Their bouncy, call-and-response single "Courtship Dating" is about human taxidermy.but a lot of time it's hard to make out what Alice is even saying anyway due to the delibrate audio distortion. A lot of it sounds fairly upbeat and danceable, but the lyrics on the other hand. Lyrical Dissonance: Crystal Castles' music in general tend to fit under this.Loudness War: They have a habit of distorting their music (and vocals) to hell and back.Long Title: There's a demo floating around the Internet called "Why Do You Cry Every Time I Fuck You?".Last Note Nightmare: "Untrust Us" is a rather soft (albeit crazy) song, which ends with the abrupt wailing of a guitar (which is sampled from the same song that provides the song's main sample).Intercourse with You: "Through the Hosiery":.The reason is a mystery, but it probably had to do with shows like this. Improbable Weapon User: One time Alice clobbered a fan with a microphone.He's had no compunctions about venting his anger over her departure through Twitter. I Am the Band: Alice's star is on the rise."Year of Silence" heavily samples a song by the Icelandic band Sigur Rós."Untrust Us" has a repeated sampled line in Spanish, "La cocaína no es buena para su salud", meaning " Cocaine is not good for your health".Alice picked up on this habit, and will now cover her face with her sleeve/collar/beer/whatever's handy, even when posing with fans. Film the Hand: Kath is routinely photographed wearing hoodies which obscure some or all of his face, and covering it with his hand even further.Driven to Suicide: The narrator in "Suffocation" seems as if they definitely have been.Downer Ending: The debut album ends with "Tell Me What to Swallow", an acoustic song from the perspective of the victim in an abusive relationship who chooses to stay.Darker and Edgier: II and III zig-zag this their heaviest moments are definitely more aggressive than their preceding albums, but they also have their fair share of Lighter and Softer moments.Cover Version: Although the studio version of "Crimewave" is technically a remix of the HEALTH song, they often perform it live as one.Sometimes she kneels down and humps the mic instead.Companion Cube: Alice and the amp are legally married in some states.Careful with That Axe: Alice's feral, nigh-inaudibly distorted screeches in "Doe Deer".Angrish: Sometimes it's distortion, but the lyrics can dissolve into this occasionally.Affectionate Nickname: Alice's version of it, anyway she once noted that she addressed her bandmate as Ethan Catheter, because he's "the most uncomfortable thing in the world.".They are unrelated to the Atari Arcade Game.ĭiscography with singles: Alice Glass era (2006-2014)
These issues were seemingly resolved when they retitled Insectica to 'Crystal Castles vs Lo-Bat', and it soon became apparent that the artist who created the Madonna image was prolonging hostilities as he was benefiting from the exposure - Crystal Castles tried to pay him for the image but he refused to provide them with the necessary details. Other public disputes the band found themselves in occurred in 2008, when they were accused of violating Creative Commons licenses by stealing artwork and samples from other artists, specifically a drum sample by Lo-Bat which featured on Insectica and the usage of a black-eyed Madonna ◊ as an album cover. Their influences around this time included murder, blank looks on girls, and knives. From there, they grew a reputation for their extremely chaotic live shows, the consistent divisive responses to their work, and the enduring passion of their fanbase. However, Alice publicly denied this following her departure from the band, claiming that Ethan had deliberately fabricated the story to minimize her input. note While the details are spotty, the general origin story often shared alongside the song is that it was a soundcheck/proof of concept that was never meant to be released, in some versions recorded in secret by their engineer. Started in the mid-2000s by singer Alice Glass and songwriter/producer Ethan Kath, the band began gaining traction off the success of their song "Alice Practice" both through MySpace and a sizable Colbert Bump following the band performing the song in an episode of Skins. Crystal Castles is an electronica band with a dark aesthetic and a unique sound that started out as synthpop with heavy chiptune and electropunk influences before transitioning into more futuristic and industrial territory, although this later sound would become most synonymous with the genre of witch house.