Crystal Castles

I can't take much more of this list. Really, I can't. It's been like 4 years. And then I get 'Canadian electronica' - whatever that is. Oh well. Just one more... And then it's just amazing. Thanks for a great recommendation. The quest continues!

If it sounds like you've been immersed into the weird world of video game noises, that's because you have been.

Another classic that should have been included from the start! I am more partial to their second record, but this one has all the hits

Some fun beeps and boops and some fever dreams

Didn't get a lot out of these gothy diva vocals over what felt like fairly run of the mill chiptunes. The gross Me Too conclusion of the band's tale didn't help. Slightly more interesting than average still.

Seemed light it might be fun but I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped. Given the icky history of the band that might be just as well.

Oooh, another Canadian snowboard season classic. Had an absolute blast listening to this one whilst riding my bike round the city Great selection, thank you.

Neglected listening to this one for quite some time, mainly to my detriment – this LP is such a fun, singular recollection of an indie electro-pop era that's long gone. While certainly colored by nostalgia, in my eyes the short period between 2006-2010 produced some of the best indie and electronic heard since as synths and electronic production became more accessible to bedroom producers. There's a charming sense of roughness around the edges of this LP to boot, and when coupled with a clear sense of experimentation and joy from the group's performances the whole thing just feels so genuine and human. It's clear actual people made this record, and it's a far cry from how austere and produced modern electronica or indie usually sounds.

Synthpop of the adolescent internet age. The rise of social networks and the ease at which the mp3 could be shared allowed for new underground artists to emerge. This is especially true for the electronica genre, which saw cracked versions of FL studio and circuit-bent electronics being used to craft the new sound of blogging millennials. To this end, Crystal Castles is haunted, tripped-out world of bloopy synths over crunchy beats that redefines what pop music can be. Do not be fooled, this is still pop music at it's core; defining moments on this album are riddled with danceable beats and sweet hooks. The caveat is that it's all drenched in unconventional production. Begone, overly polished and perfect production! Crystal Castles champions dissonance, grime, and *gasp* Noise!!!! What a treat. You never really know what this album will turn up next. It's bold and brash while still maintaining a root in rhythms that make you want to move. Unyielding in all the best ways, I found myself enamored for the entire runtime. I would be remiss not to mention the dark cloud that looms over this duo's legacy: singer-songwriter of the group Alice Glass came forward in 2017 to reveal the abuse that Ethan Kath had subject her to. This ultimately culminated in a Sex Crimes investigation carried out by the Toronto Police, though I couldn't find any sources that confirmed how that resolved. Either way, it's a case where one would need to mentally divorce the music from the musicians in order to fully enjoy the piece. I would still recommend giving it a full listen, but the circumstances surrounding this album are something that leaves a bitter taste. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: 100% yes. The broader landscape of underground music owes more than you know to this album.

An eclectic and chaotic debut that somehow works. Crystal Castles throw Atari bleeps, punky vocal bursts, and icy synth lines into a blender, and the result is a mix of abrasive energy and oddly danceable tracks. Songs like Vanished show they could craft something more accessible, but much of the record thrives on tension and noise. It’s not subtle, and it’s certainly of its time, but it’s also inventive and a lot of fun.

This album is a great albums when it comes to classic electronic beeps. Too bad it has these noise tracks that are ok, but not that great with a production that makes these sound a bit hollow.

If Vangelis smoked some crystal meth and then tried to soundtrack The Legend of Zelda movie while playing the game with Moby, then you might get this album. I didn’t hate it but I’ve got to subtract a star for the same old sorry story of men behaving badly towards younger women that broke up the band. I think Alice Glass would be alright with the penalty.

Hey! More Canadia representation! Not Montreal, admittedly, but still definitely from Canadia. I do love me some chiptune from time to time, and despite being adamant that "they hate videogames" and this "not being chiptune" - sorry, eh, but you named yourself after a classic videogame and used Atari hardware to create a bunch of 8-bit sounds. I guess you're making chiptune eh? This is a decent collection of aggressively electronic music, and I'm glad I've heard it.

I wasn't ready. This is the perfect electronic vibe for me... a video game flair, and a bit more sophisticated than early synth sound. Other than the 3 aggressive edge tracks (e.g. Alice Practice and Xxzxcuzx Me) I found this absolutely compelling from start to finish. Tremendously enjoyable.

Rating: 10/10

Some great songs, but quite a challenge to run through the album in one go.

I listened to this some time ago because the group shared the name with an odd Atari game from the 80s that I liked. The 8-bit sounds seemed very appropriate. Not sure it is a daily listen but I enjoyed it.

This ended up being pretty eclectic and I think overall it was a net positive album. Stinkers here and there but quite a few good songs too, especially the ones that went into synth or shoegaze type stuff.

Bleep bloop. Bleep bloop. BLEEP BLOOP. The bleepest of bloops. Pretty good stuff. Sucks the guy is an absolute piece of shit. My personal rating: 4/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Slight no.

Suprised this isn't on the main list. Stories of domineering and manipulative behavior but I choose to listen to the music. And the music I like. It's like Japanese influenced videogame music (also a bit like Xiu Xiu). Interesting listen.

Sounds like playing Nintendo & I love Nintendo so this is a good time.

Irritating as hell, but such a time capsule of that 8-bit electroclash sound, which it feels has been diluted into everything from dubstep to K-pop.

Knew Untrust Us from... uh... I actually don't know, but I was excited for the rest of the album, and I'd say it mostly delivered? I think by the end of the album a lot of the songs were coming off relatively meaningless and repetitive, but I'd say the front half of the album is good enough to make up for it. Just may need some more manic energy to thoroughly enjoy this one, but still, of course, very good.

This is an odd one to review. I’m really glad I heard it as it’s quite different to anything I’ve heard before. That said, I can’t decide on if I actually like it or not. There are parts that I loved, and parts I found quite annoying. I do enjoy the video game feel of it all though. It feels almost dubstep in parts, and (crazy as it sounds) almost punk in others. They clearly do what they wanna do without trying to fit in with the mainstream, and that’s what punk is all about. All of that said, I’m undecided whether I’ll be likely to hear it again. I’m very glad to have heard it once though.

Not first listen- which is good, since this kinda pissed me off the first time. All I wrote about it last year was "Om, Ethan's a big fat c*unt", so I was probably less focused on the music than on the "sex crimes" section on Wikipedia. Before hearing this, all I knew about Crystal Castles is their amazing version of Platinum Blonde's "Not in Love" (featuring Robert Smith). So finding out much of their music is more on the abrasive side was disappointing. At first. Now songs like "Alice Practice" hit, whereas before they were just irritating. Plus the flurries of 8-bit chirping were also easier to stomach today. Like Daft Punk's debut, it's a disjointed melange of older and newer material... and it works. Buckleys HL: "Untrust Us", "Alice Practice", "Vanished", "Magic Spells", "Tell Me What to Swallow" September 27, 2025

Huippuja löytyy mutta niin löytyy matalikkoja.. Avausbiisi uskomaton Untrust Us

Video game-inspired music that's agnostic to whether its audience has ever touched a video game

Horrific pedo case. Imagine being a little fella and just wanting to see some 240p action on ESL maps and you hear the song Klaxons - Atlantis To Interzone (Crystal Castles Remix) in 2007. Crazy this came out a year after that and is so much worse. Still good tho

Blippy, quirky, fun. This really should have been shorter though. Fave Songs: Vanished, 1991, Crimewave, Knights, Reckless, Magic Spells, Untrust Us

Vacillates between amazing/tons of fun and kind of a cloying 8-bit soundtrack parody.

Hmmm, good to begin with, the novelty soon wears off 2.8

Imagine a synth pad wandered into a boutique, got distracted by a rack of ironic graphic tees, and decided to stay. That’s this album. A collection of inoffensive bleepedi-bloops that drift lazily through the air like a scented candle trying to be edgy. It doesn’t demand attention, nor does it reward it. It’s the kind of music that says, “Hey, I’m here,” but only after you’ve already left. Perfect for a clothing store that wants to project “hip” and “not dull,” but ends up somewhere between “mildly curated” and “accidentally playing the demo track from a smart speaker.” It loops well, because you won’t notice it started in the first place.

Sweet as

10 gecs. It's fine.

Very nice techno beat

This album really tended oscillate between being something I was really enjoying and something I found pretty grating. I couldn't even really tell you what it was, but sometimes I found myself wanting to be done with the album, and then it would draw me back in. It's fine overall, especially for 2008, but at the same time it's hard to give it more than 3 stars 3/5

Sounds like playing Nintendo while tripping on Ecstasy... Favorite songs: Black Panther, Untrust Us, Vanished, Courtship Dating, Air War, Magic Spells, Xxzxcuzx Me Least favorite songs: Alice Practice 3/5

I appreciate the inclusion on the list, but at no point did this album have enough going on to be able to keep me from tuning out. Neither, at any point, was this album offensive in any way. It was nice, just nice. 3/5

2 Interesting But sometimes unbearable 3 2

Very 90's game-music. It was fine as background music, but not more than that 2m

This looks stupid. I bet it sounds stupid. Oh yeah it sounds stupid. It has the occasional cool vibe but also a heap of stupid noise. 1991 is a fun tune though. 2/5.

Synth-punk, chiptune, noise, indie electronic. No me ha gustado. Un 2.

This was a bit too something and I was glad when it was over.

Just sounds like angry computer game music to me.

I wasn't much of a fan

I get that it’s supposed to be video game sounds and music but i didn’t find it very enjoyable. The vocals were shrill and hard to hear.

Crystal Castles was okay, some interesting and quirky sounds and fairly well put together but nothing that really stood out to me or resonated. 2/5, it's very average for its genre.

I quite like the chip tune production. I could maybe give an instrumental version of this 4 stars. But the vocals really are horrible. I was weighing up between a 2 and a 3, then I checked the run time and there’s no way I’m making it through an hour of this.

This is like being committed to a mental hospital because you say you can time travel and just replay noises from the 80s. Not sure how someone could go a whole hour into this. It was a nostalgic wave of a bad trip on acid. Game over. 1.7/10

Nope

Rubbish - 0 🌟

Elements of it were quite meditative but overall not great.

I have always considered this act as gravely overrated, whether when there was so much hype about them, or when the latter petered out. Those goth electronics were hot and hip for quite a lot of millennials at the time, but that trendy shtick lost its appeal quick, didn't it? Hilarious how this particular brand of punk chiptune dross, supposedly pointing to the future of the genre, now sounds so horribly dated. Yet even at the time it was possible to be derisive about the whole thing, I promise. Because if you scratch the pitch-black, supposedly "abrasive" surface of those tracks, you quickly discover there's not much substance under it. Even the darkest and most "nihilistic' electronic music out there must speak to the soul somehow. But this one here has always appeared as particularly soulless to me, and it makes the results sound appalling to my ears. Of course, now that we know that the whole project was most probably based on psychological and sexual abuse, it's easier to decode the actual dynamics that made the project what it was. The puppet singing those tunes rarely feels emotionally in sync with the music for instance -- when she even sings at all (amazing how Alice Glass is actually absent from quite a few key moments of side one). When she *does* sing, the result is formulaic or perfunctory enough to work on a purely technical level, yet the formula also instills that sense of emotional disconnection I have just mentioned. Maybe people perceived this as part of Crystal Castles' artistic intent back then. But as I said, now we know better. Of course, you can't blame a victim of abuse, especially when it takes so much courage to speak out after years of being harmed behind the scenes. Yet you're still left pondering about the circumstances that brought a lost and confused teenage girl at the start of the project to get herself trapped into such a dangerous corner. There were probably a lot of red flags from the get-go around Ethan Kath. And yet nobody in the band's entourage raised an eyebrow in any significant fashion? Eyeroll... I'm trying hard not to pass on any judgment here, believe it or not. Humans make mistakes, and nobody is above that sort of flaw. But damn, it's a story as old as Ike and Tina, and you could expect people with a minimum amount of empathy and connected brain cells to put their foot down at some point. And yet everyone involved in this matter, either directly or indirectly, had deluded themselves for quite a long time here. Luckily, Alice ended up taking things into her own hands, and found a way out. But the proverbial writing had been on the wall since the beginning, of course. It would take Glass even longer to reveal the extent in which Ethan Kath was damaged goods -- reportedly when she learned she was not his only victim, five years after she left the project. Which somehow speaks to her selfless intents. A couple of misogynistic twats have probably pointed out she also needed the publicity... But what do they know? One thing's for sure about Ethan Kath: whatever it is that the guy precisely did, he's a piece of shit. When Glass left him, he could at least have taken this as a sign that he had to reform and find ways to avoid new toxic cycles of abuse and/or distrust with his partners and collaborators -- whatever actually happened there. Ending the Crystal Castles project and starting afresh with something different -- something admittedly more under the radar -- could have been a significant step forward to reach that mindset, for instance. And this even if it meant losing quite a lot of money in the short run. And yet no, the guy cynically hired another girl, pretended nothing significant had occured, and tried to surf on the Crystal Castles brand as long as he could. Like, it's easy to believe Glass when she says she was not considered as a human being having agency of her own when you see how her former partner replaced her so easily. Let's face it, this is utterly pathetic. And as far as this particular case goes, this here is pathetic on both an ethical AND a musical standpoint. And this can only mean one thing: even if Glass had not raised her voice around the late 2010s, you can bet your farm boots that the cow would have been milked dry today anyway. So please, put this garbage project right where it belongs: in the dustbin of music history. 1/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums.. 6/10 for more general purposes (5 + 1) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ----- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 54 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 72 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 130 (including this one) --- Émile. Ça y est, j'ai *enfin* répondu (en deux temps). Tu trouveras ça sous les reviews des disques de Blackalicious et Alexisonfire au dessus.