In terms of fidelity, the music made by Toronto’s Crystal Castles has no historical precedent; it’s the kind of buzzy synthesizer pop that sounds best on cheap computer speakers and iPod headphones. When played in nightclubs, the songs are not so much listened to as heaved to, usually by hordes of sweaty scenesters who like their dance music with lots of distortion.

Remixers to chic rock outfits like Bloc Party and Klaxons, the Hogtown duo of Alice Glass (vocals) and Ethan Fawn (drums and electronics) is one of Canada’s most blogged-about acts, a group that sees no contradiction in punks making pop music. Fawn used to pound the skins in a band called Jakarta, initially a Rites of Spring–style hardcore outfit whose members eventually got sick of the scene and took up folk music instead. That kind of anything-goes approach to genre informs Fawn’s productions for Crystal Castles, which cover the spectrum of electronic sounds from the coolly robotic to the brutally pulverizing.

For those who’ve only heard the mangled 8-bit screamo of Crystal Castles tracks like “Xxzxcuzx Me” and “Crimewave”, the tender, almost dainty ambient interludes on the band’s upcoming self-titled full-length will be downright shocking. But it’s those quiet pieces—like the gently skipping “Magic Spells” and the almost churchly “Tell Me What to Swallow”—that give a classic shape to a record otherwise geared to club-centric excess.

“The strange thing is that the album is basically sequenced in the order the songs were made over the years,” says Fawn, reached at his Toronto home. “In my head, it could only flow in chronological order. It might be a really selfish decision—maybe it doesn’t flow for other people, but I don’t care. For me, it needed to be like that.”

The laconic producer isn’t a particularly forthcoming interview subject; in fact, when Crystal Castles first started, he’d get friends to answer journalists’ questions for him, whether by e-mail or, more brazenly, by phone. So why is he talking to the Straight?

“I’m only doing it because our label [Last Gang] said that they wouldn’t release our record unless I did a few interviews,” he explains. “I obviously want our album to be released because I can’t do it myself—it would be too much work. We thought about releasing it ourselves, but getting distribution was a nightmare.”

When he’s asked how he deals with another sometimes-trying aspect of being in a band—touring for months at a time—Fawn says flatly, “If we didn’t like it, we wouldn’t do it.”

To an inquiry regarding his much-praised remixes, the producer perks up a bit and reveals something that might surprise the bands and labels who commission them. “When I do a remix, it’s really just a Crystal Castles song from the past that was unused,” he offers. “I just throw someone’s vocals over it because they’re offering me money to do that.”

Based on that answer, it’s hard to tell whether Fawn is an innately talented beatmaker, or a cynic exposing just how shallow this indie-remix phenomenon really is. Maybe he’s both.

Crystal Castles plays Richard’s on Richards on Wednesday (March 5).