Paint the Town Orange

March 19th, 2008 - The House Cafe - DeKalb, IL - Crystal Castles w/ Health, Heart Shaped Hate, and Eyes
Review and Images by Chris Szostek

We trekked out to DeKalb on the 19th to hit "The House", a decent sized coffee house in the land of NIU that has shows. Tonight it was a hell of a line up, Heart Shaped Hate/ Health/ & Crystal Castles. Heart Shaped Hate, if you don't know them, are Natali Wiseman on vocals and synthesizers, and Jenna Horwath on drums. Natali's voice reminds me of Kathleen Hanna with more screaming. I'd never heard of this band before and was immediately hooked. You can check them out here.

Next up was Health. Health, holy hell let me tell you again. THIER NAME IS HEALTH (find them here). This is a noise band out of L.A. that sounds like the Liars (the good stuff, threw us in a trench era) mixed with some Sonic Youth + a little Radiohead. I'm really big on percussion so
this band hit me in the good spot. The show opened all nice and quiet, a little vocalization with some guitar action. It was a bit mellow, I was getting impressed and took some pics. Then, the singer disappears for a few seconds, and there is an explosion of sound accosting me. Oh, and the rest of the band decided to rise above the crowd so the rest of us could see them. What followed was an energetic showcase of insanity and talent on stage. Listen to crimewave (mp3), check the drum at 00:01:40.

Headlining was Crystal Castles (a.k.a multi-instrumentalist Ethan Kath and vocalist Alice Glass.)

The lights are turned off and nothing happens for awhile, out of nowhere we get some nice danceable beats and a flash of light. The source of light is the pixie sized Alice with her strobe light jumping about the stage and causing havoc.

Crystal Castles is Atari + Blondie + daft punk + the good parts of music in the 80's (good doesn't mean chart topping). Crystal Castles is the rainbow bright doll you found in the street on the way back to your car after a show. Crystal Castles is why the original white casiotone is a collectors item. You really can't explain them, they just exist. To see Crystal Castles is to see an epileptic dance troupe directed by herzog. Castles is conceptual, creative, and innovative.
Listen to Magic Spells at the 3:00 mark and you might get it. Crystal Castles put on an amazing show that I am happy to have been given the chance to witness.

Check them out here. I recommend "courtship dating" and listen to the last bit of "airwar davidwolfremix" Listen to: Magic Spells (mp3)

Next up on Paint the Town Orange: A review the March 22nd Longwave show at the Mercury Lounge (to be posted tomorrow, 3/25)