Over the past 10 or 20 years the music world has been inundated with various electronic music acts, each trying to make the best noise they can with basically a keyboard and a laptop.
It might sound easy, but there’s much more to it than meets the eye. Artists like The Chemical Brothers, Basement Jaxx, and The Prodigy have all made a name for themselves as the flag bearers of electronic music.
The unsung heroes of electronic music though are the Las Vegas duo The Crystal Method. Since forming as far back as 1993, the electro masters have released five studio albums; the latest “Divided By The Night” was released last year to critical acclaim.
One half of the band Ken Jordan said: “We knew we were working on something really special but you never expect Grammy nominations etc. We always want to just make great music that we’re personally happy with.”
The new LP features such guest artists as Joy Division/New Order’s Peter Hook and Matisyahu. “Working with Peter Hook had long been a dream of ours!” said Jordan. “He came over and played all day in our studio, and told amazing stories all day!
“We met Matisyahu at a festival we were both playing at and he joined us on stage for an impromptu version of our track ‘High Roller’. It went so well that we decided right there to collaborate on something in the future, he’s an amazing artist.”
“Divided By The Night” was recorded in the duo’s personal recording studio dubbed Crystalwerks. According to Jordan, the only difference to the new studio is that “everything works now”.
He’s also keen to point out that the studio isn’t aiming to get a reputation such as that of Abbey Road, it’s “very personal and exclusive to us”.
Last year the band embarked on an extensive tour of the US, their first in five years. “It was incredible!” said Jordan. “We had a completely new stage set and light show with new custom visuals. It’s always great to do concerts with all our own music.”
The guys aren’t neglecting their fans over the pond though, and will “definitely be back to the UK very soon.” Despite the lack of tour dates listed on their official website, Jordan assures his fans that they’re still promoting their new LP and performing DJ gigs all over the world and that they’re “attacking the whole world this summer!”
Crystal Method are just amazing; I’ve got every album and ep they’ve done :)