Thoughts On The Crystal Method At House of Blues Houston

Really great show in Houston last night. There were songs from all 4 of their studio albums, although I'd say Vegas got the heaviest treatment. Which was awesome. :)

The two highlights were extended remixes of "Cherry Twist" & "Born Too Slow". Ironically I'm not even a big fan of the original "Born Too Slow", but their live version blew me away. A true sonic assault. They only played two or three songs off their new album, including "Come Back Clean" & the title track "Divided By Night". It was pretty cool seeing Scott do the vocals live on that last one. For an encore, it was a crowd-pleasing rendition of "Trip Like I Do."

We stuck around after the show for the meet & greet upstairs. The guys said they had a really good time in NOLA the evening before, and mentioned enjoying dinner at Dickie Brennan's Steak House. I also got to pick Scott's brain for about 15 minutes about their creative processes for several of the tracks on the new album. Of note, "Black Rainbows" was originally intended to be entirely instrumental before they heard Stephanie King Warfield sing. She's the wife of Justin Warfield, who provided the vocals for the "Kling To The Wreckage" track on the album.

Alas, I didn't bring my digital camera with me to the show since the tickets + website were pretty adamant about a No Camera Policy. In hindsight, I could've smuggled in an entire television crew since there were no metal detectors or pat downs at the door, and others had cameras in the venue with no harassment from security. However, I did snap about 30 pictures with my iPhone, so I've uploaded those to Flickr:

The Crystal Method at House of Blues Houston

If you get the opportunity to catch one of the remaining shows on this tour, I highly encourage it.

JW / Electronica Classics 015: The Crystal Method Live At Showbox Seattle 1997

I've been on a big Crystal Method kick this week. This past Tuesday saw the release of their fourth studio album, "Divided By Night," and I've got tickets to see the guys do a live performance here at the House of Blues in Houston this coming Monday. Heck, I even downloaded their new iPhone app to keep up with their Twitter updates from the tour. Regarding "Divided By Night," I've probably listened to it about 6 times this week, and it's easily my second favorite Crystal Method album, behind the legendary "Vegas." I'm not a huge fan of every track on the new album, but there are some real stand-outs like "Smile" and "Black Rainbows."

There aren't many recordings of actual "live" performances of The Crystal Method floating around; most of the recordings I have in my collection are of DJ sets that the duo put together. However, I did run across a live performance while digging around Soulseek back during the summer of 2003. Prior to last weekend, I'd only listened to this performance a handful of times. But digging it out again revealed a really good find.

Surprisingly, there isn't a lot of info about this recording online. From what I've been able to determine, it's sometimes called "Live in Seattle," "Live at Showbox in Seattle," or "Live Seattle Bootleg". A few of the tracks were listed as "Unknown" or otherwise mislabeled when I originally downloaded it, and none of the websites I found online actually had the tracklisting correct. However, I believe I've been able to correct all those mistakes. The recording quality won't pass for a studio album, but it's definitely listenable.

This performance consists primarily of tracks from their "Vegas" album, so for those of you who are partial to their earlier work, you should really enjoy this one. An added bonus is their remix of Keoki's "Caterpillar" track which originally appeared on the "Altered Ego Trip" remix album that Keoki released in 1998. I'm a big fan of that album, too, and it's a good one to add to your collection if you're looking for a nice snapshot of remixes from early American electronica producers & DJs such as Uberzone, Rabbit In The Moon, & DJ Dan.

I'm glad to see these guys are still putting out new music. Now go grab this performance from the late 90s for a little historical perspective.

The Crystal Method - Live at Showbox in Seattle 1997
Megaupload Link / Rapidshare Link

1 - The Crystal Method - High Roller
2 - The Crystal Method - Cherry Twist
3 - The Crystal Method - Now Is The Time
4 - Keoki - Caterpillar (The Crystal Method Remix)
5 - The Crystal Method - Trip Like I Do
6 - The Crystal Method - Vapor Trail
7 - The Crystal Method - Alright
8 - The Crystal Method - Busy Child
9 - The Crystal Method - Keep Hope Alive