Local Artist - Crystal Castles

Apologies for the hiatus, but hey, every tv series I'm hooked on went on break as well.

Quickly Googleing this duo's moniker leads to a plethora of pages devoted to an 8-bit video game that shared their name. Given Crystal Castles' (yes, that's the name, not She-Ra...) rudimentary approach to electro, it seems a good match. But not so! The name derives from their love of short-lived cartoons, more than anything else. History recap: She-Ra was a cartoon character that took refuge in the majestic Crystal Castle, the peak of Etheria, and was essentially the female version of the almighty He-Man, "the most powerful man in the universe" (Mattel's words, not mine).

Now that that's cleared up, CC are a Toronto duo most notable for their remix of the Klaxons' 'Atlantis to Interzone'. Feeding their synth into an 8-bit Atari chip, results in the spastic blips that occupy their EP, Alice Practice. For those that only know them for the Klaxons link, the EP is a lot more abrasive and thrashy than that mix would lead you to believe. They're doing a few shows this weekend in Toronto before departing for the UK to support the Klaxons tour. From what I've been told, they're good live, though I've not yet had the pleasure of attending a show. Hopefully we'll get an LP soon, until then... enjoy these mp3s.

MP3: Crystal Castles - Airwar
MP3: Crystal Castles - Alice Practice
MP3: GoodBooks - Leni (Crystal Castles vs. GoodBooks)