They had me at Alice Practice, and I got absolutely hooked. They totally invented their own thing. When I listen to CC, I think of hard angular uncomfortable dangerous frightening things. I think of darkness, the kind of darkness that exists only in people's hearts. The kind of darkness that is so purely dark, it's almost like dark matter. CC makes me think of deep depression, of insomnia, of hysteria, of vile acts, of violence. Songs like Alice Practice, Love and Caring, Doe Deer disturb your mind, your ears, your little expectations. They drive a hole through your brain. And then songs like Black Panther, Baptism, even Vietnam make it all right again, like putting soothing creams on your aching back. This music punishes and gives you candy.
Their video for Courtship Dating couldn't be any simpler than it is, but I cannot get enough of it. Alice chewing on her hoodie's string. Ethan the sloth and the unknown drummer, all in some dark room with what seems like a strobe but could just be a light thats turning off/on.
And how about the newest video for Baptism?? It's not just a great fucking video, but Alice looks more alive than ever in it.
Here are some of my favorite photos of Alice and the band:
Why am I obsessed with Alice? I don't know... that's a hard one. She is kind of like the 21st century cool role model. She is the new generation defining human. She is more ballsy than any of us, she is a true demon. She's got hard features on her face and you can never go wrong with panda eyes. Ethan the sloth (he totally looks like a sloth) is apparently a cool dude (yeah I totally know someone who hung out with them... I'm that awesome) but he still looks like a rapist. Maybe that's the look he's going for? Crystal Castles are the future of music. Everything else is dying, especially all those folk-y guitar-y stuff that's just getting on my nerves. Everyone needs to move to electronic music, nobody needs real instruments any more. Oh em. Such a radical thought.
Seems like your illness is motivating some radical thoughts!
ReplyDeleteAlso - to me Ethan looks like he's from Georgia or something, like the USSR stereotype of a Georgian...
Nobody wants and/or needs real things any more (music, literature, art ... dunno about food ... or health ...). We all have our happy/unhappy (doesn't matter) virtuality, so the crystal castle might be just a metaphor for the environment we would like to live or leave?
ReplyDeleteO.