Posts tagged with crystal castles

10/26/2010

Crystal Castles – Not in Love (feat. Robert Smith)

My life the past week has been surrounded by Crystal Castles greatness. First off, I come to find out that the Canadian duo whose 2009 Lollapalooza set nearly put me out of commission would be coming to Detroit, and even better to the Royal Oak Music Theatre, the closest venue ever to my house. And even though the show is not until March 2011, there is still plenty to be excited about. Remember when their album came out and I posted my favorite track upon the first listen, “Not In Love”? Well, the song has just gotten even more incredible than it was before with the addition of the man, the myth, the legend, none other than Robert Smith. You may remember him from The Cure, or any TV show or movie that ever referenced Robert Smith’s hair. Why is this song so awesome? Well, first off, it has Robert Smith in it. Second, it’s Crystal Castles, and third, for maybe the first time ever, I can actually understand the lyrics in a Crystal Castles song, and it turns out that they’re not even half bad! This track is from a single being released some time that’s not today.

Crystal Castles – Not In Love (feat. Robert Smith)

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10/08/2010

[video] Crystal Castles – Baptism

I totally forgot about Crystal Castles for a pretty long time until today when I saw this video. It brings back great memories of 2009 Lollapalooza pretty much right up front fighting for my life in the rain. I like the old school feel of the video, and Ethan Kath (at least I’m assuming it’s Ethan Kath) looks especially creepy on the drums in this one. The fire is pretty representative as well. Gonna give their latest album another spin today methinks.

Crystal Castles vs. HEALTH – Crimewave (LAZRtag Remix)

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08/22/2010

Empire of the Sun – Walking on a Dream (Van She Tech Remix)

I’m not sure if you noticed, but we recently did some housekeeping around here and cleaned things up a bit. We’re kind of looking at this like kicking off our next chapter, whatever that may be. And what better way to kick off our new chapter than with a remix of the very first song we ever posted? It seems extremely appropriate, don’t you think? With their first ever North American shows now under their belt (and we’ve heard some darn good things about them), Empire of the Sun seems to be all over the web these days. And Australian band Van She (who are actually responsible for the original version of “Vanished” by Crystal Castles) took this laid back tune and turned it into a larger than life sound explosion. At first it doesn’t sound too different, but once you get past the first chorus, the remix really starts to take shape. A great take on an old classic. Here’s to the future.

Empire of the Sun – Walking on a Dream (Van She Tech Remix)

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08/07/2010

Crystal Castles – Vietnam (Midnight Conspiracy Remix)

As evidenced by the “Crimewave” remix we posted a while back and this remix today, it’s pretty clear that Crystal Castles and Midnight Conspiracy go hand in hand. One thing that’s so great about the latest self-titled Crystal Castles album is that so many of the tracks are sort of like soundscapes, with the vocals acting like another piece of the puzzle rather than overpowering the music, which makes for great remixes. In this case, “Vietnam” already had a killer beat, but Midnight Conspiracy came in and made things just a touch darker all around. And the vocals, which were especially instrumental in this track, have become even more instrumental, literally, as they’re almost indistinguishable from the rest of the music. Another solid effort from Midnight Conspiracy.

Crystal Castles – Vietnam (Midnight Conspiracy Remix)

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06/08/2010

Fool’s Gold – Nadine (Memory Tapes Version)

Remember up and coming LA band Fool’s Gold that I first picked up on way back in August of last year when I first heard their song “Surprise Hotel”? Well, since I happen to have a propensity towards hearing about songs and remixes months after the fact, I figured I’d share a pretty fantastic remix of their track “Nadine” by none other than our boy Dayve Hawk of Memory Tapes. I think this first hit the interwebs last summer, probably right around that August time frame I mentioned earlier. But I’m just hearing it for the first time so it’s new to me. My favorite part about this remix is that there seem to be 2 or 3 distinct sections throughout, all ending with the in your face synthetic horn section taking us home.

Fool’s Gold will be on tour this summer, so check out their tour dates below to see if they are coming to a theater near you. And then listen to the jam.

Sunday, June 20 – Hollywood, CA @ Hollywood Bowl w/ Baaba Maal, Yeasayer, & Tinariwen
Tuesday, July 13 – South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Showcase Lounge
Wednesday, July 14 – Quebec City, QC @ Quebec City International – DNA
Friday, July 16 – Halifax, NS @ Halifax Jazz Festival
Sunday, July 18 – Camden, NJ @ XPoNential Music Festival
Monday, July 19 – Allston, MA @ Great Scott
Tuesday, July 20 – Montreal, QC @ The Belmont
Wednesday, July 21 – Toronto, ON @ El Mocambo
Friday, July 23 – Columbus, OH @ The Summit
Saturday, July 24 – Washington, DC @ DC9
Sunday, July 25 – New York, NY @ Central Park Summerstage
Friday, August 6 – Dranouter, Belgium @ Dranouter Festival
Saturday, August 7 – Crozon, France @ Festival du Bout du Monde
Sunday, August 8 – Hertfordshire, UK @ Standon Calling Festival
Thursday, August 12 – Oslo, Norway @ Oya Festival
Saturday, August 14 – Leicester, UK @ Leicester Summer Sundae Festival

Fool’s Gold – Nadine (Memory Tapes Version)

And as a fortunate coincidence since I already had this post queued up at the time of Mr. Hawk’s most recent release, a remix of Crystal Castles’ “Suffocation”, I figured it was entirely appropriate to include here. I still don’t know if I’ve found a Memory Tapes remix that I do not enjoy. I like to try not to post too much of the same artists on the site, but sometimes I have no choice. I especially like the extended outro.

Crystal Castles – Suffocation (Memory Tapes Remix)

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05/27/2010

Thursday Remix Roundup #2

It’s time for another remix roundup! Here are a few pretty neat remixes that we’ve liked recently when going through the ole inbox.

First up is Professor Purple, the name of Jeremy Malvin, a University of Michigan student (GO BLUE! [<-- yeah, that just happened]) who just decided to start making some remixes. And judging by how much we like his take on Crystal Castles’ “Celestica”, we think he should continue.

Crystal Castles – Celestica (Professor Purple Remix

Up next, a remix that actually arrived in my text message inbox from our friend and contributor hockboi during a recent trip to Miami where he proposed to his longtime girlfriend (She said yes, we’re still not sure why). Congrats to them. I think this Calvin Harris remix of Passion Pit’s “The Reeling” probably came out last summer, but I’d never heard it before, and it’s been 80+ degrees all week (perfect for a jam like this), so it counts.

Passion Pit – The Reeling (Calvin Harris Remix)

Up next, a remix that won me on subject title alone, but ended up being pretty enjoyable. You had me at “Sleigh Bells meets a fly ass mexican jew”. It turns out that it’s Speak, the self proclaimed 34th best rapper in the world rapping over the top of “Infinity Guitars” by Sleigh Bells. Unfortunately, the Sleigh Bells part of the song still sort of hurts my ears in “It hurts my ears but I kind of like it but kind of hate it because it hurts my ears” sort of way. You can download a free EP from Speak right here.

Sleigh Bells feat. Speak – Infinity Rap Bars (Infinity Guitars Remix)

And last but certainly not least, making her second appearance (out of 2) in the Thursday Remix Roundup is Kelis, whose “Acapella” has been mashed up/remixed/somethinged with “Tomorrow Never Knows”, one of my favorite songs by the Beatles evarrr, by London’s Plump DJs. I had a class about the 60s in college and we learned that this song was sort of revolutionary because nobody else had ever played a track backwards in a song before, or something like that.

Kelis vs. Beatles vs. Plump DJs – The Volcano Coalition

We hope you’ve enjoyed this second installment of Thursday Remix Roundup. Til next time.

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05/05/2010

April Most Popular Tracks

April was a pretty exciting month. I turned another year older, attended my first Coachella festival, and heard many long-awaited albums. But Crystal Castles also had a pretty good month, as you’ll see below, dominating the top 2 spots in our most popular tracks of April. Hear them again or for the first time below. You can see the original post by clicking on the song title.

1. Bloc Party – Hunting for Withces (Crystal Castles Remix)

2. Crystal Castles – Not in Love

3. The Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition (RAC Remix)

4. The Bloody Beetroots – 31 Seconds to Die

5. Duck Sauce – The Motion

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04/21/2010

crystal castles – not in love

As a huge fan of the first Crystal Castles self-titled album, I’ve been waiting in anticipation for their second album which is, strangely, also self-titled (Weezer much?). And like every other album ever, it has found its way onto the interwebs prior to its scheduled release date (along with 4 or 5 other albums on the same day, which again brings up the question of how the industry will adjust to every single album being leaked or “leaked”). Either way, I just gave the album my first listen, and I think I’m going to be liking this one. The most notable difference in my eyes was the lack of any clear vocals on this album. While the vocals were distorted in all different ways on the first album, it seems that this time around the vocals are used almost as another instrument. One of the tracks that stood out to me just from the first listen was “Not in Love”. It’s got a nice 80s feel that I enjoy.

Crystal Castles – Not in Love

As a bonus (mostly since I already had this written up before the album leaked), a super oldie, but super goodie. I’ve always been a rather large fan of both Bloc Party and Crystal Castles, so I was surprised to hear about a super old remix that I never heard that marries these two bands. I especially enjoy it because “Hunting for Witches” was not one of my favorite tracks from Bloc Party’s 2007 album Weekend in the City, but I really like what the Toronto duo has done with this tune. Slowed it down quite a bit and added in some of their characteristic 8-bit pieces of flare to give it that quintessential Crystal Castles sound that we like so much. I need some Alice in my live music life, but alas it does not appear to be in the cards any time soon. Might have to try to make some moves this summer to make that happen.

By the way, is the picture above (from last year’s rainy Lollapalooza performance in which I feared for my life several times but never wanted it to end) not one of the raddest pictures of all times that so accurately depicts its subject? I think it is.

Bloc Party – Hunting for Witches (Crystal Castles remix)

And as a special super double bonus, here’s a much newer remix of Crystal Castles by Midnight Conspiracy that I have been digging as well. A new track by Crystal Castles, a remix by Crystal Castles and a remix of Crystal Castles? That is what I call a well-rounded post.

Crystal Castles – Crimewave (Midnight Conspiracy remix)

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