They are named after the lyrics "The fate of the world is safe in Crystal Castles" and "Crystal Castles, the source of all power" both from the theme song for She-Ra's fortress. They are known for their melancholic lo-fi sound and their explosive live shows. Their debut album was included in NME's "Top 50 Albums of the Decade".
Initially the band was intended to be a solo project started by Ethan Kath in December 2003. Ethan later discovered Alice Glass singing in a noise-punk band, and thought he had found the "missing ingredient" to his music.
In 2004 Kath gave Alice 60 instrumental tracks and in April 2005 she recorded vocals over five instrumentals. The limited vinyl release of the band's first single Alice Practice sold out in only three days.
The track was a microphone test by Glass and she was not aware that the recording existed until London UK's Merok Records asked to release the track on vinyl, according to now ex-bandmate Kath. However, Glass declared over a decade later that this story was not true.
On the 18th March 2008 they released their debut album entitled Crystal Castles. This album reached #47 on UK Albums Chart, #6 on US Top Electronic Albums, #13 on US Top Heatseekers, and #32 on US Independent Albums. Crystal Castles received great reviews and ranked #39 on NME Magazine "Top 50 Albums of the Decade". They issued four singles: Alice Practice (1 June 2006), Crimewave (Crystal Castles vs HEALTH) (13 August 2007), Air War (17 December 2007), and Courtship Dating (31 March 2008).
Crystal Castles are known not only for their own efforts as a band, but also for commissioned remixes for number of groups, including Hunting For Witches by Bloc Party, and Atlantis to Interzone by friends and label mates, Klaxons.
In mid-2008, Crystal Castles were involved in two controversies related to artwork permissions and samples in their earliest unreleased songs. Crystal Castles used Trevor Brown's artwork (depicting singer Madonna with a black eye) without permission.
Furthermore, in one of Kath's earliest, unreleased demos, he incorporated a sample without permission. The track, "Insectica (CC vs Lo-Bat Version)", uses clips chopped out of a song by Lo-bat called "My Little Droid Needs a Hand", released under a Creative Commons license. Another track called "Love and Caring", samples the kick and snare from Covox's "Sunday".
In 23 April 2010 the duo released their second album Crystal Castles (II). This album reached #48 on UK Singles Chart, #8 on UK Dance Albums Chart, #24 on US Digital Albums, #6 on US Top Electronic Albums, and #3 on US Top Heatseekers. Crystal Castles (II) has been met with mostly positive reviews from critics. To date, four singles were issued: Doe Deer, Celestica and Baptism, and a new version of the track Not In Love which featured Robert Smith of The Cure on vocals.
This became their biggest hit to date, charting in a great amount of countries including a #3 in Belgium (Flanders), a #31 in Denmark and various notable placements on official alternative music charts. "Not In Love", which is a cover of a Platinum Blonde song of the same name, was also featured in various television shows (including "Degrassi") and the popular football simulation videogame FIFA 12.
The band toured throughout 2010 in the US and abroad and played the Reading and Leeds Festivals and Glastonbury Festival in the UK and Big Day Out in Australia. In February 2011, the band will perform on the NME Awards Tour
The band's third album, (III) was released on November 21, 2012. The album contains the singles "Plague", "Wrath of God", and "Sad Eyes".
On October 8th 2014 it was announced on then lead singer Alice Glass' Twitter that she was leaving the band, and that the group would end. However, Crystal Castles' manager immediately reported that the band would continue, and on April 15th, 2015, Ethan Kath shared a new track titled Frail on SoundCloud, writing 'this is Edith on vocals', implying that fellow musician Edith Frances was Crystal Castles' new lead vocalist, which was in fact the case.
On 2 July 2015, another new song, Deicide, was released as a single. A new version of Deicide was later released on the album under the title Their Kindness is Charade.
In late November 2015, Edith Frances played her first show as the other half of Crystal Castles in South Africa.
In the last week of June 2016, the track Concrete was leaked on Korean website MNet. The track was later released as a single on July 6 with an accompanying video Video on the same day on YouTube.
On June 29, the band previewed a new track Femen with a teaser of the music Video showing birds caught and struggling in mist nets via Vimeo.
On July 11, the band announced the new record, Amnesty (I) along with its cover art and track list and also premiering Char as Annie Mac's Hottest Record on BBC Radio 1.
The single and pre-order for the album were made available a day later on July 12.
The fourth, and last pre-order single Fleece was made available on August 16 at the band's iTunes page.
Another single titled Sadist was released on August 18, followed by the official release of the album on August 19, 2016. Track Sadist was followed by Edith's message announced on CC official Facebook page.
On their official website CC announced that all band's proceeds from Amnesty (I) album will be donated to Amnesty International. New album Vinyl and CD includes bonus track Kept.
http://www.crystalcastles.com
Various sources have reported that, as of 2018, Crystal Castles remains in a hiatus with no signs of new material coming in the near future.
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Crystal Castles Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Scars, in you, son
You shrug it off
Except that you don't
Better, it surely
It don't fall out
Said,
I lisp, i die
Sugar shooting
Bled with deadbeats
Only crawl
So your sad eyes
Quite christian
Blood
Drop it, it's dead
We drop it
And took the body home
Sad eyes
Scars, i'm chopping dagger
See you'll never walk
Only stagger.
Sad eyes
Quite christian
Blood
The lyrics in Crystal Castles' "Alice Practice" are enigmatic and difficult to decipher. The song consists mainly of repetition and disjointed phrases that seem to paint a picture of emotional pain and vulnerability. The line "scars, in you, son" could refer to actual physical scars, or it could be a metaphor for emotional scars. The next line, "you shrug it off, except that you don't," could suggest that the singer is trying to hide their pain, but they are not successful in doing so. The repetition of the phrase "sad eyes, quite Christian, blood" adds to the surreal and unnerving atmosphere of the song.
The line "sugar shooting bled with deadbeats only crawl" could suggest a drug addiction or a feeling of being trapped in a world of despair. The phrase "dropping it's dead, we drop it, and took the body home" could refer to a dead body being taken home, which adds to the sense of darkness and unease. The final lines "scars, I'm chopping dagger, see you'll never walk, only stagger" seem to suggest violence and brutality.
Overall, "Alice Practice" is a difficult song to interpret, but it paints a bleak picture of emotional pain, addiction, and violence.
Line by Line Meaning
hi
Introduction to the song
scars, in you, son
Referring to the emotional scars in the person being addressed
you shrug it off
The person tries to hide their scars and act like everything is okay
except that you don't
The person is not able to completely hide their pain
better, it surely
It would be better if they could move on, but it's not that easy
it don't fall out
The emotional pain does not just go away on its own
said,
Transition to a new thought
i live low
The person leads a life that is not high or glamorous
i lisp, i die
The person feels like they are not able to fully express themselves and their pain before they eventually pass away
sugar shooting
Refers to using drugs to cope with emotional pain, but it only leads to a temporary high
bled with deadbeats
Surrounded by people who are not good influences and only add to their suffering
only crawl
The person is barely moving forward in life because of their pain
so your sad eyes
Addressing the person's appearance and how their eyes betray their true emotions
quite christian
Potentially commenting on the person's religious beliefs or the idea that they should be forgiving
blood
Represents the person's pain and the violent or tragic nature of whatever caused those scars
drop it, it's dead
The person is being told to try and move on and let go of their pain because it's in the past
we drop it
Repetition of the previous line, emphasizing the idea of letting go and moving forward
and took the body home
Potentially metaphorical, could mean they are taking their emotional baggage with them
sad eyes
Repetition of an earlier line, highlighting the person's true emotions
scars, i'm chopping dagger
The person feels like their pain is constantly cutting into them like a sharp blade
see you'll never walk
The person may feel like their pain is so great that they will never be able to fully recover
only stagger.
Even if the person does move forward, it will be a slow and difficult process
sad eyes
Repetition to end the song with the same feeling it began with
quite christian
Repetition of an earlier line, possibly commenting on the idea of forgiveness and moving on
blood
Repetition of an earlier line, reinforcing the idea of pain and tragedy
Writer(s): Ethan Kath, Alice Glass
Contributed by Juliana M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
EVOL
In this video you can see Borat dancing and having fun with all his mistresses to the sounds of a sick unreleased Crystal Castles track from the good ol' days of 1995.
YaKefir
Its Stalin, not Borat
WaZfQt EsBn
@EVOL coz it's bullshit
bird
@EVOL the claim wasn't made until last year
EVOL
Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, but I didn't know about the whole fiasco between Alice and Ethan back when I made that comment.
pun cat
this made me laugh
PotatoWeras
Это лучшее что я видел, эти танцы девяностых, без интернета и телефонов.... они просто развлекаются и им хорошо, а эта девушка с красными волосами, она просто супер, пересмотрел это видео раз 15.
rabies
Бля, чуваки, хочу высказаться. Смотрел это видео в январе в первый раз, прошёл месяц с лишним, я до сих пор пересматриваю его раз по пять каждый день (не пизжу). Так вот, я просто умиляюсь с девушки с рыжими волосами и серой кофте. Это пиздец, чуваки. Её движения и улыбка сводят меня с ума. Это лучшее, что я видел в своей ебаной жизни, серьёзно.
This Account Is Abandoned.
....wut?
RetroScience
Что плохого в романтизации