THE CRYSTAL METHOD

'The Crystal Method' is an American electronic music duo consisting of Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland. Along with The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and a few other lesser-known acts, they were pioneers of the big beat electronic dance genre, and one of its few American proponents.

Contents

Biography

Band Name

Awards

Work

Movies

TV and ads

Video games

Collaborations

Instrument list

Discography

Studio albums

Soundtracks

Remixes & Autres

Singles

See also

Similar Artists

Related lists

References

External links

Biography

Although Jordan and Kirkland are both from Las Vegas, Nevada, the band was formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1993.^[1] The Crystal Method did most of their earlier production work in an underground shelter lovingly referred to as "The Bomb Shelter" in the front yard of a rented house they once shared as roommates. Before production began on ''Legion of Boom'' in 2004, they moved the studio into the garage of the rented house. Many people aren't aware of this, however, and still believe they work in the actual "bomb shelter" which is now a nickname for the studio setup.

Band Name

There is a lot of discussion as to whether the band took their name from the drug crystal meth (street slang for methamphetamine). In the 1999 documentary ''Better Living through Circuitry'', it was made clear during the interview the name was a drug reference. Ken Jordan discusses how difficult it is "to tell your parents you are in a band named The Crystal Method". Scott Kirkland talks of breaking the band name to his mom on a nature walk, but to his surprise she responds calmly saying "I guess that makes sense, that's what all the kids are into these days."
Not surprisingly more recent interviews with the band come up with non-drug-related stories such as a girl named Crystal being the impetus.^[2] Certainly a lot of their tracks could be taken as having fun with the subject, "Trip Like I Do" being the most obvious one, but the name of this track actually came from an answering machine message saved on Scott's answering-machine [3] that is one of the samples used in this track and the lyrics seem to have come from the movie The Dark Crystal. There are various interviews with the band citing that the title of the second album, ''Tweekend'', came from the hours of tweaking the sound and mix.^[3]

Awards

In 2005, their third studio album, ''Legion of Boom'', was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Electronica/Dance Album". This marked the first time the Grammys offered such an award.

Work

Movies

The Crystal Method's music is broad in scope, and can be found in many modern shows and movies, including ''Bones'' (Title Theme), ''Blade II'' ("PhDream", with Bubba Sparxxx and "Name of the Game"), ''Blade Trinity'' ("Weapons of Mass Distortion", "Starting Over"), ''Cursed'' ("Bound Too Long"), ''Gone in Sixty Seconds'' ("Busy Child"), ''Lost in Space'' ("Busy Child"), ''Spawn'' ("(Can't You) Trip Like I Do", with Filter), ''Zoolander'' ("Now Is the Time"), ''XXX'', ''The Replacement Killers'' ("Keep Hope Alive"), ''Romeo Must Die'' ("High Roller", "Keep Hope Alive") , ''Extreme Ops'' ("Keep Hope Alive"), the remake of ''The Longest Yard'' ("Roll It Up") and a major part of soundtrack of ''London''.

TV and ads

The ''Chef Aid'' album, based on the "Chef Aid" episode of ''South Park'', featured a re-working of "Vapor Trail", which includes vocals by DMX, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Ozzy Osbourne, and Fuzzbubble. The song was renamed "Nowhere to Run" or sometimes "Nowhere to Run (Vapor Trail)." Episode 13, the popular TV shows ''Alias'' and ''CSI'', featured "Starting Over" from ''Legion of Boom''. They were also in ''Dark Angel'' ("Name of the Game", "Roll It Up") and the theme music of ''Third Watch'' was "Keep Hope Alive" from their ''Vegas'' album. The song "Trip Like I Do" was featured in an episode of ''House'' during a rave scene. The track "Busy Child" also featured in a 1998 British advertisement for The Gap which featured skateboarders.
Also Produced "The furious keys".

Video games

The track "Name of the Game" (from "Reservoir Dogs the video game" and the ''Tweekend'' album) was also featured as intro music for the popular video game ''Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell'', and has also been used as intro music for live performances by magician The Amazing Johnathan and even in Hummer advertisements. "Name Of The Game" was also featured in ''Pump It Up: Exceed'' for the Playstation 2 and XBOX US versions. Their music was also featured extensively in the EA Sports video game ''FIFA '98: Road to World Cup'', which included the tracks "Busy Child", "Keep Hope Alive", "More", and "Now Is The Time." Their song "Busy Child" was featured in the video games '' and ''Donkey Konga'', and "Born Too Slow" was included in both ''Donkey Konga 2'' and ''. Several songs from their first album also featured prominently in the game ''. "The Winner" (from ''Tweekend'') was featured in the video game ''FreQuency'', and their remix of P.O.D.'s "Boom" was also featured in its sequel, ''Amplitude''. The track "Roll It Up" is also featured as the title theme for ''Mad Dash Racing''. "Now Is The Time" can be heard in-game in Gran Turismo 2, while "Born Too Slow (Deepsky's Green Absinthe Dub Mix)" can be heard in ''Gran Turismo 4''. The original version of "Born Too Slow" can be heard in '', as listed above. And the track "Robogirl" (a censored version of "Roboslut") can be found in the latest edition of ''Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA''.
The Crystal Method collaborated with Tobias Enhus to create the track "Subway Showdown" for ''The Matrix - Path of Neo'', which also used "Free Your Mind Up" in both its original and instrumental forms. Also in the Xbox 360 title, ''Forza Motorsport 2'', the tracks "Busy Child" and "Weapons of Mass Distortion" can be heard in the menus.
"Keep Hope Alive (Trip Hope Mix)" was featured in the first teaser trailer of Microsoft's ''Project Gotham Racing 4'', for the Xbox 360, at the X06 event.

Collaborations

The Crystal Method have remixed other artists' tracks, such as Linkin Park's track "Points of Authority"; the remix was called "Pts. Of. Athrty (The Crystal Method Remix)" and can only be found on ''LP Underground 2.0 EP'', which is exclusively available to LP Underground members. The group worked with Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo to make a music video for the song "Murder".^[4]
In June 2006, the duo teamed up with Nike to release the workout-inspired album ''. The album is a continuous 45 minute mix of ten songs, and was only available on the iTunes Music Store until June 26, 2007, when it was given a physical release to Best Buy stores. Jordan and Kirkland currently host a radio show called ''Community Service'' which airs Friday nights on Los Angeles' Indie 103.1, featuring electronic music.^[5]

Instrument list

The Crystal Method use a wide array of equipment, with the Clavia Nord Lead being most closely associated with their style and sound. It was the primary source of sound for their first album ''Vegas''.

★ Ableton Live

★ Access Virus

★ Akai MPC3000

★ Alesis Andromeda

★ Apple G4

★ ARP 2600

★ Moogerfoogers MF101 & MF102

★ Clavia Nord Lead

★ Clavia Nord Modular

★ Digidesign Pro Tools HD and D-Command

★ E-mu Audity 2000

★ E-mu E4

★ E-mu XL-7

★ E-mu Xtreme Lead

★ E-mu E-64

★ Fender Guit/Bass

★ Korg Electribe/S

★ Korg Electribe/R

★ Korg Kaoss Pad KP1

★ Korg MicroKorg

★ Korg MS2000

★ Korg Prophecy

★ M-Audio Ozonic

★ M-Audio Trigger Finger

★ Moog Memorymoog

★ ProCo RAT

★ Roland JP-8000

★ Roland CR-8000

★ Roland Juno-106

★ Roland Jupiter-6

★ Roland SH-101

★ Sherman FilterBank

★ Waldorf MicrowaveXT

★ Yamaha DX7

★ Yamaha CS20

★ Yamaha CS80

★ Yamaha DX7IID

★ Eventide H3000

Discography

Studio albums

★ ''Vegas'' (August 26, 1997)

★ ''Tweekend'' (July 31, 2001)

★ ''Legion of Boom'' (January 13, 2004)

★ '' (iTunes Music Store release June 28, 2006, Physical release June 26, 2007)

Soundtracks

★ '' soundtrack (1997) Track : "Keep Hope Alive"''

★ ''N2O: Nitrous Oxide'' soundtrack (1998)

★ '' soundtrack (2003)

★ ''Bones soundtrack (2005)

★ ''London Movie Soundtrack'' (January 24, 2006)

Remixes & Autres

★ ''White Label (vinyl) Unreleased TCM Tracks'' (Date Unknown)

★ ''Community Service'', a mix album (July 23, 2002)

★ ''Community Service II'', a second mix album (April 5, 2005)

Singles

; Non-Album Tracks
:"Now Is the Time" (appears on certain editions of Vegas)
:"The Dubeliscious Groove" (also featured on the "Now Is the Time" Vinyl)
:"More" (from the Keep Hope Alive EP released before ''Vegas''. Some have falsely named the version of this on the EP as the '99 Mix, even though the single was released in 1996)
:"Come2gether" (featured on the '' album.)
; From ''Vegas''
: "Keep Hope Alive"
: "Busy Child"
: "Comin' Back"
; From ''Spawn'' soundtrack
: "(Can't You) Trip Like I Do" (a re-working of their song "Trip Like I Do" from ''Vegas'' featuring Filter)
; From ''Tweekend''
: "Name of the Game"
: "Murder" (also known as "You Know It's Hard" and featuring Scott Weiland)
: "Wild, Sweet and Cool"
; From ''Hardhop & Trypno''
: "Blast"
; From ''Legion of Boom''
: "Born Too Slow" (Featuring John Garcia & Wes Borland)
: "Starting Over"
: "Bound Too Long"
; Non-Album Remixes
: Cardinal - "Bodyslide"
: DJ Keoki - "Caterpillar"
: Amos - "Come Away"
: Moby - "Come on Baby"
: Ezee Possee - "Everything Starts with an 'E'"
: Zen Cowboys - "Mad World"

See also

Similar Artists

★ Fatboy Slim

★ Uberzone

★ The Chemical Brothers

★ The Prodigy

Related lists

★ List of number-one dance hits (United States)

★ List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

References

1. [1]
2. [2]
3. [4]
4. [5]
5. [6]

External links

★

★ The Crystal Method at allmusic.com

★ Official website

★

★ Temple of Boom, a fan site containing bootlegs of performances and DJ sets.

★ got meth?, a fan site containing information on TCM, including discography and lyrics.

★ Ice, Biography of the Crystal Method

★ DJ Times Tweekend interview

★ 2006 Interview with Ken Jordan

★ The Crystal Method at inthemix.com.au