Ethan Kath and Alice Glass have been making music together as Crystal Castles for five years now, and their eponymous debut album hit the indie music scene hard. The band had sampled tracks from other semi-off-the-radar musicians at the time, such as fellow Canadian dance-rock act Death From Above 1979 and electro act Van She, to great effect; the album even landed on NME Magazine's "Top 50 Greatest Albums of the Decade" list.
Following the album's release, the duo toured extensively, and while Crystal Castles surely gained new fans while on the road, they also left already existing fans disappointed due to the band's unstable tour behavior. Dallas fans in particular were among those left feeling unsatisfied; two hours after their sold-out Granada Theater show was set to begin, the band canceled its Dallas stop.
Fortunately for the band, Crystal Castles has, in a way, cleaned its slate. Well, on record at least: The band's new sophomore full-length, Crystal Castles II, is dancier, poppier and undeniably more dynamic than the debut. Glass' voice, while still manipulated for most of the album, is much more accessible this time around. And there's even an air of maturity that wasn't present before. It's a dramatic change from the youthful thrashing that filled up the majority of their last album. Here's hoping the same is true of the band's tour behavior.
Arlington-based electro act Mr. Kitty opens.
