Crystal Castles

SmallPoxx

SmallPoxx

Bluelighter
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
109
Based on what people have said in the music you loathe thread, crystal castles has a lot of mixed opinions surrounding it. Really im not into the whole lo-fi thing, I despise artists like the junior boys, although I think ratatat has some good tunes. Mostly into downtempo, aphex twin type glitch, some industrial, but I have to admit I really like crystal castles. The thought of gameboy synth noises sound kind of cheesy but really the music seems pretty cohesive and creative to me. They admittedly sound kinda shitty live but ive only seen them once its not everyday that crystal castles tours or whatever. Like them? Hate them? Why or why not?
 
If you would like to continue liking crystal castles, never see them live again.

See here for my reasoning why.


Their beats are pretty great, and on CD Alice Glass isnt so bad, but listening to them live made me want to cut my ears off and for that, ill probably never listen to them again.

Plus they're the epitome of hipster now. Their shows are like hipster conventions

If you like Aphex Twin though I suggest listen to Amon Tobin. Some real wonky music there.
 
I like CC as well. There's some good mellow tunes mixed in with more raw edgier stuff. I kinda treat it as for the most part as punk rock electronic music (early Skinny Puppy? although Puppy is FAR better). I would never buy their stuff though, although there is a part of me that wishes they had a good live show (or even a great one).

The hipster attachment I don't understand. Although for some reason there it is.
CC isn't really "listenable" music or casual listening music. More a dose of something that shocks you out of your listening vibe.
 
No i agree i said ive seen them live and it was awful. Amon tobin is decent but alot of their music didnt click that well with me. I like squarepusher, thievery corporation, groove armada, shit like that. Where i would strongly disagree is that crystal castles isnt "listenable". I know plently of music that isnt listenable, actually I think amon tobin would fall under that category, but crystal castles is very coherent music. I would also disagree that skinny puppy is better then crystal castles, they arent very comparable, and skinny puppy sucks. Not suck as in no one should listen to them, but suck like listening to them is like listening to a cat in heat. Just kind of noise instead of any detectable beat structure. I like industrial bands like haujobb, suicide comando, and kmfdm. Even though SP is more punk IDM or something. Still dont like it much. I do like the ohgr side project. I also like frontline assembly but cevin key has nothing to do with frontline assembly i dont think.
 
Crystal Castles... where to begin. They have a sort of disorganized, unpolished sound to their music. To some this is endearing, to others simply annoying. In my opinion their music is a pseudo-European mish mash of various Nintendo-esque synths and droning vocals. I have yet to understand their fan base.
 
SmallPoxx said:
They admittedly sound kinda shitty live but ive only seen them once its not everyday that crystal castles tours or whatever.
Click to expand...

Thizzerfershizzer said:
If you would like to continue liking crystal castles, never see them live again.
Click to expand...

At the start of last year we were attending a massive festival near Sydney and Crystal Castles were one of the headlining acts. I'd never reeeally heard much of their stuff before so I made a concerted effort to research their music. I actually quite liked it and was looking forward to seeing them live.

In the afternoon at the festival I had a couple of tabs of LSD and tripped away merrily. About 40 minutes before CC came on stage I totally lost everyone. It could've all turned pear-shaped but instead I had an epic acid experience watching their whole set by myself, during the peak of my trip, grooving away in my own little space. It was fucking AWESOME and I loved every second of it.

Clearly this was just due to the drugs though, I hate to admit, because when I found my friends again later that night they all said how much CC sounded like absolute shit :D

I loved it though, and it was one of those experiences where even now if I hear any of their music it takes me right back to that night. Good times %)

And that's my story. I like stories :)
 
Worst live show ive ever seen.

Haha neo, though, good story. The drugs can do amazing things :D
 
i listen to and dig that vein of hipster indie dance music on my ipod (cc, ratatat) but i cant ever see myself going to a show, both because i feel well-produced lo-fi albums turn into noise in a live setting, and i cant stand being around the whole hipper-than-thou anti-dance vibe at shows like that.
 
CC is righteous....Ratatat is kiler too.

but live it would suck, if they had bad sound techs.
 
Crystal Castles is terrible, the first song on the S/T album is good but that is it, totally goes downhill from there.
 
So far i've heard CC and Ratatat mentioned together twice in this thread. I don't really understand the comparison. Maybe there is some top secret Ratatat tracks that I haven't heard but I've heard them do some pretty hot remixes of great hip-hop tracks + fantastic originals reminiscent of Elliott Lipp played with live instruments. On the other hand, CC sounds like benzo-fueled electroclash on PCP.
 
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I like ratatat way more than cc, but id call them both indie dance. i dunno, maybe thats not fair to ratatat, cause i wouldnt call lipp indie.
 
My buddy opened up for CC in Chicago on nye and his set was WAYYYY more impressive than CC
 
I happen to love Crystal Castles.

Ratatat I believe is much better talent wise, but CC is still the shit IMO.
 
Like it was said before, I wouldn't really find myself ever comparing CC and Ratatat, but I love them both equally as well.
 
wait wait wait, D-cubed, didnt you see CC? I remember you saying you were going to HARD Summer, and I believe they were one of the few artists that got to play. Did you...like their set?

To each their own, but I mean, i've never heard someone walk away from a CC set going "WOW THAT WAS AWSOME!!1!11!!1eleven!"
 
It's funny, thanks to this thread I had a dream about a CC concert last night. Well, nightmare.

Small square stage in the center of a room with just slow flashing red and green lights. Not fun.
 
I like a few of their songs, and listen to them a few times a year. They've got a very interesting rough-around-the-edges cutesy sound, and I love the nintendo blips. That being said, I had the option of seeing them live recently and passed in favor of other talent.
 
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