Coronation at Crystal Castle?

Crystal Castles debut eponymous album is unleashed March 18, which will be something of a music none event for their fans. Many of the tracks have been making the blog rounds quit heavily, some for over 2 years now. Only one, the closer "Tell Me What To Swallow", hints at a something different from the band's punky chiptune with it's guitar strums and hazy vocals. The real anticipation comes with wondering how the press will react. The recent q+a with you dad's favorite music mag Rolling Stone leaves little doubt that even the most mainstream outlets are aware.

Will they trip over themselves to crown the duo as the latest electro force, reply with something of a "meh, I guess it's OK", or join the backlash full force? Fellow blog-buzzers Justice went over well with most of the Internet, but failed to garner much excitement in the establishment review pages of The Village Voice, Rolling Stone, or NME. CC doesn't have the benifits of anything approaching the undeniable pop carnival of "D.A.N.C.E." or the the torch of a storied genre like French House being passed to it's hands. If anything I predict a few to give strong reviews to prove how "with it" they are, a lot of "I suppose it's decent for a blog band", and maybe some contrarian pans. Pitchfork will probably give it a good review, the real question is whether it'll earn "best new music" status.

I'll also be anxious to see the reaction on the CMJ charts. I'd be surprised if it cracked the top 20 on the main chart, though it has a good shot of making waves on the RPM chart. College Radio sadly is a bit shy when it comes to both debuts and electro.

I'm not suggesting this is the undeniable album of the year (though it may make it into my top 10), but it'll be interesting to see how the big time record reviewers will respond to the band who's presenting an exciting new sound that's been ratified by rss.