walking upstream…
Crystal Castles
Crystal Castles were a Toronto duo — producer Ethan Kath and vocalist Alice Glass — who turned circuit-bent Atari consoles and shredded vocal samples into a genuinely abrasive strain of electronic music, first surfacing with the lo-fi blast of "Alice Practice" in 2006. Across three albums between 2008 and 2012 they became a touchstone for noise-damaged, punk-adjacent dance music before Glass's 2014 departure ended the original lineup.
the sound in question
2006
Alice PracticeCrystal Castles
walk the tributaries ↓
Suicide1970s · Synth-punk / Proto-punk / Electronic
Kath has cited Suicide's stark synth-punk directly as a reference point, and it's audible in the minimal, hypnotic keyboard pulse under Crystal Castles' most stripped-down tracks.
listen: upstream & heresource: NME — "The Roots Of... Crystal Castles" (Ethan Kath on the Sex Pistols, Suicide, and The Stooges as formative influences) ↗
1977
Ghost RiderSuicide
2008
CrimewaveCrystal Castles
listen forThe bare, looping electronic throb of Suicide's 'Ghost Rider' is a clear ancestor of the churning, repetitive synth line on Crystal Castles' 'Crimewave.'
The Stooges1970s · Proto-punk / Garage rock / Hard rock
Kath has described the Stooges as formative childhood listening, and their DNA surfaces as blunt-force aggression — riffs and hooks reduced to their most primal, repetitive form.
listen: upstream & heresource: NME — "The Roots Of... Crystal Castles" (Ethan Kath on the Sex Pistols, Suicide, and The Stooges as formative influences) ↗
1969
I Wanna Be Your DogThe Stooges
2008
VanishedCrystal Castles
listen forThe grinding, one-riff insistence of the Stooges' 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' anticipates the pounding, repetitive synth stomp of Crystal Castles' 'Vanished.'
Sex Pistols1970s · Punk rock
Ethan Kath has pointed to the Sex Pistols as a touchstone for the duo's more confrontational material, and it shows up as pure sneering aggression — vocals pushed past the point of prettiness.
listen: upstream & heresource: NME — "The Roots Of... Crystal Castles" (Ethan Kath on the Sex Pistols, Suicide, and The Stooges as formative influences) ↗
1976
Anarchy in the U.K.Sex Pistols
2008
Untrust UsCrystal Castles
listen forLine up the raw, shouted snarl of the Sex Pistols' 'Anarchy in the U.K.' against the harsh vocal-shred on Crystal Castles' 'Untrust Us' — both treat the voice as another distorted instrument.