Death

“Yes, this fear’s gotta hold on me”
If you know me fairly well then you will know of my extreme dislike for the Toronto electronic duo, Crystal Castles. Reasons for this don’t need to be disclaimed on this post. BUT I will give them this: they are apparently really good remixers. They produced a really, really good remix of “Death” by White Lies.

I discovered this remix some time last year so it isn’t a new one but I’ve re-discovered it and I’m re-realizing how good it is. Especially now, after I saw the White Lies live with Friendly Fires. At the concert, I heard the original version of “Death” for the first time ever and I actually like the Crystal Castles remix way more. Maybe it’s because I heard the remix first but I feel like it coincides with the lyrics a little better than the original. The original is very 80s-like; therefore slightly a little too happy in my opinion. The remix isolates the bridge and chorus (the best two parts of the song) and keeps them going with an intense beat. And unless Crystal Castles produce another really good remix, I will probably never blog about them again. Yea, I’m a jerk but they asked for it.

White Lies – Death (Crystal Castles remix)

White Lies – Death

Energetic Friendly Fires

Until White Lies came onto the stage before Friendly Fires, I was pretty confused about who was the headlining band of this concert. I thought the band, White Lies, was headlining and apparently so did the first opening band, The Soft Pack, who introduced White Lies as Friendly Fires. But after looking at other reviews of this tour, it seems the bands switched it up when it came to who was the headlining band. In Toronto, White Lies headlined and the reviewer of CHARTattack claimed that Friendly Fires should’ve instead. I’m glad Friendly Fires headlined in Vancouver. The only crappy thing about them headlining was that we had to wait until 11:20pm or so to see them (after being there since 8:30pm). But as soon as Friendly Fires got on the stage, their contagious energy spread throughout the crowd and almost everyone was dancing; that was one thing I was really stoked on. I was totally expecting to be one of the few people dancing, but I was wrong. I was surrounded by sweaty, dancing people throughout the entire show.

I saw Friendly Fires open for Lykke Li last October and I was very impressed with Ed Macfarlane’s (lead singer) dancing and energy. So I was pretty excited to see what they would do for their show in Vancouver. They definitely lived up to their previous performance with Lykke Li; I would say they even surpassed it. Ed Macfarlane got down to perform and dance in the crowd twice. And the guitarist, Edd Gibson, ran through all of Richard’s during the encore of “All I Need.” Pretty awesome.

In my opinion, the songs that were best performed were “On Board”, “Lovesick” and “Skeleton Boy” (the video for “Skeleton Boy” is pretty sweet, check it out below). I’ve woken up with these songs in my head since Thursday morning (only two days but still pretty significant in my mind). I think this band does need a little more recognition then they already receive. When people asked me who I was seeing and I told them, Friendly Fires, almost no one had heard of them. So hopefully this post will encourage you to check out their video for “Skeleton Boy” and Myspace. If they come back to Vancouver, I highly suggest attending their concert. It is guaranteed to be full of energy, spontaneity and dancing.

Friendly Fires – Skeleton Boy