Crystal Method at Beta

When the Crystal Method (slated to perform at Beta on Thursday, November 13) debuted, it was hard to imagine the outfit would still be going strong more than ten years later. Serving as America's answer to English acts like the Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim, the group — Las Vegas...

By Cory Casciato

November 13, 2008

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When the Crystal Method (slated to perform at Beta on Thursday, November 13) debuted, it was hard to imagine the outfit would still be going strong more than ten years later. Serving as America's answer to English acts like the Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim, the group — Las Vegas natives Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland — managed to cash in on the already waning big-beat vibe before the public's taste for it dissipated completely. And from there, the music evolved into the similar, if slightly more underground-focused, nu-skool breaks sound: a big, stompy, rock-inflected breakbeat style that lacks subtlety but packs a wallop and is accessible enough to appeal to mainstream, rock-focused audiences. In other words, it sounds exactly like what the ignorant masses think dance music should sound like rather than what dance music actually sounds like — which also accounts for why Crystal Method tracks have been used in video games and, most recently, movies.

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