Crystal Castles

As we walked in (to Digital not Audio!) “Model Horror” were delivering an excellent warm up of catchy electro indie, before what I anticipated to be a pretty special adventure into the new school trashy electro that is the insatiable Crystal Castles. They did not disappoint

Huge rib shaking bass, a variety of sharp, infectious, sometimes 80’s video game sonic rhythms, added to penetrating electro beats with screaming or whispering from an disconnected, exuberant Alice. This is somewhere near to describing the alternate universe that Crystal Castles take you to while thrashing out they’re set. Very rare it is that you get lost in both the sound and atmosphere of a gig but CC achieved this with an ultra cool ease. As soon as they kicked off with they’re Mix of the Klaxons “Atlantis to Interzone” all sense of an outside world and orientation is lost in the intensity of sound and the relentless strobe, thru which the band and crowd become a blur. What is left is the untameable urge to bump along to the beats and ride out the rhythms. Other tracks of note were: “Air War” both a melodic and disjointed electronica tune with incomprehensible vocals with heavy effects. They’re mix of “Crimewave” by Health, an unstable but infectious slower track and they’re massive underground hit “Alice Practice” a real treat of screaming electro with a rhythm that takes you straight to Pixelated buzz bass heaven. If you get the chance, see these guys at all costs.
Geoff