Tweekend
Four years after their debut album, Vegas, electronic music duo The Crystal Method (Scott Kirkland, Ken Jordan) is back with Tweekend -- a funked-up, bass heavy soundtrack for a fun-filled trip through nuclear waves of joy.
Recorded at the Bomb Shelter, a small studio built in the two-car garage of Kirkland and Jordan's California home, Tweekend combines musical influences ranging from hard rock to hip hop, techno to metal.
Those familiar with Tom Morello's stylings on The Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up" and early Rage Against the Machine albums will enjoy his contributions to "Wild, Sweet and Cool." The hip hop inspired tune melds boppy female vocals with traditional techno beats and pimp-worthy grooves.
Stone Temple Pilots' frontman, Scott Weiland, picks up the vocals on "Murder," an eerily angry tune written about either the black plague or a real bitch of an ex-girlfriend. Weiland's distinctive vocals are layered over a driving back beat, leading to a crescendo of screaming bitterness and rage.
"Murder" gives way to the sultry track "Over The Line." Written in part by Jon Brion, whose guitar talents or production skills appear throughout Aimee Mann's solo career, "Over The Line" is hands down the best Tweekend track. A little bit more mellow, a touch more "musical" and every bit a classic, "Over The Line" is one of those tunes you'll listen to over and over and over.
Just dim the lights, charge a five dollar cover and you've got yourself a rave, and it's clear The Crystal Method has nothing to worry about as far as the whole sophomoric slump thing goes.
