Divided by Night Cover Art
By PHIL PALIOS
The Crystal Method emerged on the electronic music scene twelve years ago with their release of “Vegas” that stormed the charts, most notably the single “Busy Child” is one most people will recognize, even if they don’t know about the artists behind it. The group consists of two amazingly talented electronic artists: Scott Kirkland and Ken Jordan. Earlier this month the group released their fourth album, “Divided by Night.” This new album reflects the group’s ongoing musical evolution by continuing to build on classic The Crystal Method style and sound that can be traced through all of their albums while producing new ideas with different beats and sounds. One of the things that make this album stand out is the guest vocalists who helped create and perform on many of the songs.
I had the chance to speak with Scott Kirkland while the group prepared to perform in San Diego, CA, approximately half-way through their US tour. The Crystal Method doesn’t follow the tour and album release schedule you see from most bands, only touring a live show every few years, usually following the release of each new album. The group stays busy with side projects, remixes and DJ shows but their main products are the studio albums and live performances. Before recording their latest album “Divided by Night” the duo spent two years building a new studio near Los Angeles and made the move from their former recording studio “The Bomb Shelter” to their new creative environment: “Crystalwerks.” The new studio was a big change, bringing in a lot more natural light, as opposed to being underground with no natural light in their previous space. Crystalwerks also provided more space and a layout to help the group move toward their new interests in working with instrumentation and guest artists.
Having the opportunity to see The Crystal Method perform a live show is rare. It’s not like some artists where you can count on seeing them in every major city each year. For both die-hard fans and electronic music lovers in general the group going on tour with a live show is a treat. However, the rarity of a live show is not due to a lack of interest from the group. When asked about how they enjoy live performances vs. working in the studio, Scott told me: “There’s nothing like when everything is going right and the crowd is into it…that moment on stage and afterwards. There’s nothing in the studio or DJ set that can match that moment when you’re connected with an audience and have a really good show. Obviously, that wouldn’t be possible without the moments in the studio.”
The group seems to be very interested in connecting with fans, both on the scale of a live show as well as individually. You can find both members actively using Twitter (twitter.com/crystalmethod) as well as a strong web presence (thecrystalmethod.com) and profiles on other social networking sites. While browsing the group’s tweets I was impressed with their effort to take time after each show to meet fans and sign autographs. They also have taken on a bit of a “green” vibe by encouraging fans to share a ride or use public transit when going to shows; this is accompanied with recycling containers at each concert and often-times an eco-table providing more resources for fans to reduce, reuse and recycle. Taking an electronic production like The Crystal Method on the road is quite a resource hog, with tour busses, semi-trucks as well as all the lighting and sound equipment used on stage each night. Having a group that uses so much energy tell people to be environmentally conscious makes me think of Hummer telling their owners to use reusable grocery bags…are these guys for real? It turns out they are, the group considers their environmental impact for each component of the tour. Scott mentioned that when they looked at tour busses they considered using ones that ran on bio-fuel, the problem is finding places to refuel while on tour. Scott continues: “Sometimes big bands go out and do bio-fuel tours and they’ll have the entire bus and semis outfitted with bio-fuels and have a tanker follow them around.” The cost and pollution generated by bringing a bio-fuel tanker on tour made the band choose to go with diesel. As bio-fuel stations become more widespread, Scott believes it will be possible to switch.
The Crystal Method live in Seattle on 5/30/09. Photo by Adam Tews / PHILTHY.NET
Some of the efforts the band takes to reduce their carbon footprint include eating fresh, locally-grown food while on tour. They have also begun using lights from High End Systems that use LEDs rather than traditional bulbs, these provide the same bright lighting effects the band wants while consuming less energy. Going forward the band hopes to continue finding ways to reduce their carbon footprint while helping educate their fans and encourage them to help too.
I love the new album and think it represents an important step in the evolution of electronic music, as Scott sees it: “Mainstream has come our direction. The world of Rock and Hip-Hop has started using sounds very similar to sounds of electronic music.” The Crystal Method takes advantage of this by working with many guest artists on tracks of “Divided by Night.” These artists include Matisyahu, Peter Hook, Jason Lytle, Meiko and others. Each track combines the styles of TCM with those of the guest artist to create songs that fit into the album’s theme, but also can stand independent as great singles. While most reviewers share my positive reaction to the new album, I was able to find some negative reviews on iTunes. Most of the negative reviews complain about the band’s departure from their original material and move into more mainstream music. I had to question some negative reviews, as one mentioned only listening to the 30 second samples, for an album with tracks ranging from four to nearly seven minutes, you really can’t understand the musical creation with a 30 second sample. I also think the album has grown on me, it contains a lot of subtleties that can only be appreciated after a few listens through.
When I asked Scott how he feels about the negative reviews his response reflected the band’s interest in evolving musically and their changing lives as artists:
“There really isn’t any going back. We would get just as much or more criticism if we made the same record over and over again. We try to create music we’re in to. The last record which is a little more dark and focuses more on bass and grooves, I can see where there is some difference [when compared with “Divided by Night.”] But there have always been vocals and melody and structure. We’re not the same individuals we were when we put together The Bomb Shelter and Vegas. We’ve taken in a lot of things over the last 12 years. It’s still us, there are definitely tracks and sounds in there that relate the record to those early years, but if we continue to do the same thing over and over again it will become boring to us.”
I think it’s important for musical groups to grow, if all their songs sound the same, there’s no reason for me to have more than one of their albums. I think the ability for The Crystal Method to change while keeping some musical traits that have defined them through their career is wonderful. Scott also points out that often times, as people who appreciate music, we associate albums with the moment we first heard them and our life at that time. He continues: “I have those same moments with the artists that I love. But, there aren’t any secret Vegas tapes. It’s alright for people to want that.” For the live show, the group has reworked some of their older material, so you won’t just be hearing songs from “Divided by Night” when you go to see them live.
One of the things that impress me about The Crystal Method is their ability to create, record, promote and tour a new album on such a large scale without the backing of a major record label. The band has historically recognized the fact that the music industry has issues, but doesn’t let that get in the way of their successful music career. When asked about how the group feels about what the recording business has been doing lately, Scott responded:
“We’ve always tried to stay ahead of the curve and look at the trend. We saw early on that things were going in a different direction and people were getting the music from different places. We’ve always embraced the online sites. When people want music they want to get it at that moment, if they have the opportunity to buy it legally they’ll do that.”
The group began working with Outpost Recordings which was a small boutique label housed within the Universal corporate monstrosity. They enjoyed this relationship because it gave them the personal attention of a small label with the marketing, distribution and promotion power of a major label. This changed when the record labels shuffled through business transactions and The Crystal Method was just one of many electronic artists on the Interscope record label, they had lost that personal attention they valued while working with Outpost Recordings. Beginning with their third album “Legion of Boom” and continuing with “Divided by Night” the group is working independently under the “Tiny e Records” label. Their experience in the industry has allowed them to build relationships with distribution and marketing groups without having to associate themselves with a major label.
The Crystal Method live in Seattle on 5/30/09. Photo by Adam Tews / PHILTHY.NET
As Scott sees it, “The music business is a monster that seems to be consuming itself on a daily basis; they need to come up with a new way of producing new artists.” He also points out that new artists are finding ways to distribute their music without a label, the problems in the music industry obviously haven’t had an impact on new artists continuing to bring their music out to the public.
I became a fan of The Crystal Method when I first heard “Busy Child” shortly after the release of “Vegas.” However I enjoy exploring new music and don’t dwell on any one album or song too long. As each new album came out from the group I would listen to it for a while, but it eventually faded as new music came out. This new album has once again caught my attention and I think it’s their best yet. The slow release cycle will probably continue to bring The Crystal Method in and out of my listening selection, but maybe that’s not so bad. It’s definitely not “yet another TCM album” and I think it branches out into styles and sounds that can be appreciated by those who may have never listened to an electronic album before as well as those that listen to electronic music exclusively.
