crystal castles

Crystal Castles is what I would call trashy digi-punk. Synth-pop? Nintendo-core madness. It is a Toronto duo, consisting of multi-instrumentalist Ethan Kath and vocalist Alice Glass. The music includes robotic noise, video game music, digital sounds and haunting but indistinguishable, distorted vocals.

Cynics might align Crystal Castles with this dark-hued, hipster scene. In truth, Crystal Castles have nothing to do with fashion. Their power lies in their ability to conjure visceral emotion from seemingly inhuman noise.

To me, their music is fresh and intense, sometimes raw and disturbing, and yet other times it gets almost unbearably exaggerated and stylized.

Here is a wonderful video made to their song "Air War", synchronizing the tune to cossacks' dances:

All credits for the video go to crustyroad.

Check out my other favourites: "Courtship Dating", "Crimewave", "Alice Practice"

(Note: If you like digital music, also check out the best of digital hardcore: The Mad Capsule Markets': "Fly High", "Scary", "Systematic")