Remember playing Super Mario Bros when you were little? Fingers pressing, eyes fixated, ears open, all in the hopes of rescuing the Princess – it was intense. Maybe that intensity is what drew Toronto-based Crystal Castles to incorporate the electronic glitchy sound bites of the old Nintendo games into their music.

Ethan Kath and Alice Glass, collectively known as Crystal Castles, hail from Canada but have quickly become an international music force, invading cities from Tokyo to Helsinki with their eclectic-electronic-pop sound. The duo paired up back in 2003, and two years later recorded their first single, “Alice Practice”, which they released through MySpace — they were signed to Merok Records soon after.

Crystal Castles’ characteristic sound is hard to pin point because of its frantic nature. Their synth-based beats coupled with Glass’ distorted vocals merge to create a pop-electronic surge that is offset with an 80’s tinge. Tracks such as “Crimewave” and “Air War” — which are included in their latest self-titled CD (released this March) – embody the duo’s commitment to their vision of futuristic 8 bit based pop.

Crystal Castles is performing on Saturday July 5th at Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre. Check out their MySpace for upcoming tour dates.