They might divide opinion, but a Saturday night with Crystal Castles is always time well spent...
Like the musical version of UKIP, Crystal Castles are have been shrouded in controversy from pretty much the first moment the world clapped eyes on them. From alleged altercations involving front woman Alice Glass, fans heads and microphones at Latitude Festival to being infamously removed from the stage at Glastonbury a short way into their set, it’s perhaps unsurprising that tonight’s show is prefixed by the announcement on their Facebook page that Anglo-Japanese noise merchants Bo Ningen – originally planned as the evenings support – will no longer feature on the bill. Replaced instead by a DJ set from Crystal Castles’ Ethan Coen’s personal friends, Crim3s. The fallout appeared to be surfacing online before doors even opened.
Tonight the Brixton Academy seems like a cross between a gig and a political rally. A huge image of the eerie artwork from Crystal Castles’ recent recording (III) adorns the back of the stage, draped from the ceiling in front of the crowd that look like a collection of extras from a downtown eighties sci-fi flick. If I owned a pair of neon platform high tops, then tonight would definitely have been the night to wear them.
After being treated to an extended set of Saturday night Wu-Tang, the pair enter the stage, flanked by drummer Christopher Cartrand. As the opening bars to ‘Plague’ echo around the dimly lit room Glass appears to be lighting candles around a wreath laid on the stage to the side of the drum kit. Once happy, she turns to face the crowd and belches out her first shrouded lyrics of the evening. Arched over her microphone, stood amidst red lasers she looks every bit the alt-pin up, but the tension doesn’t last. Rarely one to be restrained, it isn’t long before Glass is using everything on stage to clamber and thrash upon.
The trio begin alternating between tracks from (III) and 2010's (II) and the abrasive difference between music from the two records is obvious. The Salem inflicted juke beats from their most recent offering haven’t transferred on to the stage and instead the coarse rave gets the crowd dancing from front to back. It isn’t a quiet night for security who have to stop the band between tracks to haul unfortunate fans who have stumbled in the writhing mass in front of the stage and it has to be commended, singing laid on top of a crowd who barely seem to be able to cope with the riot that has ensued really is quite a talent, even through epic levels of echo and delay.
All of a sudden, Glass takes to a table of synths and effects units the band air a new track that resembles something from the Hacienda’s acid house days. However it’s an acid house we haven’t heard before. Bass crunches, synths distort into the distance and it sounds like the angels and demons of the illegal raves have come to talk to us through way of a musical Ouija board, and they want to tell us something. Something loud and something dark. Someone sinned in a field somewhere back in rave scene England. And now we’re paying for it.
What tonight’s show really highlights though is that Crystal Castles have matured. Contrary to whay a lot of musical know-it-alls will tell you, they do have three quality records. They’ve worked with some of the noise scenes most experimental music makers and no matter how much grief he gets from the blogosphere, Coen does try to push the boundaries of where he’s going with his music.
As Cartrand batters his drum kit like a deranged animal and glimpses of Glass flicker between the throbbing white noise that emanates from both the venues speakers and the merciless strobe lights, it’s difficult to think of a more exhilarating live act that can rock even the world’s largest stages as much as Crystal Castles.
Crystal Castles' new album (III) is out now. Check out CrystalCastles.com for more details.
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