Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles (Last Gang Records, 2008)

Remember when you were young and liked to dance? When clubs were crowded with glow-stick waving, jaw-grinding youth; and the music was uplifting to the point of euphoria? Well, those days are gone, my friends. Enter Crystal Castles.
Crystal Castles are the greasers of today's electronica scene: all leather jackets and torn jeans, more likely to be carrying switch-blades than glow-sticks. Ethan Kath is responsible for the duo's music, while Alice Glass shouts/pouts/sings her vocals over a sound that is a melange of gritty electronica and digital beeps, bips and squeals. Glass, at times, reminds one of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O, albeit an angrier, feistier Karen O. The track, Love and Caring, feels like a short hug, followed by a swift slap to the face.
With tracks like Untrust Us, 1991 and Vanished, Crystal Castles' music is dancefloor ready, though their mission appears to be making music for the dark side of the dance floor. A point perhaps best exemplified through their collaboration with Los Angeles' own avant noise-makers HEALTH, on the punchy track Crimewave. Very cool.

Key Tracks: Vanished, Crimewave, Love and Caring, 1991

Check Out: www.myspace.com/crystalcastles

National Record Store Day - April 19th

April 19th is National Record Store Day here in the U.S., and I don't see any reason why it can't be International Record Store Day across the globe. Turn off your computer, put your Ipod in a drawer, get in your car and drive to your local record store.
Record stores are home to all types of good folk, miscreants, hipsters, vinyl junkies, confused teenagers, old peope in tie-dyed shirts, and, of course, your faithful scribe, who has been at least two of the above at one point or another in his short lifetime.

Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala (Secretly Canadian, 2007)

I was at school in 1995, when I noticed that someone had scrawled "I hate myself and want to die" across the desk I happened to be seated at. In the spirit of sharing, I don't mind telling you that I had my fair share of angst throughout my teen years (that's the whole point of being a teenager, isn't it?), however, I was taken aback by the sight of those seven words. I was genuinely concerned for whomever had written them and hoped they were simply venting in the odd way that teenagers tend to do, rather than harboring any genuine ideas of self-harm. I'm not sure how much later it was that I discovered that it was Kurt Cobain, Mr. Angst himself, who had made the phrase "I hate myself and want to die" (in)famous.
Life can be hard, hearts can be broken, and people can be cruel. I argue, however, that it would have been far more constructive if Kurt had have said "I hate myself and need a hug". Which, brings me to Jens Lekman's wonderful Night Falls Over Kortedala: an album that is the musical equivalent of the hug you need when life has used you as its own personal doormat.
Jens is a pop-classicist of the highest order and each of the album's 12 songs is catchier than the next. He is also a highly talented lyricist, which is best exemplified on A Postcard To Nina, in which he is asked to pose as his lesbian friend's boyfriend at a family gathering.
Incorporating doo-wop, sock-hop and pop orchestration that would do Hal David and Burt Bacharch proud, Night Falls Over Kortedala is an album that will pick you up, dust you off, and send you back out on your way.

Key Tracks: And I Remeber Every Kiss; The Opposite Of Hallelujah; A Postcard To Nina; Your Arms Around Me

Check Out: http://www.secretlycanadian.com/onesheet.php?cat=SC160