Crystal Castles by Crystal Castles
There are only a few things I will admit to listening to in 2008, Crystal Castles being one of them. Aside from not listening to music in general, in the rare cases that I did find something to listen to, I somehow managed to be listening to something stupid. It's honestly no wonder I didn't enjoy 2008 — I was missing out on Neon Neon, Hercules and Love Affair, as well as Burial and so many others.
Whenever I listen to Crystal Castles, I remember sitting in the car singing along to "Crimewaves", no matter how strange the chopped up syllables became. I remember listening to "Untrust Us" and trying to explain sampling and remixing, and failing because it felt too rudimentary to be explained. But somehow, I never seemed to make it past those two tracks. In fact, as the year drew to a close, I felt less and less need to go further than that. "Xxzcuzx Me" was so thoroughly off-putting I typically gave up on the rest of the album by that point. It wasn't until riding the bus today that I finally really listened to the entire album.
Though it's true Crystal Castles isn't the best album ever, the music itself is mysteriously enigmatic, undulating between barking shoegaze ("Alice Practice", "Xxzcuzx Me", "Tell Me What To Swallow") and glossier, more accessible synth-y music ("Untrust Us", "Crimewaves", "Vanished", "Good Times"). Though the album features 16 tracks, in under an hour Crystal Castle takes you to so many different places it's hard not to enjoy at least some portion of the album.
No comments:
Post a Comment