Crystal Castles: s/t

Label: Last Gang Records

Call this the year of the Crystal band: Antlers, Castles, Stilts. The fact that Crystal Castles share their name with an 1983 Atari arcade game and play keyboards using vintage video consoles sound chips pretty much sums up the Toronto-based duo’s punk-rock/video-game chic ethic. The recent sample controversy about their track “Insecticon” should not eclipse the fact that Crystal Castles are a genuinely exciting young band, offering an innovative mixture of fuzzed-up screaming vocals and the disco-gone-wrong compositions of Ethan Kath. “Magic Spells” and “Reckless” bring to mind ultra-catchy and more danceable version of the “Legend of Zelda” soundtrack, mixed in with dissonant electro vibes for good measure. In the end, Crystal Castles is an original and fun first album that manages to retain an intense and surprisingly mature vibe amongst all the 8-bit glitches and Game boy noises. (Morgane)