This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.
Crystal Castles, also known as Crystal Castles (I) or (I), is the debut studio album by Canadian electronic music duo Crystal Castles; at the time of its release, the group consisted of producer Ethan Kath and singer Alice Glass. The two met each other in 2004 and both had an interest in noise acts like AIDS Wolf & The Sick Lipstick. This inspired the two to start a noise music project, but instead of guitars, they would use electronic sounds made with a circuit-bent Atari 5200–which effectively led to the media pigeonholing the act as chiptune, despite the fact that the members themselves didn't deliberately intend this. Despite being labeled as the group's debut album, Crystal Castles is a compilation of singles that popularized the duo internationally, as well as unreleased demos recorded in 2004 along with two new songs: "Courtship Dating", and "Tell Me What to Swallow". The content on the LP includes samples of tracks from acts such as Death from Above 1979, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Luciano Berio, Drinking Electricity, and Van She. Some professional music journalists highlighted its random and unpredictable nature as well as its unique style and sound. Crystal Castles was released on March 18, 2008, by Lies Records and Last Gang Records, and performed well commercially in the United States, allowing it to make its way onto Billboard charts such as Independent Albums, Top Dance/Electronic Albums, and Top Heatseekers. It also charted in Australia, France, Ireland, Scotland and the United Kingdom. Many professional critics had complimentary opinions towards the album, with the writer for Delusions of Adequacy calling it "one of the best electronic albums of the year". The record ranked in the top 20 on numerous year-end lists by publications such as Pitchfork, NME, and PopMatters and landed on lists of the best albums of the 2000s by NME and Complex. In 2013, Crystal Castles was placed at number 477 on NME's list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".
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
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.
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.
Vacillates between amazing/tons of fun and kind of a cloying 8-bit soundtrack parody.
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.