The year is 2009. Scene kids with light blue hair and Sillybandz worship the mystifying girl on stage. Alice Glass is her name. She fronts the electropop group Crystal Castles, and no one knows the impact they will soon have on the electronic music scene.
It’s now 2025. Crystal Castles split 8 years ago due to Glass’ former music partner Ethan Kath allegedly abusing her throughout the entirety of the group’s career. As a result, she disowned her tenure in the band and asked fans to stop their support of the group. The group’s legacy, however, is cemented into music history, and Crystal Castles has forever influenced the electropop movement. The profound impact that the group has led many artists and groups over time to adopt a similar style of music. No one will ever replace the sound of Crystal Castles, but these five groups are leading the resurgence of the scene that the iconic group once created.
Snow Strippers
After “Under Your Spell” blew up on TikTok at the end of 2024, Snow Strippers became the face of the contemporary electropop/electronic music scene. The group consists of two members: DeliverTheCrush and Tati Schwaninger, who became close after meeting on Tinder in 2018. Before the group’s formation, Tati had no prior musical experience, while DeliverTheCrush served as an affiliate producer for the underground hip-hop collective Surf Gang, so seeing the two collaborate in an electronic music group was completely unprecedented.
Since its emergence in 2022, the group has released three mixtapes and one album, with its latest release being an EP in 2024. “April Mixtape 3” served as their breakout project with “Under Your Spell” amassing over 100 million streams on Spotify, being featured on the hit show Dexter, and even prominent rapper Lil Uzi Vert hopping on a remix of the final track of “April Mixtape 3.” Their male producer and female vocalist partnership, like that of Crystal Castles, has led to comparisons. Time will only tell if Snow Strippers live up to Crystal Castles’ late 2000s hype, but their growing cult fanbase is noteworthy.
Bassvictim
Bassvictim comes at the listener much harder than any of the others. The pulverizing bass, mixed with Maria Manow’s thick Polish accent exhibits an exceptionally distinct electronic sound. Bassvictim goes as far as to separate themselves from the rest of the scene, as they deem themselves as “basspunk.” While not like the other contemporaries within the list, Bassvictim are yet another group that fits into the category of male-producer, and female-vocalist with Ike Clateman alongside Manow.
There are rarely ever any hard-hitting bass tracks that are as loud, yet seductive as the tracks on “Basspunk” and “Basspunk 2.” Both Basspunk records serve as a very distant offspring to Crystal Castles, but the early 2010s “indie sleaze” era aesthetic on Bassvictim’s Instagram makes one only assume the inspirations drawn from Crystal Castles. Regardless, as unconventional as they may sound at times, this is a duo everyone should listen to in 2025.
Brothel in Belize
Brothel in Belize is the closest, sonically, to Crystal Castles. The electropop group, led by D3SIST and a mysterious, masked producer, captures an identical essence of Crystal Castles’ music. While Crystal Castles didn’t necessarily give in to the scene community’s aesthetic, Brothel in Belize wears it with pride.
The group has yet to release an album, but the tracks they have released are eerily similar to their predecessors, and even their song covers are strung with a similar aesthetic. There is clearly a vibe that Brothel in Belize are trying to insinuate, as it is quite clear that Crystal Castles has had a profound impact on them. They even remixed “Kept” by the iconic group, as most of their work in general is a reminder of what once was. Teenagers getting into Crystal Castles especially should listen to this group for a more accessible experience.
damon r.
If you are looking for a sleazy, skinny jean-wearing, cigarette-smoking EDM artist, then look no further. Damon Rush, more commonly known and styled as “damon r.,” is a solo act. He tends to lean more toward the “electroclash” genre rather than the electropop genre that others in this list fall into combining ideas of techno with electronic music rather than a pop-ish feel.
Damon r. is an enigma on his own. Many on this list either have a member that does vocals or production. Damon r. however does both, and remixes tracks for other bands like The Hellp. His work ethic is unmatched yet his quality in sound never fails. Damon has only released one EP up to this point, but his future work is very anticipated.
MGNA Crrrta
Vocal distortions and crackly bass lines make up many of MGNA Crrrta’s sonic themes. As a group, they are just as powerful. Ginger Scott and Farheen Kahn are members of one the most underappreciated groups in music currently. This duo, like Snow Strippers, showcases a blissful, divine feminine sound. They are the sole all-female group listed, and because of it, they often surround their music around more girly-ish themes.
The sound of MGNA Crrrta can be violently energetic at times, reminiscing on the EDM scene during Crystal Castles’ run. However, we see lyrics geared more toward experiences of womanhood. MGNA Crrrta’s latest track “Filthy,” focuses on hypersexualization and becoming a mere object for a lover in a playful manner. MGNA Crrrta is simply for the girls who want to rave like it’s 2012 again. There is no more Crystal Castles, so in turn, we get the next best thing.
