How to make Crystal Castles 'Vanished' with DRC, DLYM and K7D
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Today we bring you a huge, fairly recent hit from a duo that’s sadly no longer a duo, but their music lives on in our memories: ‘Crystal Castles.’ If you’re around your 30s and you used to spend your afternoons scrolling through Tumblr, there’s a good chance that you might have listened to ‘Vanished’ on repeat while you were doing so. Diving into an emo-punk but also very lo-fi dark aesthetic, Crystal Castles were one-of-a-kind. Sometimes more towards the 8-bit side of things, but always in the dark, today we present to you the ex-duo created by Ethan Kath and Alice Glass. Crystal Castles, besides their unique sound, were also known for their chaotic and noisy live shows, which emphasized the way they produced music themselves.
The duo were active for more or less 10 years, starting in 2006 but only in 2008 did they launch their eponymous debut album on L.I.E.S record label. Since that first launch, they exploded on the more alternative scene but ended up on big stages like Coachella, Valley Music and Arts Festival, Glastonbury Festival and Leeds Festival. For the next few years, they continued to perform on prestigious stages presenting to their audience an unusual style of music, supported by an even more unusual stage presence.
Despite their huge success, the golden era did not last long. In 2014, Alice Glass announced that she was leaving the band, and three years later would accuse her former bandmate of physical and psychological abuse.
Regardless of the sad end to Crystal Castles, their legacy is undeniable and considered a milestone in lo-fi music production. As a tribute to the band's incredible past, today Lucas teaches you how to create 'Vanished', with only two sounds and 10 minutes of tutorial!
Click here to download the Ableton project file
Come out and play,
Team Imaginando