Crystal Castles II

Crystal Castles is a shining example of what's wrong with today's dance scene. Visually, the two members of this group look like a bunch of meth'd out homeless individuals who have some how found their way into a recording studio and figured out how to record songs. Musically, Crystal Castles II answers the question of what happens when a group tries to rehash their one hit over and over again. While answering those questions with a complete lack of originality and an apparent sense of hygiene, Crystal Castles have somehow managed to pull a somewhat decent album from somewhere whose origin is unknown.

Crystal Castles II is essentially the result of Crystal Castles letting their MIDI controller do the talking and letting the songs loose on the dancefloor. Crystal Castles may have chucked originality out the window, but they've figured out how to perpetually regenerate the bright spots on their debut album and work all that in to the template of Crystal Castles II. This works out so that half the album is an annoying, migraine inducing, thinly veiled tribute to Atari Teenage Riot while the other half of the record is tuneful, even lush, synthpop with the Castles trademark sound of lo-fi beats, lots of oohs, sighs, and broken synths . Truth be told, the half that doesn't have you reaching for Excedrin is actually quite good. And really, it should be because they're recycling policy toward songwriting allows it to be. When Crystal Castles are on, they're on and songs like, "Baptism," are dance floor destroyers with nearly Faithless-like cheesy synth runs, handclappy beats, and screamed, processed, and filtered vocals. It's fantastic stuff that calls for strobe lights, glowing glitter balls, and bass bins the size of Texas.

At it's best Crystal Castles II is the perfect follow up to the Castles rather great debut; it doesn't stray to far from the original and only rams home the point of what these guys are all about. So, despite my criticism, it's a pulsating, heaving, frenzy of dirty beats, synths teetering on destruction, and a Colecovision to control it all. It might seem a tad copy-cat at times but there are bright spots here and there and for the most part I actually do like Crystal Castles II. I rather enjoy the fact that they've taken the best bits of classic rave, run it through a video game system, brought it to the club and plugged it in just in time for a dance frenzy. Crystal Castles have pretty much cornered the MIDI led electro market so it only makes sense that they stick to the formula that got them there. Here's hoping that Crystal Castles III will see these guys cleaned up, bristling with ideas and massive, well thought out tunes; until then crank up the mixer, close your eyes, and pretend you're stuck in a video game created by Crystal Castles even if it's a game you've played before..