EXCLUSIVE CRYSTAL CASTLES REMIX Given that Crystal Castles seems to be partaking in a never-ending tour around the world, one might think it hard to bang out new material in the meantime. Not so according to Andy of Lies Records who just shot us over this exclusive remix by Crystal Castles’ Ethan Kath, the first of its kind from the CC spinster in over 15 months. The song is a reworking of the White Lies‘ single “Death” and it captures all that song’s intensity with a heaping helping of the old Crystal Castles ultraviolence to boot. Word to the wise, White Lies is a UK band that opened for Crystal Castles when they headlined the NME tour. Listen to the remix below.
In other CC news, the band’s next single will be a Crimewave 12” featuring Sinden and the L.A. Riots as well. Lastly, the band will be taking two weeks off of their never-ending tour in September to record demos for the followup to their self-titled debut. This next album will include current live favorite “Yes NO” which we have a video of here.
All of this comes straight from Andy of Lies Records himself, so we know it’s all legit. Serious Crystal Castles developments here, what does everyone think? ******************************************************************** TV ON THE RADIO REVEAL “GOLDEN AGE” It may not be a Sea Change for TV on the Radio, but “Golden Age”, the first single from the band’s upcoming third LP Dear Science, exemplifies what the Brooklyn natives do best – weird, experimental jam sessions that challenge and intrigue with reckless abandon. Here the quintet channel funk and blues with more than a nod to some classic soul. You can hear it over at their official site (takes a moment to load, just wait a second impatient blogsters!). We absolutely cannot wait for this album to drop! ******************************************************************** FUN FUN FUN FEST LINEUP ANNOUNCED Our friends over at the Austinist have been so kind today as to release this year’s lineup for Austin’s own Fun Fun Fun Fest, the little central Texas festival that could. Seriously, F3 always manages to garner huge acts (like last year’s Cat Power and the Murder City Devils, and the year before with the Circle Jerks and Spoon) and this year is no different. Hip hop fans will jam to the likes of Atmosphere and Clipse, hardcore fans will mosh to the sounds of Flipper and the Adolescents, and indie-rock hipsters will nod coolly to the songs of the National and Annuals. No word on a specific time schedule but you can bet just like the last two years we’ll be at this fest.
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!
Given that Crystal Castles seems to be partaking in a never-ending tour around the world, one might think it hard to bang out new material in the meantime. Not so according to Andy of Lies Records who just shot us over this exclusive remix by Crystal Castles’ Ethan Kath, the first of its kind from the CC spinster in over 15 months. The song is a reworking of the White Lies‘ single “Death” and it captures all that song’s intensity with a heaping helping of the old Crystal Castles ultraviolence to boot. Word to the wise, White Lies is a UK band that opened for Crystal Castles when they headlined the NME tour. Listen to the remix below.
In other CC news, the band’s next single will be a Crimewave 12” featuring Sinden and the L.A. Riots as well. Lastly, the band will be taking two weeks off of their never-ending tour in September to record demos for the followup to their self-titled debut. This next album will include current live favorite “Yes NO” which we have a video of here.
It may not be a Sea Change for TV on the Radio, but “Golden Age”, the first single from the band’s upcoming third LP Dear Science, exemplifies what the Brooklyn natives do best – weird, experimental jam sessions that challenge and intrigue with reckless abandon. Here the quintet channel funk and blues with more than a nod to some classic soul. You can hear it over at their official site (takes a moment to load, just wait a second impatient blogsters!). We absolutely cannot wait for this album to drop!
Our friends over at the Austinist have been so kind today as to release this year’s lineup for Austin’s own Fun Fun Fun Fest, the little central Texas festival that could. Seriously, F3 always manages to garner huge acts (like last year’s Cat Power and the Murder City Devils, and the year before with the Circle Jerks and Spoon) and this year is no different. Hip hop fans will jam to the likes of Atmosphere and Clipse, hardcore fans will mosh to the sounds of Flipper and the Adolescents, and indie-rock hipsters will nod coolly to the songs of the National and Annuals. No word on a specific time schedule but you can bet just like the last two years we’ll be at this fest.
m