The arrival of The Crystal Method’s first ever mix album would be cause for excitement in itself, without the fact that this new collection also includes rarities, oddities and exclusive remixes that will make both hardcore fans and casual dance music enthusiasts rush the speakers. Rather than simply bolt together a set of the latest imported white labels, Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland spent nearly half-a-year culling a compilation that seamlessly captures the kinetic spirit of their popular club sets.
Embracing the everything-goes philosophy that is exhibited on the Los Angeles duo’s acclaimed studio albums, 1997’s Vegas and 2001’s Tweekend (which have cumulatively sold more than 1.5 million copies), Community Service is a wildly eclectic affair. It includes The Crystal Method’s distinctive remixes for artists like Rage Against The Machine, Garbage, and P.O.D.; underground twists on some of their own hits; and blistering, forward-looking tracks that only the most dedicated crate-digger could excavate.
The idea for the disc was hatched last year, while the band made several DJ appearances on the final dates of its 7-Day Tweekend Tour. “We never really considered doing a mix album until this year,” Kirkland says. “But we were having so much fun doing these sets, it cemented the decision.”
Breaking out of Las Vegas in the early Nineties, The Crystal Method have been mainstays on the American
electronic music scene for nearly a decade. Their debut 1994 City of Angels single “Now Is the Time” was one of the first to match the triumphant buzz of techno with chunky hip-hop beats and provocative sound bites.
The release of the band’s full-length debut, Vegas, in 1997 sealed the band’s worldwide profile, spawning blockbuster singles like “(Can’t You) Trip Like I Do” and “Busy Child,” followed by a flurry of remix projects
for the likes of Moby and DJ Keoki. Meanwhile, The Crystal Method steadily divided its time between a long line of live appearances and DJ dates, including the Community Service Tour with Orbital in 1998 and the Family Values Tour with a variety of bands that included Limp Bizkit, Filter, and Primus in 1999.
For 2001’s Tweekend, the band pulled together all its diverse influences to create an album that not only reflected its dance music roots, but its lingering passion for hard rock and soul. The disc featured collaborations with Stone Temple Pilots’ Scott Weiland, Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello, and Beck turntablist DJ Swamp. The sound was unmistakably The Crystal Method’s own.
Community Service carries on the radical tradition. Witness The Crystal Method’s tantalizing takes on Rage Against The Machine’s “Renegades of Funk”, Garbage’s “I Think I’m Paranoid” and P.O.D.’s “Boom.”
“They’re all pretty drastic overhauls, some more than others,” Jordan says. “With P.O.D. and Rage Against The Machine, we kept a lot of the vocals from the original mix and built a new track around that. The Garbage one is more of a deconstruction type thing. At the end of the day, they all sound more like Crystal Method tracks.”
Hybrid offers up the coveted “Name of the Game (LA Blackout Mix),” up-and-coming UK breakbeat trio Koma & Bones rework “You Know It’s Hard,” and Static Revenger takes on the riff-heavy “Wild, Sweet And Cool,” which was commissioned specifically for this project after the producer opened some dates for The Crystal Method on the 7-Day Tweekend Tour. “These were some of the hand-picked remixes we had done,” Kirkland says. “We loved the way they turned out.”
The disc is rounded out by “deepbreaks” selections that have become standards in The Crystal Method DJ set, including Orbital’s “Funny Break,” Force Mass Motion vs. Dylan Rhymes’ “Hold Back,” Scratch D vs. H Bomb’s “The Red Pill,” and Stir Fry’s breakbeat masterpiece “Breakin’ On The Streets (False Prophet Remix).”
“It’s a great mix,” Jordan says. “This is all stuff we would spin if we were playing out. Some mix CDs stick to one sound and one tempo, but ours has a range of sounds, tempos and styles. It’s kind of a genre that hasn’t been created yet. We’re just waiting for someone to come up with a name for it.”
