THE CRYSTAL METHOD ANNOUNCE NEW U.S. DATES FOR THE ‘DIVIDED BY NIGHT TOUR’/CONFIRMED TO PERFORM AT READING AND LEEDS

DUO CONFIRMED TO APPEAR AT MAJOR U.K FESTIVALS
THIS SUMMER WITH PERFORMANCES AT READING AND LEEDS

As they continue to crisscross the country bringing their Divided By Night live show to the masses, THE CRYSTAL METHOD have announced the addition of several new dates for late July and early August.  The duo of Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland will also take their live show across the Atlantic, where for the first time ever they will perform at the U.K.’s two leading music festivals: Leeds on August 29 and Reading on August 30.

Their additional U.S. dates commence on July 30 in Detroit and have the pair traveling through the Southeast into such markets as Columbus, Norfolk, Charlotte, Nashville, Little Rock, Tulsa and Albuquerque. They’ll then head to the northeast for DJ sets in Afton, NY and Washington D.C. and then return to Southern California for another DJ set in San Diego.  Tickets for all U.S. dates are on sale now.

Upon its release on May 12, Divided By Night hit #1 on iTunes' Electronic Music chart and #1 on Amazon. It also debuted on various Billboard charts including: #38 Top 200 Albums, #2 Top Electronic Albums, #3 Top Digital Albums and #4 Top Independent Albums.  It features a vast array of guests including vocalists Emily Haines of Metric, Justin Warfield of She Wants Revenge and his wife Stefanie King Warfield, Jason Lytle of Grandaddy, rappers LMFAO plus players like bassist Peter Hook (New Order) and drummer extraordinaire Samantha Maloney (Peaches, Hole). The album was launched with the momentous first single “Drown in the Now,” their infectious collaboration with mic master Matisyahu.  Watch the video for the song here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNeXVSt8E80

 
THE CRYSTAL METHOD’s current tour routing is as follows:

Check out WALL STREET JOURNAL’s feature on The Crystal Method which appeared in the May 20 issue (print/online) here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124277366900136645.html

The Crystal Method Evolves
By JIM FUSILLI
 
"Divided by Night" (Tiny e), the new album by the Crystal Method, booms with big, heavy beats, pumping bass and layers of wavy synthesizers. It also features singers and rappers from outside the world of electronica, among them Emily Haines of Metric; Peter Hook of Joy Division and New Order; Jason Lytle, formerly of Grandaddy; Matisyahu; Meiko; and Justin Warfield of She Wants Revenge. Like the duo's previous three albums, it's sly, nuanced and hypnotic, and while at times it may work best turned up to a wall-rattling 10 at a packed club with slashing laser lights and smoky vapors, it's a pretty good listening experience, too, with pop tunes and ballads rounding out the collection.

As Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland told me when we met in Austin in March, the Crystal Method is set on providing more than a soundtrack to a rave. While it retains the pulsing pull-through and anesthetizing repetition of the best rave music, the Crystal Method's evolving form of big-beat electronica is characterized by tempo shifts, tranquil interludes and sparks of humor, a style Messrs. Jordan and Kirkland established with the Crystal Method's 1997 debut album, "Vegas," which has sold more than one million copies. They reckon more people have heard their music than know who they are: Their tracks have appeared in video games, films, TV shows and ads; they wrote and performed the theme for TV's "Bones."

"We never made our music for the dance floor," Mr. Jordan said. "I'd go to raves, hear the music and think, 'There's not much to this.'"

Mr. Kirkland said, "From the beginning, we wanted to be heard. . . . There are people who don't know how to separate monotonous beat music from electronic music because they have similar instruments. But people with a more seasoned palate are on to what we're doing."

Electronic dance beats have been a part of mainstream pop since the '80s, and the biggest names in electronic music have been branching out for a while now. Though the new CD by the Prodigy, "Invaders Must Die," seems a throwback to big-beats electronica, the Chemical Brothers' most recent release, 2007's "We Are the Night," features ballads and comedy narratives. Fatboy Slim is working with David Byrne on a concept album on the life of Imelda Marcos. The Viennese duo dZihan & Kamien, known for its jazz-influenced chill, just issued "Music Matters," which features singer Helgi Jonsson. The album shifts between electronica and rock, seeming to repudiate dZihan & Kamien's earlier, often outstanding work.

Broadening their sound isn't a stretch for the Crystal Method. "Our music has its roots in early electronic music," said Mr. Jordan. "But the beats, their roots are in rock and hip-hop."

Two major influences on the Crystal Method, Messrs. Kirkland and Jordan said, were Stevie Wonder and Soulwax, the latter a group from Belgium that mixed rock and dance music. "The glorious Stevie Wonder sound in the '70s," Mr. Jordan said with a smile. "The simple synths and Clavinets. It sits so warm."

Mr. Kirkland praised the German group Kraftwerk and the Italian producer Giorgio Moroder, who was behind hits in the '70s and '80s by Donna Summer. Today's studio technology eliminates some of the imperfections of early electronic music, resulting in a kind of sterility the duo eschews. On "Divided by Night," they sought to marry the warmth of funky music made on analog equipment and recorded on tape with the kind of new sounds and experimentation that modern computer-driven technology allows.

"There's something perfect about it not being perfect" is how Mr. Kirkland described it.

"Over the years, technology evolved," he said. "We made 'Vegas' with a small amount of gear. On the last album, 'Legion of Boom,' it got so easy. We weren't limited. For this album, we made an effort to involve the contributors in the development of the songs. Emphasizing melody and harmony with layers and depth is really right on for us."

The track "Falling Hard" is an example of the result. It's a warm, down-tempo ballad with a rich, layered backing track that includes droning guitars and swooshing synth sounds. The duo told me they would have been happy to release it as an instrumental but, as if in an attempt to draw new listeners, brought in the vocalist Meiko, added a bridge and created a pretty pop tune. Similarly, on "Slipstream," Jason Lytle's vocal carries the tune, but the backing track shifts as sounds zip in and then vanish over a steady rhythm — until the track stops completely, then rebuilds with a new approach. (You can hear the entire album at ilike.com/thecrystalmethod.)

Laptops and lasers in tow, the duo is on tour now through mid-June. "We try to feature new songs along with our bigger, more recognizable songs," Mr. Jordan said. "We're a continuous flow of energy. Peaks and valleys in dynamics."

"Hit 'em hard," Mr. Kirkland added. "Pull back. Build up. Hit 'em hard again."

Follow him on Twitter @wsjrock.

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