The Crystal Method
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The Crystal Method is an electronic music duo consisting of Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland. Along the same lines as The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, and Fatboy Slim, they specialize in breakbeat and big beat styles of music. Formed in 1993, they did most of their earlier production work in an underground shelter lovingly referred to as "The Bomb Shelter" in the front yard of a rent house they once shared as roommates. Before production began on Legion of Boom in 2004, they moved the studio into the garage of the rent house; many people aren't aware of this, however, and still believe they work in the actual "bomb shelter", now a nickname for the studio setup.
The Crystal Method's music is broad in scope, and can be found in many modern shows and movies, including Blade II, Lost in Space, Spawn, Zoolander, XXX and episodes of Dark Angel. The theme music of the NBC drama Third Watch was "Keep Hope Alive" from their Vegas album. The track "Name Of The Game" (from the Tweekend album) was also featured as intro music for the popular video game Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell.
The list of equipment used to create it is also quite large, with the Clavia Nord Lead being the instrument most closely associated with their style and sound. It provides many of the grittier leads and buzzes in the music and was the primary source of sound for their first album Vegas.
Instrument list
- Access Virus
- Akai MPC3000
- Apple G4
- Arp 2600
- Big Briar MF101
- Big Briar MF102
- Clavia Nord Lead
- Clavia Nord Mod
- E-mu Audity 2000
- E-mu E4
- E-mu XL-7
- E-mu Xtreme Lead
- E-mu E-64
- Fender Guit/Bass
- Korg Electribe/S
- Korg Electribe/R
- Korg MS2000
- Korg Prophecy
- Moog MemoryMoog
- ProCo RAT
- Roland JP-8000
- Roland Jupiter 6
- Roland SH-101
- Sherman FilterBank
- Waldorf MicrowaveXT
- Yamaha DX7
- Yamaha CS20
- Yamaha CS80
- Eventide H3000
Discography
- Vegas (August 26, 1997)
- Tweekend (July 7, 2001)
- Community Service, a remix album (July 23, 2002)
- Legion of Boom (January 13, 2004)
- Community Service II, a second remix album (April 5, 2005)
External links
- The Crystal Method (http://www.thecrystalmethod.com/), the official site.
- Temple of Boom (http://templeofboom.us/tcm_wiki/), a fan site containing bootlegs of performances and DJ sets.
- got meth? (http://www.gotmeth.net/), a fan site containing information on TCM, including discography and lyrics.de:The Crystal Method