On hearing Crystal Castles had broken up last week I got a bit nostalgic and gave their albums a listen through.

I managed to see them live four times. Two of those gigs were easily in my top ten and one of which was one of the worst I’ve been to, I think it sums up the band quite well. They were bottled lighting, trying things that were always different and when it did work it reminds me of the descriptions of the punk movement in the 70’s. Anarchistic youthful rebellion wrapped up in a sound scape that forced you to either be in the gang or out.

I’m most certainly In that gang. When I look back at their catalogue Baptism stands out as to me as the perfect introduction to their work. It has everything that made them great, The video game style synths, the screeching vocals of Alice Glass and the hard compressed repetitive drums all make for a unique and exiting work: