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Rating: My first encounter with music dates back to, and this might seem very silly, the time when I first got into video games. It was 1994 if I'm not mistaken, and my parents gave me a decidedly outdated console: a Sega Master System II. An 8-bit console, in an era when even the 16-bit ones were about to run out of steam. No matter. From that moment, my love for video games was born, as well as for the accompanying music composed by true geniuses of the music score. Think of the legendary Super Mario Bros theme, the (beautiful!) techno tunes of Sonic The Hedgehog, the magnificent orchestral compositions of all the Final Fantasy episodes curated by that genius Nobuo Uematsu.
Now that 15 years have passed, my passion for video games has greatly mellowed while my love for music has monstrously expanded. You'll understand the pang of emotion I felt when I started this record. "Untrust Us" is my electro madeleine: it starts with a tweet-tweet that seems directly produced by one of those old consoles that entertained me so much as a child. But once the nostalgic effect fades, I already realize that this track is much more; a little vocoder-like voice weaves in, and suddenly I'm swept away by the incredibly danceable rhythm in the background. And the further it goes, the better it gets.
This first album by Crystal Castles consists of 16 tracks of electronic music with a very high danceability factor, all composed with a blend of retro sounds and modern technologies. Not to mention the countless background sound effects: electronic pops that seem taken from Space Invaders, incomprehensible little voices that seem about to say "Bonus life", ultrasonic farts, etc.
There are also tracks that are less dancefloor-oriented but still make your head and hips pulse, like "Good Time", or decidedly pop tunes like the magnificent "Vanished". In the twelfth track, "Love and Caring", an effected and angry female voice appears, seemingly coming from a broken intercom, as well as from any Atari Teenage Riot disc.
And then comes the last track, and as if to say "we're not just sitting here basking in this blend of minimal sounds", the album concludes with a gentle melody on acoustic guitar and a very pleasant echo effect voice. At which point, delighted, you want to press the start button, pardon, play, once again.
In short, an excellent electronic music product from a band that can be considered an heir to Daft Punk, just as much as Justice or Digitalism, and a must-have purchase if you appreciate these "modernariato" sounds as much as I do.
GAME OVER. INSERT COIN.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Alice Practice (02:41)
hi
scars, in you, son
you shrug it off
except that you don't
better, it surely
it don't fall out
said,
i live low
i lisp, i die
sugar shooting
bled with deadbeats
only crawl
so your sad eyes
quite christian
blood
drop it, it's dead
we drop it
and took the body home
sad eyes
scars, i'm chopping dagger
see you'll never walk
only stagger.
sad eyes
quite christian
blood
04 Magic Spells (06:06)
Don't worry, dear Pamela, I'll do my scientific best to command your fleet.
05 XXZXCUZX Me (01:53)
We can insist on havoc
Bring me tools, bolts are intact
You said leave me for dead
How can your eyes program my head
We get so fed up with it
Nuts and bolts for granted
Made outta iron, I can do it
As your bodies fall apart
Robotic love
I'm programmed to rust
AIDS robot
Is clad in iron bolts
Robot grunts they whine and chatter
They wanna play with my placenta
Are we hailed deserving
When our silver parts are burning
I know we're just diseased appliances
Where will you live
What will you die for
Sex is killing me
Baby, I know
Wrong time, wrong place, wrong fucking race
Just because we don't feel flesh
Doesn't mean we don't fear death
06 Air War (04:12)
Bronze by gold heard the hoofrons,
steelyringing imperthnthn thnthnthn.
Chips, picking chips off rocky thumbnail, chips.
Horrid! And gold flushed more.
A husky fifenote blew.
Blew. Blue bloom is on the
Gold pinnacled hair.
A jumping rose on satiny breasts of satin,
rose of Castille.
Trilling, trilling: I dolores.
Peep! Who's in the... peepofgold?
Tink cried to bronze in pity.
And a call, pure, long and throbbing. Longindying call.
Decoy. Soft word. But look! The bright stars fade. O rose! Notes
chirruping answer. Castille. The morn is breaking.
Jingle jingle jaunted jingling.
Coin rang. Clock clacked.
Avowal. Sonnez. I could. Rebound of garter. Not leave thee.
Smack. La cloche! Thigh smack. Avowal. Warm. Sweetheart,
goodbye!
When love absorbs. War! War! The tympanum.
A sail! A veil awave upon the waves.
When first he saw. Alice!
Full tup. Full throb.
Warbling. Ah, lure! Alluring.
Martha! Come!
Clapclop. Clipclap. Clappyclap.
Goodgod henev erheard inall.
A moonlight nightcall: far: far.
I feel so sad. P. S. So lonely blooming.
Listen!
The spiked and winding cold seahorn. Have you the? Each and
for other plash and silent roar.
Pearls: when she. Liszt's rhapsodies. Hissss.
07 Courtship Dating (03:30)
How do I feel for thee?
you smell of great disease
cause we're young
fell in from the stars
when your skin is dead
on a pile of your head
now then, i look so smart
stove burn on my hands
show them to my friends
make you participate
eyes roll back around
when skulls hit the ground
visions to procreate
heaven should interfere
im coming from your tears
when they wander into their cage
so their arms and thighs
and their holy covered eyes
just yet, will never age
3x:
stove burn on my hands
show them to my friends
make you participate
eyes roll back around
when skulls hit the ground
visions to procreate
stove burn on my hands
show them to my friends
make you participate
make you participate
or
how good it feels for me
you smell great disease
cause we're young
fell in from the stars
when your skin is dead
and a pile of your heads
now then, i look so far
super, over here
tell them, kill my friends
make your body pierce the pain
eyes roll back around
when skulls hit the ground
visions of the hosiery
im suppose to interfere
im coming from your fears
when they wander into their cage
so their arms and thighs
and their holy covered eyes
just yet, will never age
super, over here
tell them, kill my friends
make your body pierce the pain
eyes roll back around
when skulls hit the ground
visions of the hosiery
super, over here
tell them, kill my friends
make your body pierce the pain
eyes roll back around
when skulls hit the ground
visions of the hosiery
super, over here
tell them, kill my friends
make your body pierce the pain
eyes roll back around
when skulls hit the ground
visions of the hosiery
super, over here
tell them, kill my friends
make your body pierce the pain
eyes roll back around
when skulls hit the ground
visions of the hosiery
make your body pierce the pain
15 Black Panther (02:57)
Close my eyes all that I see
Is a group of spawn chewing at me
Try to breathe, say it can't be true
There's no way I came out of you
Different love is what we're talking about
It's different blood on the back of my hands
Too old to be my daughter
Too young to be my friend
It's supposed to be a real bond
Somebody's guts hanging at the door
I'll give you the blood in me
There's no way you came out of me
Different love is what we're talking about
It's different blood on the back of my hands
Too old to be my daughter
Too young to be my friend
You're covered in the lotion
That was inside of me
I'll throw you in the ocean
I'll pass you to the sea
You're covered in the lotion
That was inside of me
I'll throw you in the ocean
I'll pass you to the sea
Different love is what we're talking about it's
Different love is what we're talking about it's
Different love is what we're talking about it's
Different love is what we're talking about it's
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