Written in the Basque hills, a region integral to Crystal Fighters’ sound and the inspiration for their first album ‘Star Of Love’, and immersed in their creative cradle, the band wrote ‘Cave Rave’ in its entirety over a two month spell.
They then decamped to Los Angeles to record it with Grammy nominated producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Beck/Air/M83) and here the melodies found in the Basque country were sharpened into hooks and songs exploded into towering anthems.
It may be Crystal Fighters on a much bigger scale but musical influences have widened as well as grown. The beating hearts of Hispanic and African dance and Mexican electronic music 3bal now sit alongside folk and psychedelia that defined ‘Star Of Love’. There is still an adrenal rush – the grandstanding of American road rock, the sweat of disco, the fervent initiative of punk and the house of Iberian twilights are all here – but ‘Cave Rave’ feels a considerably more thoughtful, contemplative and cohesive album than its predecessor.
Opening track ‘Wave’ sets the tone for the record: a sweeping, grandoise anthem singing of unity and togetherness; ‘LA Calling’ is a rhythmic, sing-a-long homage to the city the album was recorded in; and lead single ‘You & I’ is an upbeat, loved-up acoustic ballad. The full album track listing is as follows:
‘Cave Rave’
1. Wave
2. LA Calling
3. You & I
4. Separator
5. No Man
6. Bridge Of Bones
7. Love Natural
8. Are We One
9. These Nights
10. Everywhere
Stream, via HypeMachine, here: http://hypem.com/premiere/Crystal+Fighters
Lyrically, the album draws deeper into universal, history-permeating themes of love, death, insanity and hope; using Basque culture as a stepping stone backward to the spiritual and primal. It explores philosophy, anthropology, time travel, spirituality and religion, themes reflected in the stunning album artwork by the visionary artist Paul Laffoley. Here you have a band hell-bent on locating their own musical heaven, a place beyond petty genre parameters, where all that remains, finally, is song, rhythm and sentiment, bursting in vivid colour from the dark of the silent Basque night.
CRYSTAL FIGHTERS WORLD TOUR 2013
May
17 – Paradiso – Amsterdam, Netherlands
21 – La Machine – Paris, France
22 – AB – Brussels, Belgium
23 – Koko – London, UK
24 – Lido – Berlin, Germany
25 – Palladium – Warsaw, Poland
June
1 – Casbah – San Diego, CA
4 – El Rey – Los Angeles, CA
5 – Great American Music Hall – San Francisco, CA
7 – Holocene – Portland, OR
8 – Electric Owl – Vancouver, BC
9 – The Crocodile – Seattle, WA
11 – Urban Lounge – Salt Lake City, UT
12 – Larimer Lounge – Denver, CO
14 – Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL
15 – The Hoxton – Toronto, ON
17 – SAT – Montreal, QC
18 – The Sinclair – Cambridge, MA
19 – Webster Hall – New York, NY
September
6 – Kuxta Kultur Festival – San Sebastian, Spain
9 – But – Madrid, Spain
11 – LA 3 – Valencia, Spain
12 – Pepe Jeans Singular Music Festival at Apolo Sal – Barcelona, Spain
14 – Capitol – Santiago, Spain
October
28 – Ubu – Rennes, France
29 – Bataclan – Paris, France
30 – Ninkasi Kao – Lyon, France
November
1 – Heineken Music Hall – Amsterdam, Netherlands
3 – Ubel und Gefarlich – Hamburg, Germany
4 – Live Music Hall – Koln, Germany
5 – Sankt Peter – Frankfurt, Germany
6 – Komplex Klub – Zurich, Switzerland
7 – Conrad Sohm – Dornbirn, Austria
8 – Theaterfabrik – Munich, Germany
9 – Astra – Berlin, Germany
11 – Stodola – Warsaw, Poland
12 – Studio – Krakow, Poland
13 – A38 – Budapest, Hungary
14 – Meet Factory – Prague, Czech Republic
15 – Arena – Vienna, Austria
16 – Rockhouse – Salzburg, Austria
18 – Les Docks – Lausanne, Switzerland
19 – Laterie – Strasbourg, France
21 – Concorde 2 – Brighton, UK
22 – Brixton Academy – London, UK
23 – Academy 2 – Manchester, UK
25 – Stylus @ Leeds Uni – Leeds, UK
26 – Arches – Glasgow, UK
27 – Newcastle Uni – Newcastle, UK
28 – East Village Arts Club – Liverpool, UK
29 – Trinity – Bristol, UK
30 – Institute – Birmingham, UK