Matthew Raghunauth Final Portfolio

Snippet from Crystal Castles Dialog:

Discussing electronic duo Crystal Castles, their rise to fame, and past and previous albums.

Barry: Yeah I know! Just look at their album cover! I looked into their album art when they released it before the actual album. The photo is of “a veiled woman cradling her son after he was exposed to tear gas. It was shot in Yemen during the Arab spring and won World Press Photo of the Year 2001” (Nicolson 53). Oh yeah, and “the cover shot was taken by Samuel Aranda, a Spanish photojournalist who has covered wars in Iraq, Gaza and Pakistan and freelances for the New York Times” (Nicolson 53), I actually almost met the guy at a conference. As bat-shit crazy Alice may be, she has a heart, a big one. When you muddle through her synthesized words, she ‘sings’ of breaking through what you believe is right in the world. A co-worker of mine actually interviewed her and they talked about the new album. He said that she said “ ‘ a lot of bad things have happened to people close to me since [the last album]. It feels like the world is a dystopia where victims don’t get justice and corruption prevails. I’m one step away from being a vigilante and bringing justice to people I love” (Nicolson 53). If that isn’t hard core I don’t know what is.

Matthew: I didn’t even know all of that and I’ve practically stalked all their moves since hearing them.  I mean I knew that part about Alice running away at like fourteen, I remember the discomfort in hearing that. I was only about fifteen at the time that I first heard them. I imagined my life in Alice’s shoes. Rather than being home with my parents going to school, she was literally living under bridges with homeless people, crudely singing with a bunch of random other girls. I want to know what was so awful about her home that drove her to run away . . . at fifteen. Like damn, fifteen? I mean I was super angry all the time but I could never seriously think of running away. She must be so broken, and angsty on the inside.

Barry: She is. She really is sad and angry and full of hate and empathy all the time. Like right before we got pulled out of the crowd, when they were performing ‘Crimewave’, Alice ‘repeat[ed] intones ‘we…love…you’” (Nicolson 53) to honor a “fan and blogger who recently died of cancer, as a result, [the show] took on a mournful and subdued quality . . . you can tell his passing has deeply affected Glass and it’s altered the whole vibe of this show from a ritual of hate to the celebration of life”  (Nicolson 53)” The general audience probably doesn’t realize Alice has this side. They just see this fist throwing notions to his black and swollen eye, high pitch screaming, abrasive, menace of a girl. I can’t speak much for Ethan. Other than the fact that he hovers behind her mixing sweet synthetic beats like a phantom . . . I don’t think he says much in general. I mean, I’m sure he’s sad on the inside too?

Louis: But this new album is so unexpected. It “adds a bigger sound and glossy production values to the mix” (Pattison 9). The last two albums were more raging, while this one is more celestial and soulful. A lot of the newer songs sound like [ sincere yearning, although it’s tough to say for sure, with the shape of her words obscured amid the blurry synths . . . [and full of] twinkling icicle melodies” (Pattison 9). Not all of their stuff has changed though some songs mirror their old albums, like “a bold move in a game of chicken in which losing is not being killed in a fiery automobile accident, but being mixed into an Ibiza terrace set my Judge Jules” (Pattison 9).  “They’ve re remade themselves. Not entirely. But in toning down the shock and awe, they’ve revealed the beating heart at the centre of their work, the message, still, is that the world is a cruel and fucked-up place. But being doomed seldom sounded so beautiful” (Pattison 9).

Matthew: I’ve tried explaining this to my friends. Not everyone I know listens to the same music as me, but when they ask me what music I like and I respond ‘electronic’ they make this . . . face squinting his eyes and pushing his head back a little. I know that face, and I know why they think it. They have this conceived idea of electronic music that disregards the soul and emotion that is present in any other genre! Country music? They just mournfully sing these drab tunes saying ‘baby’ and ‘girl’ and ‘love’ and ‘pickup truck’ a lot. R&B music? Well they practically sing about the specific motions of sex. Pop? Yeah pop music just glorifies sex and stupid things. But in electronic music, like especially Crystal Castles, they evoke specific emotions of torment and pain and love THOUGH the beats and tones and synths.