crystal castles are intense on tour, new record in june, april 20, 2010.

crystal castles are the dynamic duo of ethan kath & alice glass. the band was formed by ethan in 2003/04, originally starting out as a solo project of his own compositions. when ethan saw alice performing in her noise-punk band, fetus fatale, he thought she was just what he needed to make his music complete. in 2005, ethan gave alice a bunch of tracks and she recorded vocals over a few of them. during one of the microphone tests, she was secretly recorded which later became their first single, alice practice. in 2008, the first crystal castles album was released which received mostly favorable reviews. it was included in the "top 50 greatest albums of the decade" by nme magazine, coming in at number 39. i say mostly favorable, because crystal castles are described by many as the type of band either you love or you hate. 

their long-awaited second release has been completed and has a scheduled release date of june 7th in europe and june 8th in the north america. the self-titled album was produced by ethan in various places including a church, a self-built cabin, and a garage behind an abandoned convenience store. here is the track list:

fainting spells
celestica
doe deer
baptism
year of silence
empathy
suffocation
violent dreams
vietnam
birds
pap smear
not in love
intimate
i am made of chalk

if you are like me and are anxiously awaiting the arrival but are looking for an immediate fix, on april 17th they released a 12" vinyl titled "doe doer" exclusively for record store day. only 500 copies were pressed worldwide, so it may be hard to get your hands on. It features the new track "doe deer" as well as three tracks they recorded back in 2004. the tracks are: "mother knows best," "insectica" and "seed."

a day earlier, the ep "celestica" was released which has five tracks including "celestica," "insectica," "seed," "mother knows best" and "celestica (single mix)". at the moment, it is only available online in the itunes uk store

crystal castles kicked off their spring tour on april 3 in toronto. i went to their show at the fillmore/irving plaza in nyc on april 14th and was able to hear some of their new songs firsthand. i thought the new tracks were great and can't wait to hear the album versions. they played an enthusiastic hour- long set to a sold-out audience. i was up on the balcony for the first few tracks but decided to head downstairs into the crowd to experience crystal castles the way they ought to be—up close and personal. i do wish alice's vocals were turned up a bit as ethan's crazy beats were drowning her out. other than that, I thought the show was fantastic. i don't regret getting only four hours of sleep before i had to head to work the next morning. i am going to try to catch them again when they come back to the east coast later this summer.

i took a shot of their set-list that was sitting on the soundboard from the previous night's performance at the echoplex in los angeles. they played pretty much the same set just in a slightly different order ( the photo is attached )

by gary fletcher