Line-up

Venue

APEX

98201, Everett, WA, US

View upcoming concerts

Additional details

Doors open: 21:00

Concert in your area for Electronic.

Find out more about Electronic.

The Crystal Method biography

The Crystal Method is an American electronica/ trip hop duo from Los Angeles, California consisting of Scott Kirkland and Ken D. Jordan.

While working as a DJ, Jordan was also working at a grocery store and where he met Kirkland; and eventually teaching Kirkland how to DJ. When Jordan moved to Los Angeles, Kirkland would follow them and thus The Crystal Method came to life in the basement of their new house in the early 90s. Eventually one of their demo tapes reached British DJ Justin King, who was looking to start a label to showcase American electronic dance acts. The Crystal Method’s first single, “Now Is The Time” was also the first release of City of Angels record label.

The duo was then signed with Outpost Records in 1996 and they immediately started working on their first full-length album. On 8 September 1997 they released “Vegas,” which fared extremely well, peaking at number 92 on the Billboard Hot 200 and then reaching certified gold in 1998 (eventually reaching platinum in 2007). In 1999 they returned to the studio to work on “Tweekend,” which featured guest artists such as Rage Against the Machine, Stone Temple Pilots, and Doug Grean. They followed up with a mix album entitled “Community Service” based on a radio show they had.

Their third album, Legion of Boom, was released in 2004 and peaked at number 36 on the Billboard 200. In 2005 the album was nominated for Best Electronic/ Dance Album Grammy award, and sold over 25,000 copies. In 2006 the duo composed the soundtrack for the film, “London” followed by a re-release of “Vegas” in 2007. The release of their self-titled album was unfortunately delayed due to Kirkland going into brain surgery; consequently, the album was released early in 2014.

Live reviews

The Crystal Method has the ability to make heavily catchy and danceable electronic music and to see them perform it live is almost indescribable.
Scott Kirkland and Ken Jordan of The Crystal Method know how to make a show interesting. During live performances Scott and Ken are located behind their mountains of synthesizers blasting their original brand of trip-hop music that has made them so lauded in the electronic music scene. All of The Crystal Method’s music is highly danceable with loud, thumping bass and drums, and punchy synthesizer leads resonating over the pounding sound of the rhythm. The band also uses many samples and adds many effects such as delay and reverb to vocals to create psychedelic sounds. The music also has the tendency to build up to epic sounds. It starts from smooth electronic sounds and builds itself up to an ultimate crescendo where the whole crowd goes insane to the breakdown.
The light show is perhaps the greatest part of The Crystal Method performance. All kinds and colors of lights are flashing and strobing everywhere creating an entrancing and invigorating atmosphere almost similar to a rave. There are smoke cannons on stage that will spontaneously blast smoke all over the stage creating an epic vibe to the performance. There is also usually a video screen at the back of the stage during The Crystal Method’s performance that is showing wild visuals and psychedelic patterns. The crowd is always enthusiastic at the band’s performance by jumping up and down to the beat, and loosing themselves to the music with their fierce dancing. The Crystal Method is guaranteed to put on a fantastic show with great surprises. They always are coming up with interesting renditions of songs with their sampling, like the time they turned a Black Sabbath song into an electronic breakdown. Whatever The Crystal Method does visually and musically they can’t seem to do anything wrong.

Report