Alice Glass isn't happy

Alice Glass has been being upset on Twitter at the idea of Ethan Kath continuing Crystal Castles without her. NME storified the tweets:

Kath, for his part, describes Glass as "my former vocalist":

"I wish my former vocalist the best of luck in her future endeavors. I think it can be empowering for her to be in charge of her own project. It should be rewarding for her considering she didn't appear on Crystal Castles' best known songs, (she's not on 'Untrust Us'. 'Not In Love', 'Vanished', 'Crimewave', 'Vietnam', 'Magic Spells', 'Knights', 'Air War', 'Leni', 'Lovers Who Uncover', 'Violent Youth', 'Reckless', 'Year of Silence', 'Intimate', '1991', 'Good Time', 'Violent Dreams' etc.). People often gave her credit for my lyrics and that was fine, I didn't care."

Now, even though true, that's a pretty shitty statement. It reeks of someone in an atrophying domestic relationship listing petty items to try and prove something that doesn't matter: "when it rained that time and the bathroom leaked, I was the one who rigged the saucepans to catch the drips. And it was always me who had to ring the pizza place. And if it wasn't for me the cats would never have been wormed ever, would they?"

It seems like even Kath realised what he sounded like, because he later revised this statement:

"I wish my former vocalist the best of luck in her future endeavors. I think it can be empowering for her to be in charge of her own project. It should be rewarding for her."

You can still hear the muttering "last summer I was the only one who even seemed bothered about flea collars" underneath, but it's a lot less douchey.

Crystal Castles split. Maybe.

So it's all over for Crystal Castles, then:

I am leaving Crystal Castles.

— ALICE GLASS (@ALICEGLASS) October 8, 2014

My art and my self-expression in any form has always been an attempt towards sincerity, honesty, and empathy for others.

— ALICE GLASS (@ALICEGLASS) October 8, 2014

For a multitude of reasons both professional and personal I no longer feel that this is possible within CC.

— ALICE GLASS (@ALICEGLASS) October 8, 2014

Although this is the end of the band, I hope my fans will embrace me as a solo artist in the same way they have embraced Crystal Castles.

— ALICE GLASS (@ALICEGLASS) October 8, 2014

The band last played together on October 5th, 2013, so it's almost as if Glass has invoked some sort of 'if you're on the run for a year and a day you're a free person' clause.

It's too bad they've split; what's worse is that Crystal Castles might struggle on without Alice:

Speaking to NME the duo's manager commented: "There will be twists and turns ahead for Crystal Castles, I wouldn't bury the dead just yet!"

Glass' comments don't sound like she's biddable for a return; the management's line seems to be that she's replaceable. Which probably tells you as much as you need to know about the split.

Embed and breakfast man: Capital Children's Choir

This is excellent. The Capital Children's Choir covering Crystal Castles with only mouths to work with.

Fan hit by A. Glass at Latitude

Violence is never the answer. But if someone in the audience had been groping Alice Glass during last night's Crystal Castles set at Latitude, her reaction is understandable:

Glass responded by appearing to aim repeated downward blows at the culprit, telling the crowd: "You touch my tits, I kick you in the fucking head." She then spat in their direction, and yelled "Bitch".

Violence is never the answer. But if it stops arseholes from ruining everyone's fun by treating moshpits as a way to cop a feel, it might be a wrong answer you can support. It's not just the band who have to put up with that sort of shit. But nobody should have to just take it.

Crystal Castles weekend: Trash Hologram

Some extra weekend-out-of-time goodness: Crystal Castles doing Trash Hologram:



[Part of Crystal Castles "weekend"]

Crystal Castles weekend: Xxzxcuzx Me

There is a reason, Ms Glass, why there's only one 'x' in the bag at the start of a game of Scrabble... oh, never mind...



[Part of Crystal Castles weekend]

Crystal Castles weekend: Exoskeleton

The Crystal Castles weekend was a bit short-changing, so here's a bonus weekend day, in mid-week. First up, Exoskeleton on-stage at the Melkweg:



[Part of Crystal Castles weekend]

Crystal Castles weekend: Crimewave

On the condemned Switch programming from the BBC, Crystal Castles' Crimewave:



[Buy: Crimewave ep]

[Part of Crystal Castles weekend]

Embed and breakfast man: Crystal Castles

Mascara-smeared electropop (not eyeliner-slathered electropop, an important distinction) from Ethan Kath and Alice Glass. There's a new album out tomorrow, so what better time than now to get a bit giddy with Crystal Castles excitement?

Not, of course, to be confused with Cloppa Castle:



Or The Crystal Maze:



Nope. It's this:



Buy

Crystal Castles
Download Crystal Castles
Crystal Castles II
Download Crystal Castles II

Crystal Castles online
The Official Website
MySpace
Last FM
Spotify

More across Sunday
Crimewave - Live on Switch
Exoskeleton - live at the Melkweg
XXZXCUZX Me
Trash Hologram

NME are still doing their cool list

For reasons that can only be self-destructive, the NME is pushing ahead with its Cool List. Seven years they've been doing this now, and still not learning from their mistakes - which Stereogum helpfully point out: the NME is useless as separating 'cool' from 'notorious':

Before talking about NME's seventh annual cool list, it's kind of cool to look quickly at the 2007 Top 10 to see who's still ... cool. Lethal Bizzle? Barely. Amy Winehouse? Lucky to be alive. Ditto Keith Richards. Beth Ditto? No. Last year one, two, and three went, respectively, to Gallows' Frank Carter, Klaxons' Jamie Reynolds and CSS's Lovefoxx. This year they're all far from the top 10 and the coolest three folks didn't make the list at all 12 months ago.

Apparently, Liam Gallagher is cool again - number nine - while Noel isn't. Has nobody at the NME seen Liam's promo pictures, with his hair and attempts at soulful eyes making him look like Playmobil have licensed Snoopy? Alice Glass from Crystal Castles is at number one - because this is the one time a year when NME pretends it likes Gurls - and Jay-Z is at number two. He wasn't in the list last year; we're awaiting delivery of a full explanation as to why Jay-Z in the last twelve months was cool whereas Jay-Z between October 2006 and October 2007 wasn't even fiftieth coolest.

The only thing the cool list proves, year-in, year-out, is that the NME approaches music like a confused thirty-nine year old, trying to draw up some sort of list that will try and give it some sort of purchase on making sense of it all. Johnny Marr is slightly less cool than Dave from TV On The Radio, who in turn is slightly less cool than Lil Wayne. At least the Sunday Times Rich List shows the made-up numbers it uses in drawing up its equally pointless annual chart.

Castles crumble

Crystal Castles aren't coming to Britain this September: they've got 'recording commitments'. Tell a lie, they are coming, but they're only going to play Camden. Musn't let down Camden, must we?