The Crystal Method

In the four years since The Crystal Method released its debut album, Vegas, the members of the Los Angeles electronic music duo have barely had time to come up for air. Scott Kirkland and Ken Jordan spent two years on the road, headlining and joining the line-ups of a variety of tours (Family Values, Community Service, and The Electric Highway).

However, the group spent the majority of the last few years plotting, conceptualizing and recording a new album at the Bomb Shelter—the studio they built nearly a decade ago in the two-car garage of their Glendale, California house. The result of their efforts is called Tweekend, and it sets out to scramble what everyone thought they knew about The Crystal Method. The bass-fortified, hard-rolling techno concoctions will still get the club kids moving, while the muscular hip-hop beats and fluid funk melodies have been augmented by an array of loud-and-soft rock dynamics.

Growing up in Las Vegas provided a unique coming-of-age experience for Kirkland and Jordan, with an early musical diet consisting of artists like Led Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder, Motley Crue, Depeche Mode and AC/DC. Kirkland still recalls taking guitar lessons from rocker Mark Slaughter before his band hit the big time in the mid-80s. Jordan, meanwhile, immersed himself in new music by DJing and becoming music director at KUNV, the college radio station at UNLV.

Once the duo came together and discovered common musical ground, it didnt take long to realize that a desert gambling resort was no place to launch a serious career in cutting-edge dance music. In 1992 they relocated to Los Angeles, where they scored their first underground club hit with Now Is the Time. A buzz erupted, and several major labels started courting the duo. After some deliberation, the group signed with Geffen-subsidized Outpost Recordings, which later folded into Interscope.

Crystal Method uses M-Audio’s Duo, Midisport 2x2, Midisport 1x1, Studio Pack, Reason, ReCycle, ArKaos VJ and Live.