Who: Toronto duo Crystal Castles, who, after a string of EPs and acclaimed remixes are ready to flood your eardrums with their own self-titled full-length debut on March 18th.
Sounds Like: An amalgamation of Klaxons' nu-rave dance, the Velvet Underground's more cacophonous moments and the 8-bit aesthetics of famed Nintendo composers Yoshihiro Sakaguchi and Koji Kondo. The band was shocked when they discovered how quickly their music (literally) moved people. "One of our first shows, the venue said 'We've been hosting shows for years, but no one really dances at our shows,' " multi-instrumentalist Ethan Fawn says, "but people like dancing to Crystal Castles."
Vital Stats:
• Fawn and Alice Glass, the other half of the duo, met while reading to the blind as part of a community service sentence. "I was doing things under the table, like desperate things for cash — things that led me into getting into trouble," says Fawn. "I'd have to do community service work to get out of trouble. She got busted too, so that's how we met." The rest is music history.
• Despite their sound, the band isn't named after the old arcade game. Instead, the moniker was nabbed from an old She-Ra (of Masters of the Universe fame) toy commercial that boasted "Crystal Castle, the source of all power." "I had a female cousin who was really happy because she got the Crystal Castle for her birthday," says Fawn, "I never forgot how happy she was. It was the happiest I've ever seen anyone in my life."
• After remixing the likes of Bloc Party, Liars and their friends Klaxons, CC were offered "more than thirty" commissions for remixes, which Fawn declined in order to work on the Castles' debut album. "We turned down some huge acts, but I can't name names," Fawn says (at least, we think it was Fawn: Ethan admitted he used to have a friend pretend to be him during interviews over the last few years).
Hear It Now: Listen to a couple of CC's tracks over at the band's MySpace page. While you wait for their new album, click above to check out the video for "Crimewave."
Watch every episode of our weekly New Breaking Artist video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Wednesday, an exclusive video profile of an emerging artist will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don’t have iTunes, download it here.]
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mr fixit | December 11, 2008 8:30 PM
they are by no stretch of the imagination amateur musicians. ethan has quite a masterful grip on how to organize and arrange music as well as very advance songwriting skills. repeat listening bears this out clearly.
so so so dumb - harrison | December 8, 2008 1:09 PM
i think there are many cool things about the new ways artists are able to get their careers rolling with the internet, but this is not one of them - crystal castles has made it through the bullshit filter with absolute flying colors.
as long as dudes like these are around, it is proof positive that idiots will always be able to figure out some way to target incredibly annoying yet oh-so-enticing aspects of some music market (teeny boppers, aging skater punks, hipsters, whatever) and seize it with a strangle hold until you'll listen.
re: asdf | October 30, 2008 3:11 PM
You're a moron who obviously knows dick about good musicianship.
::: | October 13, 2008 9:24 PM
Vanished is cool
Tara | August 2, 2008 11:16 AM
Loud bitch screaming huh? That's a pretty rude comment coming from a very narrow minded person it seems. I saw them as well in Winnipeg opening for NIN. They put on a good show however due to time restrictions they could only perform 4 tunes. Crystal Castles has a very diffrent unique style. Fun and just out there! The whole point is to be different...they succeeded!
truth | August 2, 2008 1:04 AM
saw them live at NIN in winnipeg. nothing special at all. couldn't understand a single word she fucking screamed,and the music was nothing but techno with a loud bitch screaming bloody murder at the top of her lungs. hacks, jokes, embarrassing, and waste of time all come to mind when describing them.
asdf | July 15, 2008 1:40 PM
Alanis Morissette can't sing. You're stupid.
oldtom | July 7, 2008 11:39 PM
nu rave, nu punk. 8bits, 16bits. Who gives a rat ass? They sound great!
canuck | July 6, 2008 12:33 AM
This group is nothing special. The chick can't even sing, and as for the music there is nothing really 'futuristic' about it. Typical dance shit, which admittedly is good for the purposes of dancing--but that's all.
And 'joey magnum', Alanis has something called a VOICE. The singer in Crystal Castles has no talent whatsoever. Nobody will be listening to these people in 10 years.
Go listen to Wolfmother, assholes. | June 27, 2008 9:13 PM
Yes, they're amateur musicians.
No, they're not thieves who have stolen entire songs. They've sampled Lo-Bat on a song which was uploaded to Myspace (not release for profit mind you). Also, the Castles have stated the song wasn't even meant to be released.
However, they have a much more unique sound than other artists and for that they should be applauded. I'm sure you assholes at Rolling Stone want more shitty bands like Wolfmother and The Strokes that just rip off past bands, but the past is the past and Castles are the sound of the future. If you put the plagiarism behind yourself and listen to the album, you'll realize it's actually very good.
Whenever they learn to play their instruments better and become less amateur they'll be incredibly good. Do you realize how difficult creating a new sound is?
You're all assholes.
jesse | June 25, 2008 9:39 PM
I've never been to any of their shows,but i know one thing to expect...a good time.
*sigh* | June 23, 2008 12:14 PM
Crystal Castles is chip music gone wrong.
jimbob | June 22, 2008 4:27 PM
crystal castles totally jizz over the rest of that chiptune shite out there.. Their music actually sounds like music rather than a bunch of random crack fueled atari noises... and whats the deal with people getting so pissy over a couple of stupid copy-pasted drum/bass tracks used on some early early recordings.. which have never been released may i add.. therefore not infringing creative commons laws.. so everybody just take a deep breath and admit that cc are an awesome-o band.
Crystal Castle= Thieves | June 13, 2008 1:04 AM
Crystal Castle are theives. They stole parts of other 8- bit artist and other techno artists songs and used them as their own. Sometimes they took the whole song. They are worthless pieces of flesh. taking other peoples hard work and using it has their own. Not only did they still music they stole art work too. go to google and type in crystal castle thieves and search it and read more about what i am talking about and you will learn why everyone is so angry with them.
tapman | June 11, 2008 7:31 PM
These guys are breaking... Copyright laws and Creative Commons laws. I hear they're on tour with Milli Vanilli and Ashlee Simpson.
joey magnum | May 11, 2008 6:50 AM
Crystal Castles is the best band to come out of CANADA in EVER
so i think they should respect more respect than alamis morrisette and SUM41
seriously
and so what if they sound like something you heard before
they make it sound better!!!!
marcki | May 8, 2008 11:08 PM
no need to fuckin psychoanalyze this to death like some so-call music connaisseurs seem to enjoy doing with new bands...
it's just fuckin good music.
oh and by the way, pretty much everything in music is influenced by something else. that's how people get into doing music in the first place, because they enjoy music themselves.so gimme a break with this, nothing original in this argument shit or whatever...
For Great Justice | May 2, 2008 7:23 PM
So they've stolen art, now they're stealing whole songs.
Everyone should be aware the Crystal Castles are known music thieves. They took a song released under Creative Commons, added vocals and a drum machine and released it without attribution.
crista | April 11, 2008 5:48 PM
=]
crystal colonic | April 11, 2008 3:09 AM
awful
rad | April 7, 2008 5:30 PM
if you guys don't like the music, then why must you all waste your meaningless angry time posting comments about it. Agh, just because you don't like certain kinds of music doesn't mean that no one else will either, or that it's bad music. People like different things, duh. Lame.
Kink!Bot | April 7, 2008 4:57 PM
HA HA i'M IN THIS VIDEO. the girl in yellow.
olman myblzich | April 7, 2008 2:20 AM
Modern fun happy dance punk lite blended arcade sound music
! | April 5, 2008 4:38 PM
Alice Practice is mint, - it was on a british show called skins season 2 ep 3 and it was fucking immense
24hr.comix | March 16, 2008 4:44 PM
i've been slowly falling in love w/ this band crystal castles ;] they remind me of all the hrs i've spent playing video games over the yrs :D hahaha. . .
http://www.myspace.com/xocraig
cc4ev
pedrophile | March 16, 2008 3:41 AM
1. his names ethan kath.
2.synthboy can die.
3.i hate all of you.
www.myspace.com/ponnybit | March 5, 2008 1:43 PM
crystal castles are good, i do enjoy every song of 'em
but they arent THAT good.
they are THAT good to stupid kids that never heard a f***ng chiptune in their lives
or know what the heck 8bit music is.
but hey, i like Ethan because i understand what happend with this whole crap/fandom thing around crystal castles i respect his decisions.
keep on thrashing dude ;)
Soon08 | February 23, 2008 9:57 AM
Crystal Castles is the best thing to come out in a decade. They are the new leaders in the music industry. Every song they release is gold. You can't get into their concerts most of the time because they are sold out! I wouldn't be surprised if they are nominated for a Grammy next year!
eric | February 22, 2008 4:03 AM
This is the band that tried to play a live show with a dynamic mic plugged into a microkorg vocoder live on stage. It just kept feeding back over and over and they couldn't figure it out.
It's hilarious and on Youtube or used to be.
These guys don't know what they're doing.
synthboy | February 22, 2008 4:00 AM
These guys are NOT the real deal in terms of dance/electronic. They're a bit of a joke. . .
the word HACKS comes to mind
anonymous | February 21, 2008 3:22 PM
John Mayer said this sucks, so it sucks.
Jack | February 21, 2008 1:56 PM
Daniel,
Looks like John Mayer doesn't agree with you on his blog:
"I remember when Rolling Stone was a respectable periodical"
http://www.newsgroper.com/john-mayer/2008/02/21/remember-rolling-stone-respectable-magazine/
Anonymous | February 21, 2008 12:01 PM
they are not utter crap YO!!
Anonymous | February 21, 2008 12:01 PM
they are super dooper awesome!
Anonymous | February 21, 2008 12:23 AM
Utter Crap.
Thunnnn | February 20, 2008 4:49 AM
Crystal Castles is the best duo in this fucking world!!! And the best nintendo-trash electroclash trash 8 bit sounds ever..
Nkb | February 19, 2008 11:20 PM
This is more like avatar than nintendo.
someone | February 18, 2008 1:42 AM
these things you should know:
http://www.pileup.com/babyart/blog/?p=81
Gumby69 | February 14, 2008 2:40 PM
Sorry America for shipping that tripe they call music to you. Just stick to our pot and you'll be fine.
mr.goodtimes | February 13, 2008 10:28 PM
ethan fawn/deth, bring back kill cheerleader...or claudio, whatever the fuck your name is.
joe | February 13, 2008 8:39 PM
guess what, this band aint rave