Crystal Castles | Vega (The Granada)
Where to begin with Crystal Castles? It's increasingly impossible and even pointless to measure things in terms of album sales at this point, so we'll have to come up with something else. Their Myspace page has over 11 Million hits; you hear their music piped out of every hip clothing botique; you hear their music piped out of every lame-ass, dark wood, dude-bro bar or should I say "pub." Their music is everywhere cool and everywhere lame, so it's just plain everywhere, let's face it. This of course, makes them the stars of this decade's 8-bit revolution, a genre they must resent on some level, specifically after they stopped 8-bit sampling rather early in their career and created the sounds on their own. They symbiotically rose to prominence largely in part to the remix job they did on HEALTH's "Crimewave," which, as much as it helped that group, will probably always annoy them when fans ask why they "didn't play the Crystal Castles version?" Because it's a remix. That's why.

Crystal Castles can however "play a remix" and I'd be surprised if they didn't tonight. They also feature live drums and a wildly interactive live show, which may or may not be partly inspired by the group's metal and noise-punk origins. The excellent Vega opens the show, and I would encourage you to check out the track, "Other End" on his page, for a more subdued Eno-like side to the group if you thought all they did was party.

UPDATE: Vega, aka Alan Palomo, posted via Twitter that he was somehow booted off the Crystal Castles bill tonight, apparently because CC's manager "hates him." Vega is planning to play at Disqo Disco tonight at Fallout Lounge around midnight instead. We'll let you know when we hear more about this.
UPDATE #2: Just got off the phone with Alan Palomo, and he tells us that Crystal Castles asked that they be taken off the bill, but that they officially don't know why this happened and are "awaiting further information." Anyway, they WILL be going ahead with the midnight set at Fallout Lounge for those who would like to see them.

UPDATE #3: Just spoke with some people at the Granada, and apparently Crystal Castles found a new supporting act, Rebel Leaders, Crystal Castles is scheduled to take the stage at 10.





UPDATE #4: So as most people already know, Crystal Castles canceled the show last night, and we were told that the Granada, at least at this point, has plans to refund everyone's money, although their official plans won't be announced until a press release comes out some time in the next few minutes, so wait and see on that. Representatives from the Granada couldn't tell us why the band canceled last night, but we have heard claims that the band did not feel that the Granada's sound system was adequate for their purposes, although we did not speak to the band or any of their representatives regarding those claims. Furthermore, representatives from the Granada seem to feel that the group never had any intention of playing the show at any point during the day, hence the problems with Vega. etc., although they say that they have no official confirmation as to Crystal Castles' reasons for the cancelation. We'll give you more details when we receive the forthcoming press release, but in the meantime, here is an explanation from the band's perspective, and representatives from the Granada defended their sound system quite emphatically to us, stating that no one has ever complained about their sound in the past.


Disqo Disco (Fallout Lounge)
It had been some time since I had been to this weekly event, and I was impressed by how packed it was last week. They certainly have come a long way in the past year.

90's Night With Yeah Def (Hailey's)