Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles

Toronto-based Crystal Castles are the kind of band whose persona and music screams ‘WE ARE SO SCENE!’, and the fact that they appeared on the most try-hard of yoof programmes Skins shows what an, erm, imaginative and exciting angle this shouty duo are trying to come from (the Skins thing perhaps isn't their fault though, eh? - Ed). To date, vocalist Alice Glass and Ethan Kath have released a handful of singles but have an enviable amount of downloads on the likes of MySpace. But are they up to the accolade? Certainly on tracks such as Crimewave, Magic Spells and 1991 there is real evidence that when they calm down a bit they can produce some high quality electro that is a delight to hear. Sadly, all too often they go for static, Spectrum ZX computer style melodies and sheer noise-a-rama on much of the rest of the album. Sadly, tracks like Vanished are just too often drowned in the plain screechy nonsense found on the likes of XXzxcuzx and Alice Practice. [Sean McNamara]