"We are Crystal Fighters. We make fast dance music with Basque instruments, synthesizers and our voices."And that is exactly how you would describe the sound of the English/Spanish electro folktronic band.The band is known for their energetic and exuberant live performances, where they tell a story through each song's music and acts on the stage. Crystal Fighters has only one staged performance this summer, or even this year, judging by their website so far. Luckily for us, the show is in Spain at the Arenal Sound festival in August. Can you think of a better way to enjoy their music than during a magical sunset on the beach of Burriana? Where the last sun beams reflects in the wild ocean and the sounds enchant your ears?
The idea of Crystal Fighters was born when member Laure Stockley found her brain dead grandfather's unfinished opera after returning to her Basque country home. The opera, in which there was a section called Crystal Fighters, was about the nature of existence and meaning of love and was written during his last months of sanity.
Stockley became remotely obssesed with the old man's writings. Captivated by the words, the band members Sebastian Pringle, Gilbert Vierich, Graham Dickson, Mimi Borelli and Laure Stockley decided to finish the opera. They built the music around the book and started learning more about basque culture and how the music and the history have evolved. They crafted a live show as well, which is nowdays a great part of their image.
To form the sound they started to experiment with a lot of different elements, including electric and acoustic guitars, synths and drums mixed with traditional basque instruments such as the txalaparta, danbolin and txistu. The result became passionate music with mysterious rhythms collected from experimental electro and folk, captured their debut album Star of Love, which was released in the late 2010.
But it was in 2008 when a famous music portal picked up the single I Love London that the band's unique sound first spread over Europe and eventually over all continents. The track has over the years been played diligently in the great nightclubs of Europe. It then went on to be Mixmag's song of the year 2008 and the band was in top 5 most blogged artist in the world. But the top hadn't been reached just yet - Crystal Fighters were chosen as Diesel U Music's Spanish representatives, and the band was chosen to launch Myspace Music in the UK – one of most prestigious new media events in 2009.
Crystal Castles are a union of genres – Basque dance music that comes together with booming basslines, latin influences and experiemental electronica. They have been tagged as globo-wonk-funk and baile funk but consider themselves as a mixture of folk, electro, punk, techno, dubstep and Spanish pop. As they describe it in an interview on Skiddle.com in 2009: "We are kind of like the sound that would be created if The Velvet Underground and The Gipsy Kings were to travel back in time to the Pyrenees, 1980, and make a record with Skream, Madlib and Luciano on production."
The lyrics run with the music in a vision of abstract dilemmas and meanings. For example, as Vierich expresses himself, they are less about the "I love you" but more about the meaning of the claim.
Crystal Fighters have been to all the top festivals including Glastonbury, Bestival, V Festival, Leeds Festival, Creamfields, Lovebox, Secret Garden Party and Isle of Wight Festival.
We suggest you don't miss them on Arenal Sound in August!
Visit Crystal Fighters website for more information.
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