If you’re a mean-jean electro-clashy sorta band and you made big waves with your first eponymously-named “major” album in 2008, then you travel and tour and make more waves with your crazy antics, why not release a new album two years later with the same (self-titled) name as the first? If you’re Crystal Castles you do that and don’t give a damn because you know it’s better than the last, and the haters can suck it. Gotta respect that. So the new album is out, and the haters are sucking it, and meanwhile “Crystal Castles” is earning itself the adoration of the music press once again. For bladers, we’re sure it’s on rotation and set to find its way into all manner of online blade edits. Sparkly, dramatic synths? Present. Distorted bass riffs? Of course. Alice Glass screeching and preening in a mesmerizing deluge of sonic engagement? You know it. Mix that with a driving beat that manages to mend itself with your body’s tempo and that’s something that’s hard to ignore. So don’t. Go see them on tour. All dates below the break.
06-11 Dores, Scotland – Rockness Festival
06-23 Katowice, Poland – Szyb Wilsona
06-24 Warsaw, Poland – Proxima
06-27 Pilton, England – Glastonbury Festival
07-08 Liege, Belgium – Les Ardentes Festival
07-10 Trencin, Slovakia – Pohoda Festival
07-11 Novi Sad, Serbia – Exit Festival
07-17 Suffolk, England – Latitude Festival
07-31 Emmaboda, Sweden – Emmaboda Festival
08-01 London, England – Underage Festival
08-06 Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
08-07 Los Angeles, CA – Hard Summer Music Festival
08-09 Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre
08-11 Austin, TX – Stubbs Waller Creek
08-13 Chicago, IL – Congress Theater
08-14 Toronto, Ontario – Koolhaus
08-15 Montreal, Quebec – Metropolis
08-17 Boston, MA – House of Blues
08-18 Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory
08-20 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
08-21 New York, NY – Terminal 5
08-22 Baltimore, MD – Sonar
08-27 Leeds, England – Leeds Festival
08-28 Reading, England – Reading Festival
08-29 Paris, France – Rock En Seine Festival
09-02 Milan, Italy – Magnolia Parade Festival
09-04 Stradbally, Ireland – Electric Picnic
09-07 Nashville, TN – Cannery Ballroom
09-08 Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
09-09 Orlando, FL – Club Firestone
09-11 Miami, FL – Grand Central
09-13 Houston, TX – House of Blues
09-14 Dallas, TX – House of Blues
10-08 Belfast, Ireland – Mandela Hall
10-09 Dublin, Ireland – Academy
10-11 Wolverhampton, England – Wulfrun Hall
10-12 Bournemouth, England – 02 Academy
10-15 London, England – Roundhouse
10-17 Bristol, England – Academy
10-18 Liverpool, England – 02 Academy
10-19 Glasgow, Scotland – ABC
10-21 Nottingham, England – Rock City
10-22 Manchester, England – Academy
10-23 Leeds, England – Metropolitan University
10-24 Norwich, England – UEA
Photo © 2010 Marc Pannozzo
