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.
xxzxczx me
Crystal Castles Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Bugs and insects, useless
Leave me for dead, how can you love?
Program the head
We get so demonstrated
Nuts and bolts for granted
Lie like a dog, now it's just wires
Robotic love
I'm programmed to rust
AIDS robot is clad in iron bolts
Robot grunts have bled each other
They wanna play with my placenta
All we have is dirty weather
Someone push the button
I know we're just disease
A bloody cyst, what will you live?
What will you die for?
Protect the cure in me
Baby, I know
We'll celebrate the fucking rain
Just because we don't feel flesh
Doesn't mean we don't fear death
The lyrics of the song "xxzxczx me" by Crystal Castles explore the theme of dehumanization and the fear of death in a world where technology and robotics increasingly dominate human lives. The opening lines, "We can insist on having robots, bugs and insects, useless, leave me for dead, how can you love, program the head," suggest a desire for something beyond human emotions and the physical limitations of the body. The song seems to be mocking our obsession with technology and the belief that it can somehow make us better.
The chorus follows with the lines, "Robotic love, I'm programmed to rust, AIDS robot is clad in iron bolts," which suggest that even our emotions and love are becoming robotic and mechanical. The use of the term "AIDS robot" shows how the fear of disease is also becoming mechanical, as if it can be programmed and fixed like a machine.
The second verse hints at violence and destruction as the robots and humans bleed each other out. They are obsessed with playing with the placenta, a symbol of birth and life, while all they have is dirty weather and the prospect of death. The final lines of the song, "Just because we don't feel flesh, doesn't mean we don't fear death," remind us that we are still human beings with emotions and a sense of mortality despite our attempts to transcend them through technology.
Line by Line Meaning
We can insist on having robots
We demand to have robots in our lives
Bugs and insects, useless
We consider bugs and insects worthless
Leave me for dead, how can you love?
You abandoned me, can you still love me?
Program the head
Control your mind
We get so demonstrated
We've become so automated
Nuts and bolts for granted
Take our body parts for granted
Lie like a dog, now it's just wires
We used to be able to lie, now we can't because we've been reduced to wires
Full of promise
Despite our limitations, we still have potential
Robotic love
Our love is mechanical
I'm programmed to rust
My fate is to deteriorate
AIDS robot is clad in iron bolts
Our bodies are made of metal
Robot grunts have bled each other
Our conflicts have caused damage to ourselves
They wanna play with my placenta
They want to toy with my reproductive system
All we have is dirty weather
Our environment is polluted
Someone push the button
I wish somebody would end it all
I know we're just disease
We are a plague on this world
A bloody cyst, what will you live?
We are a disease, what do we have to live for?
What will you die for?
What is worth dying for?
Protect the cure in me
Preserve what little good is left in me
Baby, I know
I understand
We'll celebrate the fucking rain
We'll find joy in even the most unpleasant things
Just because we don't feel flesh
We may not have physical bodies, but we still have emotions
Doesn't mean we don't fear death
We are still afraid of dying, even if we are not human
Writer(s): Alice Glass, Ethan Kath
Contributed by Sebastian C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@walksalot_talksalot
We can insist on havoc
Bring it to us
Pleasure our insides
You said, leave me for dead
How can your love
Program the head?
We get so fed up with it
Nuts and bolts for granted
Run, I can do it
As your bodies fall apart
(Bruh)
No robotic love
I'm programmed to rust
AIDS robot
Is grinding iron bolts
Robot hunks have one agenda
They wanna play with my placenta
Are we now deserving
When our cyborg parts are burning?
I know we're just diseased appliances
Where will you live?
What will you die for?
Sex is killing me
Baby, I know
Wrong time
Wrong place
Wrong fucking race
Just because we don't feel flesh
Doesn't mean we don't fear death
@Dr_Pickle
We can insist on havoc
Bring it to us
Pleasure our insides
You said "leave me for dead"
How can your love program the head?
We get so demonstrated
Nuts and bolts for granted
Run along like a dog
As your bodies fall apart
Robotic love
I'm programmed to run
AIDs robot is grinding iron bolts
Robot hunks have one agenda:
They want to play with my placenta
Are we love deserving
When our cyborg parts are burning?
I know we're just diseased appliances
Where will you live?
What will you die for?
Sex is killing me
Baby, I know
Wrong time
Wrong place
Wrong fucking race
Just because we don't feel flesh
Doesn't mean we don't fear death
@SLUGVI
we can insist on havoc
bring me to life , pleasure our insides
you said, "leave me for dead"
how can your love program the head ?
we get so offended with it
nuts and bolts for granted
run along like ive done
as two bodies fall apart
woah
robotic love
im programmed to rot
aids, robot is clad in iron bolts
robot hunks have one agenda
they wanna play with my placenta
are we now deserving
when our cyborg parts are burning
i know were just diseased appliances
where will you live?
when will you die?
your sex is killing me
baby, i know
wrong time, wrong place
wrong fucking race
just because we dont feel flesh
doesnt mean we dont fear death
@edur9582
the more crystal castles music you listen the more you know and enter this exclusive bubble
@genericname1451
no
@bloodiedstahlhelm
I now cannot escape it
@ichikoaobaenjoyer
what exclusive bubble
@dalekarmy
bruh crystal castles ain't unknown lol
@markhammond6455
I guess we are going deeper than expected
@brandonbrown5652
Really happy to see people are still listening to this
@piroshk1968
🫡🫡🫡
@DirtTapes_
One of the underrated songs
@wne8rnd212
@M E X B E R Z same this is sick