With their upcoming DIVIDED BY NIGHT, electronic music pioneers THE CRYSTAL METHOD (TCM) are dropping what may be their masterwork. Bolstered by the innovation, flexibility and craftsmanship that have made the duo of Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland club culture icons, the pair’s fourth studio effort--due out May 12, 2009 via Tiny e Records--is easily its most inventive and accomplished to date.
Launched with the momentous first single “Drown in the Now,” The Crystal Method’s infectious collaboration with mic master Matisyahu, makes a unique and memorable musical statement. “We met Matisyahu at a festival in British Columbia last July,” Scott Kirkland explains. “His tour manager approached us about him joining us onstage for a song and we thought it was a cool idea. He came by our trailer and we played him 'High Roller' off Vegas [the duo’s 1997 album] and he thought it was great. He came out with us about an hour later and his performance was magical. From there we knew we wanted to work with him. He delivered something unique that helped create a great vibe for the rest of the album.”
Elsewhere, “Kling to the Wreckage” is equally breathtaking, albeit remarkably different, as She Wants Revenge frontman Justin Warfield puts his fierce delivery atop an exhilarating soundscape. High caliber guests on Divided By Night–in addition to Matisyahu and Warfield–also include New Order bassist Peter Hook (on the groove-laden “Blunts & Robots” and “Dirty Thirty”), Metric front-woman Emily Haines and drummer Samantha Maloney, formerly of Hole and Peaches (on the hook-injected “Come Back Clean”), indie chanteuse Meiko (on the atmospheric “Falling Hard”), one-time Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytle (on the optimistic “Slipstream”) and hip-hop up-and-comers LMFAO (on the party anthem “Sine Language”).
In conjunction with the release of Divided By Night, THE CRYSTAL METHOD will return to the road this spring for a major national tour as a live band. “This new tour is going to be a completely new look,” Ken Jordan assures. “It’s like tearing down your house and rebuilding it.” Fans who attend the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival on Friday, April 17 will get to experience what their tour will be like as The Crystal Method will perform their first live show in five years. The duo will also be appearing at SXSW to highlight new material with an exclusive DJ set. Details regarding a North American live show tour will be unveiled at a later date.
Since 2004 when The Crystal Method unearthed its Grammy nominated disc Legion of Boom, Jordan and Kirkland have been busy building their state of the art Los Angeles studio, Crystalwerks; keeping audiences entranced with their high energy DJ sets; rocking the airwaves of the recently defunct Indie 103.1 with their weekly ‘Community Service’ radio show which seeded two mix albums of the same name; and steadily constructed what can only be deemed the album of their career.
Notorious over the last ten-plus years for enduring dancefloor anthems (“Now Is The Time,” “Keep Hope Alive” and a dozen others), airwave smashes (“Trip Like I Do”, for one), a willingness to collaborate with an array of talent –including rock’s vocal elite, like Scott Weiland and Filter’s Richard Patrick–the duo also managed to succeed in the remix, film soundtrack, television, gaming and advertising worlds. Their platinum-status debut album Vegas (released in 1997) is one of the biggest selling electronic albums of all time, landing them in the top five of best selling electronic acts in America. They scored the film London, as well as the themes for TV shows “Bones” and “Third Watch” and were the first act to work with Nike for their running soundtrack series, but it’s Divided By Night that takes TCM to all new heights.
Whether it’s bringing in live drums or lining up collaborations with talents from the vast spectrum of pop sub-genres, The Crystal Method--veterans of world famous festivals like Coachella, Ultra Music Festival and Rothbury --has managed to put a distinctly American face on the European-dominated electronic movement