Crystal Castles continue their evolution with tormented third release

It's an age old question. There are those among us who feel like music should strive to be cheerful in nature: that it should be something to lift our spirits and should always provide a rosy disposition. Yet there are others who see beauty in the bleakness, who view despair as a delicacy. If you're one of these, Crystal Castles has an album for you.

They haven't taken long to leave their mark. After a promising debut in 2008, the Canadian electronic duo struck gold with their sophomore album II, one of the most distinctive electronic albums of the past several years. The release of III reinforces a striking fact about Crystal Castles that every album they have released are markedly different from one another.

Their debut was a visceral, aural experience rife with clinking and clunking of old video game machines, while their sophomore release drew much more heavily from IDM and refined their production; the electronics on that record were as sharp as a razor's edge. Main composer Ethan Kath has ensured that III shares little in common with those, so it's tough to make a direct comparison. But it doesn't take long to determine that it's much more atmospheric and even more dream like than its predecessor.

Crystal Castles have typically been a tough nut lyrically, with most of the vocals being glitched beyond comprehension. But would you have guessed Alice Glass as defender of the downtrodden? It seems to be what she's going for. In numerous interviews, she's spoken extensively on issues pertaining to women's rights and equality as well as flagging quality of life and limited rights of people around the world. These themes heavily inform III.

Lead single "Plague" shares fears of military and economic oppression on a third world scale, while noting we may be contributing to this descent with our own actions. The music is carefully building up in the background, bubbling and broiling until Alice at last reaches her grand realization: "I am the plague!" Her sense of rage and apprehension is palpable from the instant you hit play.

The theme is revisited several times later, including "Wrath of God," where Alice's muffled voice warns against the loss of independence and heritage. With its thumping, throbbing bassline and its organ driven, cathedral like lead melody, this is techno that feels fit for the Sistine Chapel.

The presence of muffled vocals is a recurring trend the band uses to augment the downbeat and dreary sound of the album. The technique shows up again on "Pale Flesh." The lead in consists of high pitched, glitchy electronic work that pushes the upper frequencies of your sound system. Alice's voice is so muffled, echoy and reverb coated that it sounds more like a flock of birds frantically fluttering in their cages than an actual human voice. This is one of the most suffocating, bleak and oppressive songs on the disc, but it does soften up a bit here and there so as to allow time for some quiet musing.

Some of their greatest opportunities to honestly affect a listener have come on their more melodic work, and they certainly haven't abandoned that. "Affection," for example, has the heaviest IDM influences and as such resembles the material on II most closely. Like "Celestica," it stakes its reputation on Alice's breathy vocals, and when her voice goes low it is truly one of the most stunning moments on the album.

"Kerosene" is also one of the album's more melodic pieces. Its rumbling, phantasmal bass synth glides into your eardrums like a storm front billowing out of your headphones. It rests on a variety of glitch/IDM lead melodies to augment the effect, along with Alice's crystal clear vocals.

One of the big strengths of III is its diversity  "Sad Eyes" is one of the album's heaviest rave pieces. A pulsating bass beat gyrates underneath, creating a hot dance stunner that still manages to evoke a cold emotional spectrum. "Insulin," at just over a minute and a half, follows in the tradition of "Fainting Spells" and "Doe Deer" as one of the most difficult, dissonant, and experimental tracks in their catalog. A liberal static fuzz emotionally distances you from the track, while Glass's voice is garbled far past the point of recognition.

Elsewhere, "Violent Youth" proves Crystal Castles are capable of injecting warmth into a song. With its fun, bouncy beat, it's easily the most upbeat of III's offerings. The low, warbling bass synth from "Kerosene" also shows up in a couple of other tracks, including "Transgender" and "Telepath." "Telepath," the album's only instrumental, goes through a variety of phases. It's very glitchy sounding at first, then becomes more spacey and atmospheric.

Despite its violent title, album closer "Child I Will Hurt You" is quite the opposite of what you might think. Like their previous album closers "I Am Made of Chalk" and "Tell Me What To Swallow" it is much more downbeat and low key, while sounding nothing like either of those songs. "Child I Will Hurt You" presents a mellow, tranquil  and peaceful vibe for the first and only time on the album, while the twinkling electronica provides a familiar dreamlike element.

Because each Crystal Castles album is so vastly different from one another, it all comes down to the listeners' own musical preference as to where III will rate in their catalog. This is an album dominated by rave elements,  atmospherics, and presents generally cold and bleak but beautiful sonic dimensions. Personally, II  is their most consistent album and therefore is a slightly stronger overall. But there are more than a few guy/girl electronic duos around, and none of them are nearly as distinctive as Crystal Castles. They have their own style, and the variety of ways in which they express it on III is truly remarkable. Tragedy doesn't have to be your true love to appreciate that.

Score: 89/100

Crystal Castles fan outreach leaves Marathon Music Works smushed

Going to see Crystal Castles? Hope you don't value personal space.

The Canadian electro-noise group have never been big on being conventional, but it's a tough task to think of shows that get this wild. They blend together several layers of highly dissonant electronic music while also being very danceable and rave oriented. They can go from being noisy and abrasive to highly stylized and atmospheric.

But at the center of it all, Crystal Castles share a bond with their fans most bands don't have.

Bathed in brilliant light, Alice Glass put her crowd into a trance.

The majority of fan obsession centers on vocalist Alice Glass. Since getting kickstarted in 2006, Glass has cemented herself as one of the most exotic, alluring and mysterious figures on the indie circuit. She has a very en vogue look. Her face that resembles a department store mannequin from the 1980s, yet with full lips and a wide eyed glare still succeeds in presenting a mystifying, even attractive image.

But it's her antics that gets a crowd riling more than anything else. Her free spirited attitude sees her going farther to connect with her fans that virtually any other performer would do. Specifically, she likes crowd surfing: often, and as much as possible. Getting to make physical contact with a figure like Glass is quite a transcendental experience; at any rate, it's the type of thing that entire buildings of people go nuts for.

She crowd surfed about six or seven times during the set, which to the uninitiated may seem overdoing it. But that's not what it's about. Glass aims to give out as many chances as reasonably possible for her fans to connect with her. A girl beside me said she expected to scream like a schoolgirl when Alice came out. And another even lost her top once the melee broke out. Touching Alice's hand, giving her tall platform boot a shove her surfing, getting her microphone cord tangled around you, it's all very real and visceral.

The entire crowd is basically a huge mosh pit for the whole show, expect obviously not quite as rough. You're going to be tightly compacted and jostled around, moving in rhythm to the crowd's dancebeat.

The crowd surfing diva strengthens fan appeal.

The set itself presented a generous cross section of the band's first two albums, but naturally it all kicked off with "Plague" and "Wrath of God," the two singles from their upcoming album, III. It provided a nice, dense atmospheric blast before moving into a pair of staples from their previous album. "Baptism" provides music for your hips -- opening with a hardcore blast of 90s rave -- before moving into a quieter, simpler, melodic lead -- music for your head.

"Suffocation," meanwhile, is more of a sludgy raver, trudging its way forward until it Alice's ethereal vocals come in. Another highlight was their cover of Platinum Blonde's "Not in Love," an 80s new wave tune they spruce up by adding their patented brand of raging electronica. Main composer Ethan Kath stays hunched over the keyboards, cloaked in his dark hoodie. Meanwhile Alice is cutting loose onstage, twirling the mic stand above her head, climbing onto the drum kit, and swigging from a bottle of jack and spitting toward the crowd.

Sadly, the sound was not top notch. The thick, heavy bass synths came through clearly but the lighter electronic lead work over and the vocals were hard to hear. It was tough to make out what songs were what. I didn't recognize "Celestica" until it got to the soft part with Alice singing, and "Intimate" sounded like it was in a different key altogether. I'm pretty sure they did at least one of the noise tracks from II along with "Alice Practice" and "Untrust Us," but it was difficult to tell through the crowd chaos.

Needless to say, the show rocked. A bond could be felt between the band and everyone present that you don't come across everyday. I could have watched them all night, even though it's a very physically exhausting experience.

L.A. noise rock outfit Health played beforehand, showing off a rhythmic and aggressive brand of energetic art rock. They resembled Gang Gang Dance to a degree. Bassist John Famigletti danced around vociferously and pounded on a standalone drum, while Jake Duzsik dropped in otherworldly vocals. One song ended with a sharp buzzing produced by Famigletti strumming all of his bass strings together, like he was in Arab on Radar.

Crystal Castles says we are not in love. I beg to differ.

Genre: Electronic
Fiction
Running Time: 52:23

If someone were to record the soundtrack to your dreams, what would it sound like? Toronto-based electronic music duo Crystal Castles measure the rhythm of your subconscious with their second album, Crystal Castles (II).

To describe the album in a word, it's very dreamlike. At times, it has a distinctive rave sound, sometimes it's more laid back, and sometimes it's gruesome.

One of the biggest reason why this album works so well is because of the job done by Ethan Kath, the group's main music producer. On the first album, many of the tracks felt like a giant clusterfuck of a sound kaleidoscope. Here, it sounds like Kath had a much better idea of what he wanted to accomplish.

The song structures are very clear: during the first couple of minutes you'll hear the intro beat, distinct and clear, which leads in to the main beat of the song where everything just goes nuts. The lead-in beat continues to play underneath the main beat, and they play off each other so well.

As for the quality of the actual beats, well, they speak for themselves. Check out "Baptism" or "Intimate" and tell me you're not floored.

Of course, the other half of the Crystal Castles puzzle is vocalist Alice Glass. On the group's first album, her vocals tended to get lost in the hodgepodge.

On Crystal Castles (II), her voice acts as another layer to compliment the music laid down by Kath. In general, her vocals can go from being very cold and dissonant to touching and full of emotion.

Witness the emotional display she pulls off on "Celestica," which may be her biggest moment in the spotlight yet. Her most touching moment comes on the impeccable "We Are Not In Love," which tells the tale of lovers destined to remain apart. (As an aside, the group recently released this song as a single, with Robert Smith of The Cure on lead vocals. This version arguably bests the album version.)

Then of course, there is the less accessible Glass. She has a much harsher vocal style that she often combines with her melodic moments.

You have the muted screams on Doe Deer, the distant shrieks in the beginning of "Empathy" which show off a much harsher side of Glass. But the stunning thing is that these moments are still beautiful, in their own grotesque way. It takes serious talent to pull that off.

Song by song there are some real highlights to point out. "Baptism" captures the best of their rave sound. "Year of Silence" features a Sigur Ros sample, but "Empathy" may be the album's high point. The opening beat sounds something like the sound you make when you blow through an empty Pringles bottle. Glass's reverb coated vocals in the chorus may be one of the best things the group has done so far.

On their first album, Crystal Castles made a considerable effort to display a video game/arcade machine influence. That trend here has thankfully been eliminated for the most part, but "Pap Smear" dips into those influences a bit. The closer, "I Am Made of Chalk," gives the listener the sensation of being underwater with its bubble/oxygen tank effects.

With Crystal Castles (II), the group has made sonic leaps forward in terms of composition and delivery, and stands as perhaps the most riveting statement of the year in electronica.

Score: 91/100