Crystal Castles

Let's remember some of the crazy fucked up times we had with this rad duo.. Canadian singer Alice Glass has announced her departure from Toronto-based electronic outfit Crystal Castles (which consists of her and producer Ethan Kath), which means the band is over. It’s not all shit though, looks like Alice is embarking on a solo career. Glass wrote on Twitter: “I am leaving Crystal Castles. My art and my self-expression in any form has always been an attempt towards sincerity, honesty, and empathy for others. For a multitude of reasons both professional and personal I no longer feel that this is possible within [Crystal Castles].” They formed in 2004 which makes it a good 10-year run for this hardcore 8-bit duo, who were among a special group of early noughties acts (Does It Offend You, Yeah?, HEALTH, Hadouken, etc) to bring the nihilistic, manic tendencies of punk music to club music. Live, they always slayed; Alice’s shouting and restless energy, the seizure-inducing lights. We though

"This is the end of the band"

Diving into crowd-pleaser, Alice Practice, a blonde Glass windmilled her arms while wrapping her mouth around the microphone and screeching her lungs out, scraping each crowd member’s cochlear.

Where did it all go wrong?

There are nods to ‘90s trance and ‘00s minimal, while techno elements from both decades make sure that everything is kept honest.

Crystal Castles create a fitting soundtrack for such pyrotechnics on the moon – either that, or robot wars.

It’s far from perfectly formed but there’s enough to get lost in.

Unfortunately no standout Not In Love hits here. But it’s still definitely worth a listen.

(III) will be out on Friday 9 November.