The behavior of Alice Glass is legendary – from her stage-diving antics at the past month’s Reading Festival that resulted in her needing to be rescued by security, to the cancellation of this year’s Crystal Castles performance in Dallas (at least we got to see ‘em here in Austin!). And while we probably won’t be hearing new material from the group anytime soon, their live performances, for all their voracious volatility, are a sight and sound to behold. Which makes all the more sense that Cannibal Cheerleader, your source for Crystal Castles news since 2007, provide you the faithful with a CC bootleg live performance mp3, which you can check out below. And, not to leave you hanging, check out this new remix of “Air War” that’s been bouncing around the Internet called the “Joe and Will Ask? Remix”. No idea if it’s official or not but it’s nonetheless interesting stuff, check it all out below.
THE ACTION DESIGN – BLOOD BATH Regular readers of Cannibal Cheerleader will be familiar with one of our favorite acts the Action Design who played our inaugural Blood Bath SXSW day party a week ago. The band rocketed through a seven song set of classics, even throwing in a Misfits cover for good measure! Seriously, this group bleeds cool in classic style and got the whole of the Peacock dancing in fine form. This group has come a long way since Tsunami Bomb and because of that we feel they’ll all the better for it, having improved their sound immeasurably to the tune of a dance-rock powerhouse. A funny story must be included about the group whose guitarist Jaycen woke up last Wednesday morning with a terrible stomach pain and had to be rushed to the hospital. We were called in the midst of the performance of opener Vermillion Lies with the news that the band’s attendance might have to be an acoustic set, if anything at all. That said, once Jaycen was freed from his IV tethers, the group raced up to Austin from San Antonio at breakneck speed and despite some delays managed to play a scorching last set of the day. Definitely worth the wait, and let it never be said that this band isn’t a troupe of troopers. Check out some videos and more pictures below!
SXSW LIVE REVIEW – THE HOLD STEADY/LUCERO Our Thursday at SXSW involved a wonderful stint at Red 7 where we were witness to an astounding double-bill of Lucero and the Hold Steady. Seems that this was the first time these two great and very similar acts were on the same bill and the set did not dissappoint, with classic tunes played by both bands. Still, it was the Hold Steady that took the cake, rampaging through songs old and new with a heavy concentration of rockers from Stay Positive including personal favorite “Slapped Actress” and barn-burning opener “Constructive Summer”. The crowd responded in kind to the band’s inclusive nature, featuring crowd-surfing, a surprising amount of moshing, and plenty of sing-along choruses. Definitely a sight to behold and worthy of the trip downtown during the busiest weekend in Austin.
NEW CRYSTAL CASTLES TRACK Long time fan-favorite and live-show standard “Baptism” from Crystal Castles has managed to weasel its way onto music sites over the past 24 hours. No one’s quite sure if this track is a result of any new recordings or if the wordless track (live the track is accompanied by Alice Glass’ trademark shouts) is off of a mysterious release. What we do know is the noodling synths and breakbeat riffs make this track a monster jam and we’re happy to finally have a real version swimming through our shuffler. Check it out below:
(turns out this mp3 was a fan-made cover – thanks Andy from Lies Records for clearing that up!)
ALICE GLASS NAMED NME’S COOLEST PERSON Alice Glass of our favorite band Crystal Castles has been named the world’s #1 coolest person according to the NME Cool List. Other listmakers include Alex Turner, M.I.A., and Jay-Z amongst many others. Still, it’s the Castles frontwoman who makes the grade and turned out the #1 spot. Congrats to the CC gang!
Crystal Castles – Alice Practice (Futurecop Remix) ******************************************************************** BE YOUR OWN PET’S JEMINA PEARL RESURFACESWhat’s this you say? Jemina Pearl of the now defunct Be Your Own Pet covering the Ramones’ “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker” with Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore on guitar? I’ve gotta hear this! Well unfortunately the song in question turned up on the most recent episode of the CW drama Gossip Girl and the Time Warner corporation has taken down all traces of the song and video off of YouTube. Still, until the song surfaces again we here at Cannibal Cheerleader are comforted by the fact that Pearl is still alive and kicking somewhere, still belting out reckless punk anthems like there’s no tomorrow. Anyone got a copy of this? Send it our way!
There appears to be growing controversy around the suspicion that Cannibal Cheerleader favorite Crystal Castles have not properly credited some artists in the “chiptune” community after sampling their songs for such songs as “Insecticon”, “Mother Knows Best”, and “Love and Caring”. Here are some links to articles that detail the specifics here, here, and here.
Here is a quick video trying to make the case that “Insecticon” (a tune which can be found at the Lies Records Myspace) mimics a song by electronic artist Lo-bat.
Also the Covox song “Sunday” does bear some resemblance to the music in “Love and Caring” (you can here Covox’s version of the tune here).
These articles all seem to claim that Crystal Castles has broken a fundamental rule of the Creative Commons agreement, that is, the original artist needs to be credited.
Here’s the Cannibal Cheerleader take on the situation:
First off, these blogs seem to claim some sort of unity to the “chiptune” community, a musical collective that comprises of artists who use videogame consoles to create sounds. However, such is the basis of electronic music – the sampling of basic blips and whistles from instruments (usually created by others) in order to form your own hooks and rhythms. The chiptune community clearly thrives on swapping these sounds, both from the original video game console designers and with each other. So why the hubbub about Crystal Castles sharing a few of these beats?
One word: money. As soon as a “chiptune” band became successful enough, the free-love that was swapping beats suddenly took a backseat to profiteering. Having lost sight of the original intent of music-making (enjoyment!) the chiptune community is quick to back stab one of their own as soon as they make it big. Most of the tracks in question haven’t even received a proper commercial release but these articles seem biased against an artist that is in reality just following the spirit of swapping beats. Much like the Trevor Brown controversy there seems to be quite a few people vying for attention over compromise when it comes to dealing with the up and coming Crystal Castles.
Lastly, the articles commit a logical fallacy by somehow suggesting that Ethan Kath and Alice Glass are stealing these beats with malice intent. These are not evil people, just music-makers looking to make the best tunes possible. It’s not that they don’t have the money to pay for a few hooks that fall outside of ‘fair use’ (heck, I saw a guy downtown in Austin this past Thursday with a Crystal Castles shirt and not ten minutes later another man bicycling down the street listening to “Courtship Dating”), it’s that they believe in the spirit of sampling. Just my two-cents.
Now that THAT’S out of the way, here are a few Castles treats for CC readers. First off we have a video from what was one of our favorite shows of the year, the Crystal Castles SXSW ‘08 performance.
Well, it looks like our album will be released August/Septemberish! We would like to tour in celebration and to share with y’all! If you, or someone you know, books a club or a college, or plays in a band with a local draw, and could help to set up a show, please reply to this post!!
Can’t wait to hear from you guys and come to your cities!!
m
p.s. I’ll post some new songs soon!”
A new album and a new tour! If you’re a club promoter here in Austin definitely book these guys! Their blend of Rilo Kiley-esque country folk with a more lo-fi edge (think older RK) fits perfect here in the ATX. Contact them via their Myspace! Here’s hoping they’ll swing through town and we’ll be posting any tracks they upload.
******************************************************************** NEW HOLD STEADY SINGLE
What does the Hold Steady have to do with Austin? The lyric “Subpoenaed in Texas, Sequestered in Memphis” from their newest single should be reason enough to post this one. Enjoy!
m
