Crystal Clear
This electronic duo is
By John Berger
gaining influence in
the mainstream
Special to the Star-BulletinKen Jordan didn't enjoy his first trip to Hawaii. His girlfriend's father gave her a trip to Maui as a graduation present. Jordan remembers it charitably as "a comedy of errors."
"It seemed like there were all old people. I thought I was going to keep in shape by jogging on the beach every day, but I'd never jogged on the beach in my life and it's like jogging-times-10, in quicksand. No way.
"Then I tried jet-skiing with the old-school jet skis where you had to stand on them, and I spent like an hour wiping out in the Maui mega-waves, just pulling myself back on."
This time Jordan -- now unattached -- is coming to Oahu. He and his musical partner, Scott Kirkland, are The Crystal Method, the duo rated by many as the best American band in electronic music. They headline an all-ages concert Saturday. G-Spot, Big Daddy Dave, Matthew Grim and DJ Evil will open.
Jordan and Kirkland have spent most of the decade exploring and expanding the boundaries of electronica -- a genre known for dense layers of sound generated by or through live instruments, synthesizer, sequencers and samples (bits of other sounds). They went beyond cult-band status with last year's release of a critically acclaimed single, "Busy Child," and a full-length album, "Vegas."
They also collaborated with Filter on a remix of "Trip Like I Do," another song from the album that became the lead single off the "Spawn" soundtrack.
"High Roller" is featured in a Mazda commercial and "Busy Child" helps sell GAP. Still, the duo turns down most requests to use its songs in commercials.
The "Vegas" album has just gone "gold" with American sales in excess of 500,000 copies. The title is a backhanded tribute to the band's hometown.
"There is really no original music scene or venues to play, and we bad-mouthed it until about a couple of years ago. It took us awhile to realize how much we liked coming back, and how it shaped what we do and think."
Yes, it all started in Vegas. Kirkland began playing the guitar at 12, discovered Depeche Mode in high school, and received a sequencer and sampler as graduation presents. Jordan went from college radio to recording. In 1993 they opened their own studio, the Bomb Shelter, in LA.
So what's their secret?
"We come up with what the essence of what a song is going to be first, rather than lay down a drum track and layer stuff over it. We start with what we like -- a riff, a chord progression, a melody -- and build around it, and we search infinitely for every individual drum sound. It's not like going into a studio with a drummer and doing all your drum tracks in one day. We'll spend endless days on drums for each track."
It gets much more technical than that. The bottom line this weekend is Jordan promises a good show.
"We found early on that a lot of electronic acts weren't really performing live. They were just sort of playing back their material. ... We've always approached our live show as a performance. You can see what we're doing. We're not hiding behind a bunch of gear."
The Crystal Method
In concert: 9:30 p.m. Saturday
