But the bored, sniggering, deliberately opaque persona they have presented to the world elsewhere is just tedious. “It’s a misconception about us that we hate interviews or publicity,” Ethan Kath insisted in last week’s NME, and, to be fair, CC have opened up to us – as much as they ever do to anyone. However, the generally charmless way Crystal Castles have since conducted themselves in interviews has tested the patience of even their biggest fans. Like-minded creative people flock together it’s natural. That ‘Alice Practice’ was said to be an accidental outtake from a soundcheck, rather than a proper song, and that it was then released by Merok (after Klaxon Jamie Reynolds recommended it to his flatmate, Merok owner Milo Cordell) only compounded the sense that Crystal Castles were some kind of trendy scenester in-joke. Instead, while claiming not be influenced by anyone (yeah, right), the Canadian duo obviously harked back, pre-new rave, to electroclash, and the mixing of noisy techno, ’80s synth-pop and confrontational performance art once favoured by the likes of Miss Kittin & The Hacker and Chicks On Speed. A scabrous three-minute headfuck of colliding synths, banshee vocals and wirey distortion, it served notice that Crystal Castles had no interest in joining The Ting Tings and Santogold in a pop-orientated electro putsch. Their debut seven-inch, ‘Alice Practice’, certainly drew a line in the scene.
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“We want people to feel nauseous.” It was a mission statement which Crystal Castles have fulfilled. “I like to piss people off,” Alice Glass told NME back in February.