by Miné Salkin | Jun 5, 2009 | live action
@ the Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver BC June 4
Crystal Castles gave a blistering electronic performance that meshed together their digital eccentricities and powerful rhythms, producing an overwhelmingly cathartic, organic flux of a dancing crowd surrendering to their wall of sound.
The duo’s name originates after a sky fortress from the Mattel toy series called She-Ra, who was the twin sister of He-Man. The ferocity of vocalist Alice Glass’ raw, borderline-animal screams came across as borderline mythical during their rendition of “Courtship Dating,” giving her supernatural qualities.
The show kicked off with an energetic, strobe-light saturated debut, as Glass slinked onstage and adopted an intimidating, huge stage presence wearing a tube skirt and black button-up top, her eyes thick with black makeup, her trademark jet black bob throbbing to the basslines. She pushed everyone to the brink of epilepsy as she picked up the strobe light, flashed it in the faces of the entire front row as she screamed overtop the myriad of Nintendo sound loops.
Multi-instrumentalist Ethan Kath showed off his versatile musicmanship by flaunting his seamless transitions from turntable to synth, with a machine-like exactness, entrenched in the shadows of the stage in his hoodie like some kind of electric Darth Vader.
The most unique thing about Crystal Castles is their talent to create heat, chaos — all the elements of a natural disaster — without burning up in it themselves. Things got a little stagnant when Glass stepped off the stage for about 10 minutes while Kath entreated the crowd to some of the instrumental montages such as “Magic Spells.” When Glass returned, she was smoking a cigarette that she then tossed into the crowd before throwing herself to surf in it.
Their experimental, new-wave style of electronic music was particularly good during their performance of “Xxzxcuzx Me,” with the image of Kath pounding demonically on his synth while Glass jumped around the stage like a raging lunatic you didn’t want to stare directly at. Crystal Castles is uniquely aggressive, confrontational, and stylish to the point of viewer anxiety: and certainly isn’t for the faint at heart.
by Miné Salkin | May 31, 2009 | live action
Commodore Ballroom
May 29, 2009
For Exclaim! Magazine
DJ extraordinaire Ryan Raddon, aka Kaskade, knows how to make people dance. The Chicago-born DJ/ producer for Ultra Records vamped up his newest full-length album The Grand, also playing a full and varied set-list touching on his entire six-album discography. In collaboration with Deadmau5, Kaskade showed an unmatched lust for life with the song “Move for Me,” which hit number one on the Billboard Dance Chart and stayed there for two weeks. Silver tinsel confetti streamed from the stage during “Devil On My Shoulder,” topping up the excitement of the well-sweaty dance floor.
Kaskade tears it up like a strobelite obsession
A godlike moment
Raddon’s style is cultivated, seasoned, and smoother than velvet. Most DJs sound great on vinyl but when push comes to shove, the live set can be difficult to deliver with the same finesse. Kaskade spins out some of the fattest, electrifying mixes, but his masterful technique of the turntables makes it seem easy through his laid-back, unaffected, and coy style. While the Commodore was built in the 1920s and is considered a testament to old-school Vancouver history, it was decked out with huge screens playing choppy-styled stills of human outlines doing mundane things, the lights and bass lines throbbing to his deep house anthems. With Kaskade smiling, spinning between the screens, it made the whole universe seem a little less unmerciful and gave it a little more meaning.
by Miné Salkin | Sep 21, 2008 | albums
i don't think these children were ever breastfed
Yolk of the Golden Egg
Dandi Wind
Summer Lovers Unlimited
Dandi Wind’s new album Yolk of the Golden Egg is a sonic journey that challenges every spectrum of electronica. Caught somewhere between a surreal utopic musical vision, and something that could only have been spawned from a ritualistic love orgy between Kate Bush, Bjork and Aphex Twin’s Richard D. James, the record shows no weaknesses. It opens with “The Battle of Verdun,” aptly catching the industrial bustle of its Quebec recording locale, and moves through what seems like a futuristic, cacophonic scene of torture. Raw, edgy and highly textured, the sounds take detours through the complexity of the psyche in a way that could be likened to the spiritual despair and disillusionment of Trent Reznor, but with more emphasis on a clear articulation of ugliness. Never failing to surprise, the song “Johatsu” sounds like a cracked-out late 80’s dance exercise tape, while suggesting the theme that would should all “surrender to the machine.” The album climaxes with the final track entitled “Dance of the Paralytic,” whose bass-rich beat is juxtaposed against an ineffable wet thumping noise that brings amniotic fluid to mind. While overtly corporeal, the album points at an introspective notion in quoting Dostoevsky and the parable of the old dreamer rummaging through his dreams in vain. While its message is not always accessible, Yolk of the Golden Egg is a worthwhile musical venture for those who want something a little more violent in spirit.
by Miné Salkin | May 16, 2008 | albums
Eye Contact
E.S.L
E.S.L’s debut album Eye Contact is a fantastical, muscial-theatrical type hybrid that seems to bridge together the innocence of black and white films with modern day anxieties.
The album opens with a rhythmically-driven track which is backed up by earthy cellos chanting in a catchy gusto melody. Following this sound, the album takes a more soulful, heartfelt turn at “Side by Side” where singer Marta Jacubek-McKeever’s vocal ache resonates alongside the melancholic violin arrangement. However, this album possesses more than just a simple juxtaposition between innocence and heartache, as it ventures into musical dramas and swing melodies. Duffy Driediger of Ladyhawk samples his lyrical talent in “Like a Hurricane,” giving the album a sweet touch of masculinity amongst a plethora of lush strings. Marta indulges her Polish ancestry with “Czarne Oczy,” creating a campy, foreign-like sound that makes you want to dance around a campfire and howl at the moon. Still not random enough? The quartet completes the album with all-girl cover of Beastie Boy’s classic song “Girls.” This fact alone should inspire immediate respect for the Vancouver group.
Retrospectively, Eye Contact seems like the kind of albumv that would have existed if transcendental musicians Bjork and Elsiane combined with the 90’s swing band the Squirrel Nut Zippers would have sounded like, but in a black and white film from the 30’s.
