Crystal Castles, "Crystal Castles II"

I've held up on this review for a week or so now because I can't decide how I feel. This is a complicated album for me.

I Love/Hate the new Crystal Castles album. Their second studio record shares the name of their first.

I must confess, I'm not very familiar with the first album, blasphemy for an electro fan. (Especially one who lives in Brooklyn) So, I'm unqualified to discuss how this album compares with their first effort.

There are moments of real beauty and moments of intensity bordering on the insane sprinkled throughout the record. It sounds like something a madman would dream up. Perhaps Ethan Kath, the driving force behind Crystal Castles, is such a madman.

There is a mixture of cutting edge electro technique combined with old school, europa-lectro house music. Sometimes the album is just downright trance.

It disturbs the ears, and then soothes them. It delivers a potent melody, and then tears it down. It makes you want to dance, then it makes you want to sit and think.

I Love/Hate these elements and the way they are presented.

The track "Celestica" sounds eerily like something Dido would do if they started taking lsd and went to an island in Greece to write. Truly beautiful.

The track has some truly unique elements including the use of a sound like a track skipping. This plays at the beginning of each new chord pattern and literally had me doing a double take, "Is my ipod skipping?!"

Vocals by Alice Glass range from a Dido-like quality and fullness to an outright punk rocker screech. At times her voice is modulated to literally a screeching level. Lyrics are difficult to pick out without actually reading them online, though lyrics play almost no importance to Crystal Castles music. Their goal is sound...lots of sound. Sometimes too much sound. Her name is oddly fitting as she sounds at times like breaking glass. I mean that as a compliment.

I would not point someone in the direction of Crystal Castles unless they were an avid fan of music, and more importantly of electro music. "Crystal Castles II" is a musical experience. Meant to be explored and thought about, not necessarily "listened" to in the classic sense of listening to music. The combination of old school techno elements with new school presentation is both disturbing and fascinating.

I Love/Hate this album, but you may Love/Love it. Check them out.