Crystal Castles (album)
Crystal Castles | ||||
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Crystal Castles | ||||
Released | March 18, 2008 | |||
Recorded | 2005–2007 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 51:55 | |||
Crystal Castles chronology | ||||
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Singles from Crystal Castles | ||||
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Crystal Castles is the debut studio album by Canadian
Despite being labeled as the group's debut album, Crystal Castles is a
Crystal Castles was released on March 18, 2008, by Lies Records and
Background and release
The Montreal-based Last Gang Records issued Crystal Castles in North America on March 18, 2008, with an April 28 release in the United Kingdom.[6][10] In order to prevent online leaking of the record, Last Gang did not issue any previews of it.[6] However, an article published in Now in February 2008 reported of a fake version of the LP published around several file-sharing sites and garnering numerous downloads.[6] This version was a set of demos recorded in 2004, while the actual LP consisted of content recorded from 2005 to 2007.[6] According to Kath, "I originally gave Alice [Glass] a CD of 24 songs to choose from back when we first started, and some kid took 16 of them and put them up on the Internet as the album, and people have been reviewing it. I've actually read some very positive reviews for the 2004 demos."[6]
Production and composition
We both hate video games. We were just breaking apart electronics and toys to get annoying sounds. AIDS Wolf is going to annoy you with guitars; we're going to annoy you with the insides of old electronics.
—Ethan Kath on the electronic sound of Crystal Castles[6]
Kath described their musical style as "
The 8-bit sounds are played over harsh,
However, some reviewers highlighted Crystal Castles's style and sound as unique in comparison to most other electronic dance acts.[4][10] Mehan Jayasuriya, writing for PopMatters, called it the "most iconoclastic and the most convincing" record of 2008's electro dance scene, reasoning that "their stripped-down, yet grimy aesthetic spits in the face of maximalist electro, offering a counterpoint to the polished, melodically overstated sound of Daft Punk and their progeny".[10] Tiny Mix Tapes writer Cor Limey labeled the LP as "independent" from similar nostalgia-driven indie electronic music because of its elements of irony and self-awareness.[4] He wrote that it "smash[es] all allusions to the Atari/cartoon generation of the '80s into their minute molecular parts and then piec[es] their electrum fragments into a bigger, newer, musical battlecat".[4] A Drowned in Sound critic went as so far as to call the music "otherworldly" and "almost new-worldly" and compared it to the works of My Bloody Valentine, The Velvet Underground, and Sonic Youth in that the band explores unconventional sounds and turns them into pop.[18]
Throughout Crystal Castles, all elements of the music's structure constantly change in moments unforeseeable by the listener;
The random element of Crystal Castles also applies to Glass's vocal performances where, in the words of
Content
Crystal Castles is a compilation of the band's previous sold-out singles, early unreleased tracks and three new songs recorded for the album.[14][5] New tracks on the LP include "Through the Hosiery",[13] "Reckless",[13] and the album's closing track "Tell Me What to Swallow",[10] a ballad that consists of an acoustic guitar and 40 vocal layers sung by Glass.[6]
The album's opener "Untrust Us" uses vocals from
"Alice Practice" was claimed to be a mic check recording[a] that Merok chose as Crystal Castles' first single.[6][8] Journalist John Brainlove categorized it as a "hit and run electropop" song that includes "flailing, pulsing beeps smashed over an evil beat and driven onward by an incomprehensible shrieked vocal".[9] Cohen labeled "Good Time" a "veritable toybox with undulating octaves, an almost Eastern-sounding riff and tweaked nice-guy vocals which combine the Knife and New Order".[14] As Phares wrote, "Xxzxcuzx Me" depicts Glass sounding like an android with her voice "degrad[ing] into pixels almost as soon as she opens her mouth".[19] Analogized by King as a shorter but harsher version of "Alice Practice",[21] "Crimewave", another electroclash-infused track, is a collaboration with American noise group HEALTH that includes a set of rattling drum sounds.[14] "Magic Spells" starts with a set of incoherent sounds that, in the words of King, "gently transition into James Murphy style smoothness".[21] Distorted singing then comes in near the end of the song.[21]
Critical reception
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Consequence of Sound | [21] |
Entertainment Weekly | B[17] |
The Guardian | [11] |
NME | 8/10[27] |
Pitchfork | 7.8/10[14] |
PopMatters | 7/10[10] |
Slant Magazine | [12] |
Spin | [22] |
According to review aggregator Metacritic, Crystal Castles received "generally favorable reviews" from critics, with an average rating of 73 out of 100 based on 22 reviews.[25] Bryan Sanchez of Delusions of Adequacy called it "one of the best electronic albums of the year", highlighting how it was "stylishly sequenced", where "change of paces happen and come in at just the right times".[28] Some critics praised the LP's unpredictable nature;[14][19] AllMusic journalist Heather Phares described the album as "fresher, more complex, and much less gimmicky than might be expected, especially for those familiar with only the band's singles" and a "familiar-sounding, edgy, innocent, menacing, bold, nuanced, and altogether striking debut".[19] Consequence of Sound's King praised the album for its "high energy" and "pure originality".[21] Tony Naylor, writing for NME, noted feeling "intrigued and awestruck" after listening to the record and opined that "you will hear nothing better this year than" the tracks "Untrust Us", "Crimewave", "Air War", and "Vanished".[27]
A critic for Prefix called Crystal Castles "an electro record that challenges, succeeding and failing all at once, and perhaps most important, never forgetting the primary goal of dance music".[15] He stated that in spite of its random amounts of moods and genres, the listener can still "truly enter the artists' world", and the record "never feel[s] out of step or over the players' heads".[15] A reviewer for Drowned in Sound stated that "what makes Crystal Castles so thrilling is that [the duo] turn the fruits of [the availability of technology] into weapons to use against it, using [it] to cut through the shitty mire".[18] He praised it as "a crystal castle of technological rubbish fusing together under the harsh gaze of a falling sun, Kath and Glass digging around in the molten plastic for things to bang together, new-age Stigs dreaming of leisure's lost golden age in a data dump".[18]
Crystal Castles also had a few mixed critical opinions. Paul Nolan from Hot Press felt that the more noise-induced, less pop-music-orientated songs of the LP were its weakest tracks.[29] Dorian Lynskey of The Guardian summarized that the record is "all manic with youthful enthusiasm but unsatisfyingly feels half-finished, as if Crystal Castles are still struggling to mould these wonderful sounds into something coherent".[11] In a piece for The Skinny, Sean McNamara opined that most of the album's content was "static, ZX Spectrum computer style melodies and sheer noise-a-rama", which was disappointing given that songs like "Crimewave", "Magic Spells", and "1991" show "real evidence that when they calm down a bit they can produce some high quality electro that is a delight to hear".[30]
In Dave Hughes' review of Crystal Castles for Slant Magazine, he noted three types of songs on the record that he marked as "Wii", "Xbox", and "Huffing Paint Thinner".[12] "Wii" tracks, which include "1991" and "Black Panther", are "stupid, simplistic, and incredibly fun" and have "ping-ponging keyboard melodies and stray laser beam noises" foreground in the mix with vocals that work as "atmospheric background mumbles".[12] "Xbox" songs, such as "Untrust Us" and "Magic Spells", feature complex concepts, and Hughes opined that while these types of tracks were "accomplished", they didn't have a "killer app".[12] "Huffing Paint Thinner" was labeled by Hughes as the worst type of tracks on the LP; he wrote that songs in this category such as "Alice Practice" "make one nostalgic for the soothing sounds of Atari Teenage Riot" and are "quite irritating and certainly not good for one's brain cells — even if you're the type who enjoys the ranty screams of lead singers who cannot, strictly, sing".[12] He summarized that while the rest of the album offers "cheap-sounding and eccentric but still rather charming variations on punky dance-pop", its more rock-oriented moments are presented in a way that makes them "arty by being as annoying as possible".[12]
Commercial performance
As of April 2010, sales in the United States have exceeded 72,000 copies, according to
Accolades
Publication | List | Rank |
---|---|---|
Complex
|
The 100 Best Albums of The Complex Decade[33] | 76 |
Consequence of Sound
|
The Top 100 Albums (2008)[34] | 25 |
Drowned in Sound | 50 Albums of 2008[35] | 15 |
NME | Top 50 Albums of 2008[36] | 12 |
50 Greatest Debut Albums[37] | Unranked | |
The Top 100 Greatest Albums of the Decade[38] | 39 | |
"The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time"[39] | 477 | |
Pitchfork | The 50 Best Albums of 2008[40] | 15 |
PopMatters | The Best Albums of 2008[41] | 17 |
Track listing
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Untrust Us" |
| 3:30 | |
8. | "Good Time" | Kath | 2:56 | |
9. | "1991" | Kath | Kath | 1:53 |
10. | "Vanished" |
| Kath | 4:02 |
11. | "Knights" | Kath | Kath | 3:13 |
12. | "Love and Caring" |
| 2:18 | |
13. | "Through the Hosiery" |
| 3:07 | |
14. | "Reckless" | Kath | Kath | 3:28 |
15. | "Black Panther" |
| 2:56 | |
16. | "Tell Me What to Swallow" |
| Kath | 2:14 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
17. | "Trash Hologram" | 2:17 |
18. | "Air War" (David Wolf remix) | 3:21 |
Notes
Sample credits[43]
- "Untrust Us" contains a sample of "Dead Womb" by Death from Above 1979.
- "Magic Spells" contains a sample of "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
- "Air War" contains a sample of "Thema (Omaggio a Joyce)" by Luciano Berio.
- "Good Time" contains a sample of "Good Times" (Dance Mix) by Drinking Electricity.
- "Vanished" contains a sample of the vocal track and melody of "Sex City" by Van She.
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Crystal Castles.[43]
Crystal Castles
- Crystal Castles – vocal production (tracks 5, 12, 13)
- Ethan Kath – production (all tracks); mixing (tracks 3, 6, 16); vocal production (tracks 7, 13)
- Alice Glass – vocals
Additional personnel
- Health – backing screams (track 7)
- Alex Bonenfant – additional vocal recording (track 7); mixing (track 11); recording (track 16)
- Matthew Wagner – vocal recording (track 2); vocal production (tracks 5, 12)
- Squeak E. Clean– vocal production (tracks 7, 13, 15)
- Lexxx – mixing (tracks 1, 4, 7–10, 13–15)
- Lazar Nesic – mixing (tracks 3, 6)
- Nils – mastering
- Stuart Pillinger – cover photo[44]
- Mikey Apples – layout
Charts
Weekly charts
Chart (2008) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Dance Albums (ARIA)[45] | 23 |
French Albums ( SNEP)[46]
|
175 |
Irish Albums (IRMA)[47] | 49 |
Scottish Albums (OCC)[48] | 62 |
UK Albums (OCC)[49] | 47 |
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[50] | 3 |
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[51] | 32 |
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[52] | 6 |
US | 3 |
Year-end charts
Chart (2008) | Rank |
---|---|
US Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard)[54] | 24 |
Certifications
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom (BPI)[32] | Silver | 60,000* |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
Notes
References
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- ^ Phares, Heather. "Crystal Castles (II) – Crystal Castles". AllMusic. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved August 27, 2013.
- ^ Hoby, Hermione (November 11, 2012). "Crystal Castles: (III) – review". The Guardian. Archived from the original on January 2, 2014. Retrieved August 27, 2013.
- ^ a b c d e Limey, Cor (2008). "Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles" Archived 2019-04-12 at the Wayback Machine. Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
- ^ a b c d "Crystal Castles" Archived 2020-08-13 at the Wayback Machine. Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. April 9, 2008. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
- ^ NOW Communications. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
- ^ Time Out London. Time Out Group. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
- ^ a b Rimmer, Ben (March 18, 2008). "Rare Crystal Castles Interview!" Archived 2017-08-06 at the Wayback Machine. Glasswerk. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
- ^ a b Brainlove, John (July 18, 2006). "Single Review: Crystal Castles – Alice Practice EP" Archived 2012-04-05 at the Wayback Machine. Drowned in Sound. Silentway. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f Jayasuriya, Mehan (July 20, 2008). "Crystal Castles: Crystal Castles". PopMatters. Archived from the original on July 27, 2014. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
- ^ a b c Lynskey, Dorian (April 17, 2008). "Crystal Castles, Crystal Castles" Archived 2017-09-09 at the Wayback Machine. The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g Hughes, Dave (April 6, 2008). "Crystal Castles: Crystal Castles". Slant Magazine. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
- ^ a b c Ivers, Brandon (March 25, 2008). "Crystal Castles Crystal Castles" Archived 2017-08-11 at the Wayback Machine. XLR8R. Retrieved August 10, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cohen, Ian (March 17, 2008). "Crystal Castles: Crystal Castles". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on July 8, 2021. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
- ^ a b c d Breidy (April 22, 2008). "Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles" Archived 2020-08-13 at the Wayback Machine. Prefix. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
- ^ a b Girard, Stéphane (April 15, 2008). "Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles" Archived 2017-08-10 at the Wayback Machine. Resident Advisor. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
- ^ a b Lee, Youyoung (March 14, 2008). "Crystal Castles". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on April 12, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
- ^ a b c TheBoyDeadly (April 29, 2008). "Album Review: Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles" Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine. Drowned in Sound. Silentway. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
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- URB. Raymond Leon Roker. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g King, Ginger (July 8, 2008). "Album Review: Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles". Archived from the original on December 7, 2011. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
- ^ from the original on January 26, 2024. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
- ^ "Alice Glass Statement". alice-glass.com. Archived from the original on February 17, 2022. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
- ^ "Problematic Art and Crystal Castles' Legacy". PopMatters. 2023-06-07. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
- ^ a b "Reviews for Crystal Castles by Crystal Castles". Metacritic. Archived from the original on December 30, 2012. Retrieved September 23, 2014.
- ^ Christgau, Robert. "Crystal Castles". RobertChristgau.com. Archived from the original on March 2, 2016. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
- ^ a b Naylor, Tony (May 2, 2008). "Crystal Castles". NME. Archived from the original on October 5, 2014. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
- ^ Sanchez, Bryan (May 2, 2008). "Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles" Archived 2018-09-22 at the Wayback Machine. Delusions of Adequacy. Retrieved August 10, 2017.
- ^ Nolan, Paul (April 21, 2008). "Crystal Castles" Archived 2017-08-08 at the Wayback Machine. Hot Press. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
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- ^ "Sounds of summer". Billboard. 3 April 2010. Archived from the original on 26 January 2024. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
- ^ a b "British album certifications – Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles". British Phonographic Industry. 19 September 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
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- Consequence of Sound. Archivedfrom the original on January 30, 2022. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
- ^ Adams, Sean (December 11, 2008). "Drowned in Sound's 50 albums of 2008". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on June 24, 2009. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
- ^ "Top 50 Albums Of 2008". NME. January 23, 2009. Archived from the original on February 24, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
- ^ "50 Greatest Debut Albums". NME. November 2010. Archived from the original on February 25, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
- ^ "The Top 100 Greatest Albums Of The Decade". NME. November 2009. Archived from the original on November 20, 2009. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
- ^ "The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time: 500–401". NME. 21 October 2013. Archived from the original on 31 March 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
- ^ "The 50 Best Albums of 2008". Pitchfork. December 19, 2008. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
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- ^ "Crystal Castles Chart History (Top Dance/Electronic Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
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