Albums : The Crystal Method : The Crystal Method
Albums : The Crystal Method : The Crystal Method
Listen To The Crystal Method : The Crystal Method
Who is The Crystal Method?
The Crystal Method are Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland
Challenges in the recording studio are simply a necessary evil when you’re a musician.However, the complications legendary electronic music duo THE CRYSTAL METHOD (Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland) faced while creating their self-titled fifth album still remain unbelievable. More than halfway through the process, Scott Kirkland received news that would forever change his life.
“I had what’s called a benign posterior fossa arachnoid cyst that needed to be removed from my head,” he explains. “It’s a simple procedure as far as brain surgery goes, but they still had to cut into my skull and noodle around in there. The surgery wasn’t as bad as the infection afterwards, which landed me in the ICU for ten days. Thankfully, I made it out okay. In hindsight, as weird as it sounds, I think we were able to make a better record because we came through this.”
In the aftermath of his 2013 recovery, Scott regrouped with his Method partner Ken Jordan, and everything picked up where they left off. As electronic dance music folded itself into popular culture over the past five years, these progenitors viewed this album as a pivotal statement.
With twenty years under their belts, the iconic platinum-selling debut 1997′s Vegas, a 2009 Grammy Award nomination in the category of “Best Dance/Electronic Album” for Divided By Night, as well as compositions for film and television including Bones and Real Steel, among other accolades, they collectively decided to up the ante yet again. That’s one reason why they named their fifth offering The Crystal Method.
“It’s been two decades since this started, and electronic music has enjoyed a huge resurgence,” says Ken.” We wanted to reintroduce ourselves to the world here. The name itself signifies twenty years of doing this. It represents a great deal of hard work, fun, and rewards. It’s simply who we are.” Scott adds, “Actually, we hate coming up with album titles, and it was just easier to call it The Crystal Method. It’s a Walter White-approved name!”
Regardless of the reason, these eleven tracks preserve the hallmarks of the group’s signature sound, while boldly and brilliantly forging forward into uncharted waters. It fuses the skittering, sprawling dance floor soundscapes of their most classic fare with a modern panache and striking pop bombast. Those elements all converge on the soulful and shimmering introductory single “Over It” featuring Dia Frampton.
“She has such a unique voice,” Ken goes on. “You can tell she could sing anything. She brought in the skeleton of the track and it turned into this anthem. It happened during one day in our studio—completely in the moment. That style of collaboration was integral to this album. Instead of having people send their parts in, we recorded together in our studio. We got to capture that essence.”
Speaking of seizing the moment, a rather serendipitous encounter in mid-air led to the LeAnn Rimes-assisted “Grace”—an elegant and ethereal masterpiece. After initially meeting while doing press for the Re:Generation music project, Ken and Scott ran into Rimes on a plane to Denver. Scott gave her the song on the spot, and a few months later, it was complete.
“She and her writing partner came over, and we had this awesome session,” he recalls. It was all so strangely coincidental. I saw her on the plane and gave her the music. It was initially titled ‘Grace’ and she has a tattoo that reads Grace will lead me home. She had such a random connection with it. I feel like that made everything even more powerful.”
Elsewhere on the album, Scars on Broadway’s Franky Perez offers an ominous hum to the expansive “Difference,” while Miami mainstays Afrobeta bring an intoxicating bounce to the dreamy “After Hours.” However, “Dosimeter” veers off down a different path altogether. Coupling the sounds of Scott’s PIC Line with his children’s laughter, it’s a hypnotic and poignant moment.
“It’s a direct result of everything I went through,” he admits. “That PIC Line made this charmed sound like a cat. I could get my four-year-old daughter to laugh it, and she wasn’t scared. One day we recorded it in the studio. Around the same time, my wife got a great recording of the kids playing. Everything is in there.”
The Crystal Method are shining brighter than ever. 2013 sees them score both the J.J. Abrams television epic Almost Human and the League of Legends video game. They’ve rightfully earned a reputation as “one of the best live dance acts on Earth,” according to the Village Voice. Hits such as “Now Is The Time,” “Keep Hope Alive” and “Name of the Game” are bona fide eternal dancefloor staples. They’ve collaborated with everyone from Danny Elfman and LMFAO to Scott Weiland and Metric’s Emily Haines. However, they’re looking forward to another two decades of dance supremacy.
“We want to honor the fans with this album,” concludes Ken. Even though our sound has developed and it’s current, we’re still The Crystal Method.”
“The feeling doesn’t ever change,” Scott affirms. “There’s nothing like playing music at high volumes and interacting with a crowd. How did we get so fortunate to be able to do this?”
The Crystal Method Review
Two decades before the United States draped itself in an EDM blanket, The Crystal Method’s Scott Kirkland and Ken D. Jordan self-drew the blueprint for a viable electronic dance music model and built themselves into an exemplar prototype. Now that the rest of the continent has caught up with the duo, The Crystal Method releases its self-titled fifth album, replete with high-wattage guests like LeAnn Rimes and The Voice finalist Dia Frampton (of Meg And Dia) plus collaborations with flashy dance-floor superstars Le Castle Vania and Nick Thayer.
In the five years since its last album, Divided By Night, the EDM landscape has changed dramatically, but The Crystal Method has not been absent from it. It can be heard daily, thanks to syndication, on the opening credits of television’s Bones, and these home visits have extended to the soundtracking of Almost Human. Additionally, The Crystal Method’s weekly Sirius XM radio show, Community Service, has kept the duo current and in the public’s consciousness.
Drawing from contemporaries without losing its creators’ already-defined musical persona, The Crystal Method retains the duo’s identifiable chiseled breakbeats updated with messy-sounding—yet immensely popular—electrified synth lines. Album-opener “Emulator” exemplifies this blend of tried with trendy. Teaming up with Australian Nick Thayer, a member of Skrillex’s OWSLA stable for the bouncing “Dosimeter,” Kirkland and Jordan create elasticized basslines that slow down every so often to a distorted vocal lazily repeating, “What are you / Crazy?” Much crazier is “Storm The Castle,” an overly hectic concoction featuring Le Castle Vania. Los Angeles residents will empathize with “110 To The 101,” which refers to the clogged freeway interchange-cum-stacked-parking-lot downtown where stalled drivers can practically feel the life draining out of their bodies. The rustling number is not the best song to listen to while at a standstill, but its sentiments can be appreciated.
The vocal tracks on The Crystal Method are its strongest suit. Dia Frampton’s little-girl chirps slot neatly into the escalating synth lines of “Over It.” Scars On Broadway’s Franky Perez brings a soulful bent to the syncopated beats of “Difference” and dance duo Afrobeta take a hallucinogenic turn on the wandering “After Hours.” The unexpected highlight of the album is “Grace” featuring LeAnn Rimes. This unlikely pairing allows Rimes’ pipes to really flex. Her voice soars over plaintive synth lines, engaging the instrumentals in a man/machine duet.
The Crystal Method is not a comprehensive listening album, but it’s not meant to be. The more accessible numbers are bunched up in the last third, while the chunk before works best in its birth setting: the dance floor. That’s where The Crystal Method is going to shine, appealing both to fans who grew up with the two and those who weren’t yet born when the duo formed.
Contact The Crystal Method
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Soundcloud | Google+ | YouTube | Instagram
Contact The A.V. Club
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr
Sources : The Crystal Method Photo | Listen To The Crystal Method | The Crystal Method Biography | The Crystal Method Review
Purchase : iTunes | Amazon | Walmart
Listen To The Crystal Method : The Crystal Method
Who is The Crystal Method?
The Crystal Method are Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland
Challenges in the recording studio are simply a necessary evil when you’re a musician.However, the complications legendary electronic music duo THE CRYSTAL METHOD (Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland) faced while creating their self-titled fifth album still remain unbelievable. More than halfway through the process, Scott Kirkland received news that would forever change his life.
“I had what’s called a benign posterior fossa arachnoid cyst that needed to be removed from my head,” he explains. “It’s a simple procedure as far as brain surgery goes, but they still had to cut into my skull and noodle around in there. The surgery wasn’t as bad as the infection afterwards, which landed me in the ICU for ten days. Thankfully, I made it out okay. In hindsight, as weird as it sounds, I think we were able to make a better record because we came through this.”
In the aftermath of his 2013 recovery, Scott regrouped with his Method partner Ken Jordan, and everything picked up where they left off. As electronic dance music folded itself into popular culture over the past five years, these progenitors viewed this album as a pivotal statement.
With twenty years under their belts, the iconic platinum-selling debut 1997′s Vegas, a 2009 Grammy Award nomination in the category of “Best Dance/Electronic Album” for Divided By Night, as well as compositions for film and television including Bones and Real Steel, among other accolades, they collectively decided to up the ante yet again. That’s one reason why they named their fifth offering The Crystal Method.
“It’s been two decades since this started, and electronic music has enjoyed a huge resurgence,” says Ken.” We wanted to reintroduce ourselves to the world here. The name itself signifies twenty years of doing this. It represents a great deal of hard work, fun, and rewards. It’s simply who we are.” Scott adds, “Actually, we hate coming up with album titles, and it was just easier to call it The Crystal Method. It’s a Walter White-approved name!”
Regardless of the reason, these eleven tracks preserve the hallmarks of the group’s signature sound, while boldly and brilliantly forging forward into uncharted waters. It fuses the skittering, sprawling dance floor soundscapes of their most classic fare with a modern panache and striking pop bombast. Those elements all converge on the soulful and shimmering introductory single “Over It” featuring Dia Frampton.
“She has such a unique voice,” Ken goes on. “You can tell she could sing anything. She brought in the skeleton of the track and it turned into this anthem. It happened during one day in our studio—completely in the moment. That style of collaboration was integral to this album. Instead of having people send their parts in, we recorded together in our studio. We got to capture that essence.”
Speaking of seizing the moment, a rather serendipitous encounter in mid-air led to the LeAnn Rimes-assisted “Grace”—an elegant and ethereal masterpiece. After initially meeting while doing press for the Re:Generation music project, Ken and Scott ran into Rimes on a plane to Denver. Scott gave her the song on the spot, and a few months later, it was complete.
“She and her writing partner came over, and we had this awesome session,” he recalls. It was all so strangely coincidental. I saw her on the plane and gave her the music. It was initially titled ‘Grace’ and she has a tattoo that reads Grace will lead me home. She had such a random connection with it. I feel like that made everything even more powerful.”
Elsewhere on the album, Scars on Broadway’s Franky Perez offers an ominous hum to the expansive “Difference,” while Miami mainstays Afrobeta bring an intoxicating bounce to the dreamy “After Hours.” However, “Dosimeter” veers off down a different path altogether. Coupling the sounds of Scott’s PIC Line with his children’s laughter, it’s a hypnotic and poignant moment.
“It’s a direct result of everything I went through,” he admits. “That PIC Line made this charmed sound like a cat. I could get my four-year-old daughter to laugh it, and she wasn’t scared. One day we recorded it in the studio. Around the same time, my wife got a great recording of the kids playing. Everything is in there.”
The Crystal Method are shining brighter than ever. 2013 sees them score both the J.J. Abrams television epic Almost Human and the League of Legends video game. They’ve rightfully earned a reputation as “one of the best live dance acts on Earth,” according to the Village Voice. Hits such as “Now Is The Time,” “Keep Hope Alive” and “Name of the Game” are bona fide eternal dancefloor staples. They’ve collaborated with everyone from Danny Elfman and LMFAO to Scott Weiland and Metric’s Emily Haines. However, they’re looking forward to another two decades of dance supremacy.
“We want to honor the fans with this album,” concludes Ken. Even though our sound has developed and it’s current, we’re still The Crystal Method.”
“The feeling doesn’t ever change,” Scott affirms. “There’s nothing like playing music at high volumes and interacting with a crowd. How did we get so fortunate to be able to do this?”
The Crystal Method Review
Two decades before the United States draped itself in an EDM blanket, The Crystal Method’s Scott Kirkland and Ken D. Jordan self-drew the blueprint for a viable electronic dance music model and built themselves into an exemplar prototype. Now that the rest of the continent has caught up with the duo, The Crystal Method releases its self-titled fifth album, replete with high-wattage guests like LeAnn Rimes and The Voice finalist Dia Frampton (of Meg And Dia) plus collaborations with flashy dance-floor superstars Le Castle Vania and Nick Thayer.
In the five years since its last album, Divided By Night, the EDM landscape has changed dramatically, but The Crystal Method has not been absent from it. It can be heard daily, thanks to syndication, on the opening credits of television’s Bones, and these home visits have extended to the soundtracking of Almost Human. Additionally, The Crystal Method’s weekly Sirius XM radio show, Community Service, has kept the duo current and in the public’s consciousness.
Drawing from contemporaries without losing its creators’ already-defined musical persona, The Crystal Method retains the duo’s identifiable chiseled breakbeats updated with messy-sounding—yet immensely popular—electrified synth lines. Album-opener “Emulator” exemplifies this blend of tried with trendy. Teaming up with Australian Nick Thayer, a member of Skrillex’s OWSLA stable for the bouncing “Dosimeter,” Kirkland and Jordan create elasticized basslines that slow down every so often to a distorted vocal lazily repeating, “What are you / Crazy?” Much crazier is “Storm The Castle,” an overly hectic concoction featuring Le Castle Vania. Los Angeles residents will empathize with “110 To The 101,” which refers to the clogged freeway interchange-cum-stacked-parking-lot downtown where stalled drivers can practically feel the life draining out of their bodies. The rustling number is not the best song to listen to while at a standstill, but its sentiments can be appreciated.
The vocal tracks on The Crystal Method are its strongest suit. Dia Frampton’s little-girl chirps slot neatly into the escalating synth lines of “Over It.” Scars On Broadway’s Franky Perez brings a soulful bent to the syncopated beats of “Difference” and dance duo Afrobeta take a hallucinogenic turn on the wandering “After Hours.” The unexpected highlight of the album is “Grace” featuring LeAnn Rimes. This unlikely pairing allows Rimes’ pipes to really flex. Her voice soars over plaintive synth lines, engaging the instrumentals in a man/machine duet.
The Crystal Method is not a comprehensive listening album, but it’s not meant to be. The more accessible numbers are bunched up in the last third, while the chunk before works best in its birth setting: the dance floor. That’s where The Crystal Method is going to shine, appealing both to fans who grew up with the two and those who weren’t yet born when the duo formed.
Contact The Crystal Method
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Soundcloud | Google+ | YouTube | Instagram
Contact The A.V. Club
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr
Sources : The Crystal Method Photo | Listen To The Crystal Method | The Crystal Method Biography | The Crystal Method Review
Purchase : iTunes | Amazon | Walmart
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