It is not really anything like ambient or IDM, true, but this is why their development from to their debut to their sequel is so meaningful, because it shows their maturation as artists and the increase in the quality of their music. Of course they had to cement their status among their peers by including a Sigur Ros sample in the 'Inni mГ©r syngur vitleysingur,' and by featuring Robert Smith of The Cure in the apt standout 'Not in Love.' It then works tenfold with their transition away from their self-branding of video game culture into more current ambient and IDM. There are no overwhelming climaxes or climactic moments that are meant to take the focal point of Crystal Castles II, yet Ethan Kath and Alice Glass' sentimental attitude gives their music a consistent feeling of elation as if it is a prerogative skill they both possess. One of the larger quarrels I've held against 'Vietnam' in particular is how ***ing annoying it is to overuse a string of pitch-altering tones, but after the first 90 seconds it brilliantly blossoms into a state of bell ridden tranquility. This could be to act as a reverse 'eye of the storm' between 'Celestica' and 'Baptism,' to further accentuate the latter's f*cking brilliant chorus, something that should have warranted even further success to the group. Of course, then there is the lone case of вЂњDoe Deer' where they essentially blast beat your ears with a string of indecipherable and yet somehow innate screaming over a repeating two second melody. All the while they maintain a distorted calm throughout the tracks. This is why Crystal Castles is the modern throwback to everything I missed out on for not being born a decade earlier, however avoiding the vapid 'sex and drugs' attunement in favor of alluding to melancholy love to abuse, fear, and gender confusion. Remember how Lords of Acid had sex and getting high as the pinnacle themes of every one of their drug-induced rave beats? Yeah me neither, because I was f*cking two years old at the time and there wasn't an internet to help underground electronic bands find their listeners. We're given a DIY production on their debut that appeared to sample and sound straight out of The Little Mermaid on Game Boy, and then two years later they drop a peerless lo-fi of a witch house electronic record that boasted an abrasive front and a melancholy backdrop a sequel that was sentimental and condoned to appear worthy of being played on a rave floor. To even consider that Crystal Castles is one of the most conspicuous groups to experiment with the so-called '8-bit Nintendo sound,' it would be stupid to think that they don't make as many enemies as they do listeners.

When I first considered that Crystal Castles goaded their own success from the start with an awfully-named singer Alice Glass belting out moan-induced lyrics above a melancholy synth and a typical dance beat and had still sounded this good, I couldn't help but repeat 'Baptism' and 'Suffocation' to a fault.

I admit, IвЂ™m completely stricken by own respect for them. Then they begin to listen to it by themself, where it grows on them like a psychological capture-bonding monster, and I win my cycle of musical influence on them. I jam it hard and I annoy the crap out of my lover until they have been overwhelmingly subjected to it. I donвЂ™t usually go for this kind of noxious bliss, but when I do, I obsess over it. Review Summary: You're still the one who makes me feel much taller than you are

Crystal castles game boy