity. I will state indefatigably that this is NOT my normal cup of tea, but I must admit this group’s overall sound won me over and I highly enjoyed a portion of it on its own terms. If you’re into electro, synth or just appreciate music that tries to take chances, smash play and enjoy!
Circa 2010, slightly more creative and WAY more successful days, image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nrk-p3/4797158369
