The Crystal Method

Tweekend (Geffen)
by Lex Marburger

What’s nice is that they haven’t gone away… Even as the Chemical Brothers slip off into a dancefloor haze of texture and boom-boom, The Crystal Method still holds strong as that bridge between rock and techno, offering a little something for everyone. And what do they have up their sleeves this time? How about three songs produced with the help of Tom Morello? Funny, isn’t he supposed to be raging against the machines? But check it, there are very few guitars on these tracks, and what’s there is processed beyond what even he’s used to. What else? Believe it or not, Scott Weiland is on here. There’s a wise-ass drug-related comment to be made here – something about crystal and horse, but I don’t really wanna go there… And Scottie represents, so that’s all right.

The thing about Tweekend (and their initial offering, Vegas) is that even with the big beats, buzzing hooks, and general sonic manipulation, they really seem to care about melody, which is the element that so many of the electronica-boom era technophiles seemed to forget. There’s a huge difference between getting fucked up at a club and dancing to anything with a discernable beat, and hearing something with a sound so huge that it makes you go out & get fucked up & dance. You may as well know, the crossover hit (or it should’ve been, if y’all were paying attention) is “Name of the Game,” which sounds like what Rage ATM should be trying to do, complete with raps, guitars, beats of pure sex, and DJ Swamp scratching like a motherfucker. I never would’ve thought these guys – who looked to all the world like a knock-off of Chem Bros and Death in Vegas a few years ago – would remain as one of the only surviving vibrant sources of big beat electro. Just goes to show what a little crystal will do.