Took me awhile to discover this band, but it was completely worth the thrill of discovering them. I'm not the biggest fan of electronic music, but Crystal Castles are unlike any electro band I've ever heard. I was completely blown away from this LP.It's a little over 50 minutes but it breezes by so smoothly and lush that you don't realize it's ended already. It's indie electroclash at it's finest. I'll go so far to say that I loved each track, which is a little rare for me. Some tracks are very abrasive (Alice Practice) and some are very lush and beautiful (Magic Spells). All In All, probably the best electronic album I've heard since Discovery by Daft Punk. A… Expand

Too bad the band accumulated a reputation of being innovative and building an atari-chip based keyboard while all they did is to ripp off existing songs from other people without giving them proper credit.

This is a delightful little tight package of dancey, electro blips and bloops and grinds and whirs that accumulate to a victorious work. The vocals in "Untrust Us" aren't even complete words, just scraps of what were once [presumably] words. However, despite the wordlessness, this song contains the best melody of the record, and is one of the best songs of the year thus far. "Crimewave" is pure fun electro-dance, and "Good Time" is a lighthearted bopping number. "Alice Practice" is filled with Glass' otherworldly screams and cries, while "Courtship Dating" is an even less accessible jumble of senselessness. "Magic Spells" is pretty, but too long, and aside from that, it's fine. This is a great cd with few missteps. Fun to last for years. (And it also makes me want to dust off my SNES...)… Expand

The debut album from Crystal Castles makes an impression right out of the gate and goes on to take the listener for a wild ride across it's sixteen energetic tracks. Flashing back and forth from melodic 8 bit inspired tunes to screeching noise pop it evokes a sound that people either love passionately or despise; very few people fall anywhere between these two extremes.

Love these blip blops! Seriously love this duo so much. Deserves higher rating but like most good music it is left behind underrated just because it's a different sound. That different sound is what makes Crystal Castles so unique and great.

Among the most distinctive acts to appear in the second half of the noughties were Crystal Castles. They are not really famous for music but for their riot-like gigs. Alice Glass, the vocalist, would scream, run, climb, dive, spit, and who knows what else. Even a serious injury could not stop her from playing. She is the face of the duo but as usual in such cases the mastermind stays in the shadow. Ethan Khan, the producer, is responsible for Crystal Castlesâ… Expand

Still my favorite Crystal Castles album after two good follow up releases. Not as dark as the 2nd and 3rd albums, I'd go so far as to call it their pop record. Contains a good mix of their sound and by being more accessible it is the best place to start if checking out the band before getting into their darker sound. It contains the noise of Alice Practice, the synth-pop instrumentals of 1991 and Knights, the creepiness of Courtship Dating (which is further explored on later albums) and one of my favorites the delicate yet disturbing Tell me What to Swallow.… Expand

Wow! This will definitely be one of the best albums of the year. The consistency of awesomeness throughout the album is incredible. It's practically impossible not to want to get up and dance when you hear "Black Panther." And tracks like "Love and Caring," with it's angry shouting and loud noise perfectly complement more relaxed but equally incredible tracks like "Magic Spells"

Only a few new tracks, not surprised. They could have done much much better than this. The problem with Crystal Castle is that they tend to do both brilliant exciting songs and boring unbearable aborted experimentations. I was hoping they would concentrate on new fresh material for the album, including only a few "hits" from what they had made available on myspace previously. Instead, most of the tracks are stuff we've heard before, and sadly the few best tracks are the new ones. I say sadly because it shows that if they really had worked on the album, we would have had a mass killer album full of new unheard tracks, which is not the case here.… Expand

Simply amazing.

A shame this album isn't rated higher, by critics or 'fans'. The sample argument is weak at best, seeing as only a couple tracks used them & even then doesn't deduce from the quality. Daft Punk, for example, used samples on some of their biggest hits, and they're far superior to the original. True, CC did deny some of the samples until proven true, but that doesn't mean the songs were bad. Stop rating an album on the action of the band. The CD in general is a great and unique addition to a genre that already has so much great music in it. Ethan Kath, also known for various remixes, has a very creative mind for music composition, while Alice Glass brings appeal with ear splitting vocals that have no business in electronic music, but increases the quality still yet. Musically, the album is tremendous. Nearly every track is something new and surprisingly addictive. Lyrically, it has a lot of rude truth to it, but truth nonetheless. Tracks like Air War, which is easily the best literary reading(the lyrics are taken from James Joyce's Ulysses) in any song I've ever heard, Alice Practice, XXZXCUZX Me and Black Panther make the album worth the buy. There are only a couple misses with the album.. Magic Spells is a little dragged out, both musically and lyrically(which was taken from the TV show V) and sometimes, while very crucial to the music, the distorted vocals can get a bit unnerving. At the end of the CD however, you come away knowing you've heard something new. Something that'll be in your head for a long time. Something that you'll compare future bands of the same genre to. Most importantly, you'll come back for another listen.… Expand