I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Okay, I'm a touch thunderstruck and not sure how to start this, so we'll go with: I enjoy a wide variety of music. Shoegazer, grunge, black metal, gangsta rap, screamo, whatever. I try to hear as wide a variety of tuneage as possible to keep my horizons clear for incoming genius. Oftentimes I'll hear music and maybe I like the instrumentation but the lyrics blow. Or maybe they've got an awesome vocalist but there's not enough of a beat to hold on to. Therefore, I get picky. I can hang with about any type of music but a secret part of me longs to get hold of a sound that's truly original, a style that's fresher than a package of altoids.
Along comes Crystal Castles. I vaguely remember the name crossing my eyes a few years back but it's tough to track every new band you hear of. This particular sonic assault squad is a duo consisting of multi-instrumentalist Ethan Kath and Alice Glass, vocalist. They're from Toronto and hit the scene around 2004 or so. This self-titled album I'm reviewing came out in spring of 2008. They took their name from the palace of She-Ra, an 80's cartoon (that they claim to never have seen). Apparently, they began as an experiment and Kath posted some songs with Glass trying out vocals. He posted them to MySpace. By the time he checked back to see what his buddies thought, the band had offers from three record labels.
As to Crystal Castle's sound - I have no idea how you'd classify it. Pixellated sonic terrorism? Asylum dance music? Post-apocalyptic digipunk? Your guess is as good as mine, but the bottom line is they end up using a ton of crazy digital effects on both the music itself and Glass' voice, as well. They've said they use a keyboard hacked to include an Atari 5200 sound chip. Some people say they stole (borrowed without giving credit) from the chiptunes community. In case you've not heard of chiptunes, it's essentially a genre that utilized computer-generated (especially video game hardware) sounds that you might have heard on an old 8-bit Nintendo game. The bottom line ends up being that Crystal Castles truly creates a world of music that's deliciously submersive.
Right away when I qued up the album, the song "Untrust Us" gave me crazy Karnov flashbacks and the weird vocals fit in there amazingly well. The "Alice Practice" song that started it all showcases Glass' voice ripping and tearing through space and straight into your brain! Trying to describe this stuff left me thinking more of imagery: it's like a towering anime robot powered purely by angst or maybe the sensation of being trapped behind a haze of prescriptions and wireless devices trying to find your own emotions. You seriously don't need drugs to go with this music because the music itself ends up being the drug. That's about the highest praise I can give any band today.
Crystal Castles sounds like today, right this very moment. In a crazy world getting flashbacks of the Cold War emanating from from former Soviet territory we all seem so interconnected via digital means while still essentially locked up in cells. For me, what Crystal Castles offers is a bizarre way of looking at things through truly artistic methods. It's almost a "chopped and screwed" style of punk. The lyrics paint vivid pictures but they don't tell you what to think. SongMeanings has a big collection of Crystal Castle lyrics and I absolutely encourage you to take a look. Maybe Crystal Castles won't be for everyone but for those of us who've been waiting for a musical revolution: here it is!
Savor it.
Along comes Crystal Castles. I vaguely remember the name crossing my eyes a few years back but it's tough to track every new band you hear of. This particular sonic assault squad is a duo consisting of multi-instrumentalist Ethan Kath and Alice Glass, vocalist. They're from Toronto and hit the scene around 2004 or so. This self-titled album I'm reviewing came out in spring of 2008. They took their name from the palace of She-Ra, an 80's cartoon (that they claim to never have seen). Apparently, they began as an experiment and Kath posted some songs with Glass trying out vocals. He posted them to MySpace. By the time he checked back to see what his buddies thought, the band had offers from three record labels.
As to Crystal Castle's sound - I have no idea how you'd classify it. Pixellated sonic terrorism? Asylum dance music? Post-apocalyptic digipunk? Your guess is as good as mine, but the bottom line is they end up using a ton of crazy digital effects on both the music itself and Glass' voice, as well. They've said they use a keyboard hacked to include an Atari 5200 sound chip. Some people say they stole (borrowed without giving credit) from the chiptunes community. In case you've not heard of chiptunes, it's essentially a genre that utilized computer-generated (especially video game hardware) sounds that you might have heard on an old 8-bit Nintendo game. The bottom line ends up being that Crystal Castles truly creates a world of music that's deliciously submersive.
Right away when I qued up the album, the song "Untrust Us" gave me crazy Karnov flashbacks and the weird vocals fit in there amazingly well. The "Alice Practice" song that started it all showcases Glass' voice ripping and tearing through space and straight into your brain! Trying to describe this stuff left me thinking more of imagery: it's like a towering anime robot powered purely by angst or maybe the sensation of being trapped behind a haze of prescriptions and wireless devices trying to find your own emotions. You seriously don't need drugs to go with this music because the music itself ends up being the drug. That's about the highest praise I can give any band today.
Crystal Castles sounds like today, right this very moment. In a crazy world getting flashbacks of the Cold War emanating from from former Soviet territory we all seem so interconnected via digital means while still essentially locked up in cells. For me, what Crystal Castles offers is a bizarre way of looking at things through truly artistic methods. It's almost a "chopped and screwed" style of punk. The lyrics paint vivid pictures but they don't tell you what to think. SongMeanings has a big collection of Crystal Castle lyrics and I absolutely encourage you to take a look. Maybe Crystal Castles won't be for everyone but for those of us who've been waiting for a musical revolution: here it is!
Savor it.
Lyrics submitted by mike
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
I'm in love with Crystal Castles, and one of my favorite songs by them is Untrust Us. So glad this got posted maybe more people will finally take a little while to check out this amazig album!
Crystal Castles are the epitimy of crap. Seriously, they are just a myspace hipster hype band. Theres little skill in their "music" atall, brings shame to all good electronic music.
I've liked Crystal Castles for a while now, and I never realized how popular they were on myspace until a while ago. Every song is just so catchy.