Crystal Fighters
Crystal Fighters are an English-American electronic music band formed in London in 2007. Their debut album, Star of Love, was released in October 2010 in the UK and was released in the US through Atlantic Records in April 2012. Their second album, Cave Rave, was released in May 2013 and their third, Everything Is My Family was released in October 2016. Their fourth album titled Gaia & Friends was released in March 2019. Their most recent album, LIGHT+, was released in November 2023.
Career
Formation and early years
Crystal Fighters consists of Sebastian Pringle, Gilbert Vierich, Graham Dickson, Laure Stockley and Mimi Borrelli.Pringle, Vierich, and Dickson began making music under various guises before being joined by Laure Stockley and Mimi Borelli. The band added Andrea Marongiu as their drummer in September 2010.
The group took their name Crystal Fighters from an unfinished opera which Stockley's grandfather had penned during his final months of insanity. Stockley came across the manuscript while clearing out the reclusive old man's remote home in the Basque countryside. She became obsessed by the intriguing scrawls within it and shared it with the others. Captivated by its seemingly prophetic contents, the band took on the name and formed in an attempt to expand upon the wild and deranged spirit of Stockley's grandfather's writings. "We started writing music around the book and learning about Basque culture and how the music and history has evolved. From there we decided we wanted to finish the opera and do a live show that would get across some of the amazing, crazy... stuff that was in this book. So we crafted this live show around the book and wrote new music based on its directions and looking at Basque music as a whole." explains Vierich.
Instruments and style
Describing their style as "fast, mesmeric and passionate", the band play both electric and acoustic guitars, which adds much timbre, synths, drums, and incorporate traditional Basque instruments into their music. Many of their songs use a txalaparta, a wooden xylophone-like percussion instrument played by two people standing face-to-face. They also use the danbolin, and the txistu.Crystal Fighters' style is a fusion of genres – fast progressive dance music joined by the melodies and dances of traditional Basque folk, alongside synthesisers, bass-driven wonk-funk, with beats fuelled by early 1980s Spanish punk and experimental electronica from bands such as Aviador Dro, Las Vulpes and Dulce Venganza. Basque music informs much of their songwriting: the riff on "Champion Sound" is lifted from the Basque folk piece "Sagar Dantza" and "In The Summer" draws upon music heard at the Carnival of Lantz in Navarra. Paul Lester of The Guardian has described their style as "what would happen if you went back 100 years, dropped a load of recording equipment into a remote Basque village and left the villagers, steeped in folk music, to their own devices."
A melting pot of cultural, musical and stylistic influences, Crystal Fighters use eclectic reference points to create their unique genre of music, stating "we consider ourselves to be a mixture of folk, electro, punk, techno, dubstep and Spanish pop. 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."
Their unique style has caused NME to comment that "Crystal Fighters have stood out as one of the most interesting prospects by a mile – something genuinely new sounding." while Virgin Music describe the band's output as suitable for "the trans-continental, scene-crossing, cultural explorer".
On their second album Cave Rave, Crystal Fighters expanded the sound palette further, bringing in additional traditional instruments such as the charango and incorporating elements from Hispanic and African dance as well as Mexican electronic music. The Line of Best Fit stated that "they sought the wisdom of African musical icons and explored the sounds that cultures of the world have on offer, soaking in the variety, cherrypicking their favourite parts. There’s a notable Latin feel to the record, there's even some tribal percussion."
Consequence of Sound equally praised their new sound and commented that "the band succeeds wildly in fusing traditional Spanish music with ultra-accessible dance beats."
Kitsuné years
In 2008, music website Palms Out Sounds picked up the track "I Love London" and news of the band's unique sound began to spread. This was followed by two single releases through record label Kitsuné in 2009. " sent "Xtatic Truth" and immediately they came back to us and said they loved it and wanted to put it out and put it on the compilation. Then we suggested they listened to a couple of other songs like "I Love London" and they thought that was great too." "I Love London" went on to be Mixmag's number 91 song of 2008.In 2009, the band recorded and made a video for "Robot Restroom" with Tom Neville and Henry Benett although it was never released.
The group were chosen as Diesel U Music's Spanish representatives, and launched MySpace Music in the UK, and went on to be listed as number 8 in New Band Day's 'Best New Bands 2010' Awards.
2010–2012: ''Star of Love'' and "Love Is All I Got"
Star of Love is the first album by Crystal Fighters. It was released to critical acclaim in the UK on 4 October 2010 via the band's own label Zirkulo. In Europe, the album is licensed to PIAS. In Australia, the album was released via Liberator Music, and the band signed with Atlantic Records in the US who released Star of Love in April 2012.The BBC called it an "assured, sporadically thrilling first shot" while Artrocker said "this lot really are a rare talent that you'd be foolish to ignore." Mojo gave the album 4 out of 5, stating "there's a thrilling carnival atmosphere to Star of Love unique and highly moreish". The Fly called it "a record as high in energy and delightfully messy as their now notorious live performances" while BBC's Zane Lowe said "classed as dance music but altogether more interesting than anything anyone in that field has done in years".
Of the recording process, Pringle stated: "we decided to spend a fair bit of time making sure it was all in place, that we were happy with how everything sounded, primarily making sure the songs somehow linked in with one another even though there's a slew of mad genres going on within the record. We spent a fair bit of time in the studio, having written most of it at home in our warehouse, the three of us together, before taking it to the studio to mix it properly." Written and produced by Crystal Fighters, Star of Love presents the unique focus and the combined talents of the band. "It's absolutely collaborative... we all have our strengths within the band but because it’s all written pretty much in one room in Hackney, it all gets vetted by each other... there's a lot of toing and froing of opinions and a collaborative relationship going on at all points of the process."
The collection of songs explore the themes in singer Stockley's grandfather's writings. Themes include the unfathomable mystery of the universe, the turbulent journey towards being at peace with death, the triumph of love, and the omnipotence of the sun. Each song tells a story, both sonically and aurally, and each story has its cryptic connections with the dark and tormented world of the original opera. " themes are grand, therefore in our songs we try to stick to them. Plus in the same way he is addressing things in this kind of crazed emotional and passionate way, and portraying the larger themes of life, we are continuing to follow on from that."
They were featured on a small documentary 4Play: Crystal Fighters, which aired 25 February 2011 on Channel 4.
They appeared on Channel 4's Abbey Road Debuts, a new music programme from the producers of Live from Abbey Road which began in April 2011.
Singles released from the album include "I Love London", "Xtatic Truth" and "In The Summer", with the single "Plage" being used to soundtrack various commercials and going on to obtain gold sales status in the Netherlands. Their single "At home" was added to BBC's Radio 1's playlist.
For the album's US release on Atlantic Records, the band included new songs "Fiesta" and "Earth Island".
Crystal Fighters released Star of Love Remixes album, worldwide, in September 2012.
Crystal Fighters released "Love Is All I Got", a collaborative single with Feed Me released by Mau5trap and subsequently licensed onto Sony Records in October 2012. "Love Is All I Got" was premiered as Zane Lowe's Hottest Record of the week on BBC Radio 1 in September 2012, as well as being Fearne Cotton's record of the week on BBC Radio 1 from 22 October 2012.
Frontman Sebastian Pringle was interviewed by Gigwise in November 2012. Bast comments on the "Love Is All I Got" release and the support received from BBC Radio 1, "We basically just had a couple of songs left over from the first album that we needed to finish off. That is very much a stand-alone collaboration. When we do it live it will kind of be our own version of it."
2013–2014: ''Cave Rave''
Crystal Fighters' second album is called Cave Rave; the name of the album comes from the ancient European times when people were documenting creative experiences in caves. The album was recorded in Los Angeles and was set for release on 27 May 2013. The band call the Basque hills their "spiritual home and a great influence for the new album"; Basque mythology sparked interest in the band to pick up more exotic instruments from Africa and South America and use them all over the record. The band released a preview clip of "Wave" on 6 February 2013. On 18 February, they announced the release of Cave Rave, a larger tour in Europe and a tour across North America, and posted a full song called "Separator" on YouTube. The album artwork is by artist Paul Laffoley, and was premiered on Jay-Z's Life + Times website on 18 February 2013."You & I" is the first main single on the album. The song was debuted on BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe show as the "Hottest Record in the World". Subsequently, it was added to BBC Radio 1's playlist and 3FM in the Netherlands' playlist as Megahit. The video was directed by Elliot Sellers and was premiered on Vice Noisey. Crystal Fighters performed their single "You & I" and a cover of Rudimental's "Waiting All Night" on BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge in June 2013. The Sunless 97 remix was premiered on The Fader, and the Gigamesh remix was premiered on Vibe. The album "Cave Rave" was included on XFM's 50 Best Albums of 2013 list.
"LA Calling" and "Love Natural" followed as singles, with "Love Natural" being featured on the FIFA 14 soundtrack. "LA Calling" was added to BBC Radio 1's playlist.
The album was produced by Justin Meldal-Johnson, and mixed by Manny Marroquin in LA. When asked about their sound, the band replied it is "a meeting of old and new, human and robotic".