APGS =n |= ENGEPOCIMENG

 

The Crystal Method: DJ Set

~ May 26, Sonar

Vince Yim, OP Contributor

 

urrently promoting their mix
{ CD Community Service II, the

big-beat techno music duo of
Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland, known
to the general public as The Crystal
Method, dropped by Sonar to spin
tunes from their own albums, plus
some remixes and other surprises.
Having previously rocked The
Commodore Ballroom in 2004 to pro-
mote the album Legion of Boom, the duo
backpedaled into DJ mode and played
to a much smaller venue with very
pleasing and booty-shaking results.

As one of the more mainstream
electronic acts around, The Crystal
Method is better known for music that
finds its way into video games, movie
soundtracks, and television commer-
cials. Moving from playing larger

venues to smaller clubs with 500-per-
son capacity may be seen as a step
backwards, but for those who just
wanna move, it’s not a problem at all.

The Crystal Method proved to be
just as adept behind a pair of turnta-
bles as they ate behind a keyboard.
While not quite as renowned for their
DJ skills as the likes of Paul Oakenfold
and Tiesto, they are more than capable
of keeping the crowd moving. Beat
matching between tracks was seamless
as they progressed through their set,
playing several tracks from their own
material.

Simply put, these guys like to have
fun, and it shows. Playing to the crowd,
they used some of their best material
from Community Service I, which includ-
ed remixes of their own songs by other

 

artists (“Busy Child,’ “Comin’ Back,”
“Born too Slow”) as well as remixes of
other artists’ songs by The Crystal
Method (“Bizarre Love Triangle” by
New Order, “Roadhouse Blues” by
The Doors). To add to the unpre-
dictable act, they even included some
unexpected bootlegs and remixes,
including Blur’s “Song 2” and what
sounded like a reworking of Metallica’s
“Enter Sandman.”

Despite the fact that they are a duo,
the bulk of the turntable time was
spent by Scott Kirkland, with Ken
Jordan pumping up the crowd, but
either way, they both do more than a
good job of keeping the crowd mov-
ing. This was a show where recreational
drugs were clearly optional.

 

Music Festivals are a Waste of Time

Stephanie Or, OP Contributor
f you don’t know what Music
| Waste is all about, I can’t com-
pletely blame you (note: I am
secretly judging you). It’s basically
another summer music festival, but
without the glory. And by glory, I mean
there isn’t some big label supporting the
artist (for the most part) and there
aren’t any poseurs (a la Commodore
Ballroom style). So anyhow, Music
Waste promises four days of pure, raw
music—pretty much the anti New
Music West (which happens in
October/November, kiddies).

Okay. So, come the weekend of May
19, I was pee-in-my-pants excited about
Music Waste. I had a bunch of people
coming along to enjoy the greatness
that is Music Waste (which I will now
refer to as MW). I even got myself a
MW festival pass. I only went to three
of the 26 shows happening that week-
end, though. And it wasn’t because I
was too lazy to pub crawl my way
around town. It was because MW was
unbearable.

Having nine other shows happening
the same night made it near impossible
to draw a decent crowd. Enthusiasm
dwindled as one band/person’s per-
formance dragged on. At one show, the
first guy (whose name shall not be men-
tioned) threw Timbits into the crowd.
One of those Timbits hit my friend in
the eye. Here’s a piece of advice, if you
suck that badly, you shouldn’t be giving
the crowd Timbits or anything that can

june 8/2005

be thrown back at you.

Come Sunday, I had little to no
expectations for MW. I just wanted it to
be over. MW was so poorly organized
that an early show didn’t even start until
9pm and stopped after one song. By
10:15pm, I had to leave—anymore of
that and I would have hated music for-
ever. MW was about as entertaining as
toe jam.

I guess I couldn’t blame MW too
much. They had some ridiculously fan-
tastic bands but even they couldn’t
salvage this sorry music festival. Don’t
get me wrong, I love the Vancouver
music scene. I love the bands that make
it worthwhile to go to shows and even
more fun to dance around in the priva-
cy of my bedroom.

Had Only Magazine given me a
chance to string together one show, I’d
have picked these three of my favourite
local bands:

Fun 100 is what you get when you
make pop culture work for you. These
guys know you pay to see a perform-
ance, so a performance is what you get.
Never mind the yelling and the occa-
sional high-pitched scream Ryan Dyck
(lead vocals, keyboard) produces. The
band is excited to be on stage and
they're not afraid to show it. They sing
songs about Mighty Ducks (the movie,
yeah, the one with Emilio Estevez) and
not-so-subtly slip in the chorus to Freak
Nasty’s “Da Dip.” Not everyone can
recycle 90s pop culture and look good

 

doing it. (And don’t try to describe Fun
100 as “fun” because people will just
look at you weird.) What can I say?
Enthusiasm and cute boys get me every
time, musically anyhow.

You Say Party! We Say Die! some-

how didn’t make it to the
not-so-prestigious MW 2005. I did,
however, manage to catch them on
Wednesday (May 25). This was, maybe,
the third time I’ve seen them and I was
still excited. Never had I seen anyone
rock the tambourine so hard before—
Becky Ninkovic incorporated her
tambourine shaking with her mini-
dance-a-thon on stage, all the while
belting out catchy tunes. At one point,
Bruce Dyck’s drum set began to fall
apart. Oh, by the way, YSP!WSD! share
a drummer with Fun 100. They were
supposed to be the openers but the

Stephanie Or

band they were opening for got held up
at the border. By the end of the night,
people demanded an encore—too bad
you weren't there.

With lyrics like, “I adore you. Of
course you can borrow my jacket...too
long for your little legs...so you have to
walk, don’t run,” their songs read like a
corny note from your high school
crush. Who is brave enough to utter
these words? Bella, of course. Cute as
a button and aesthetically pleasing, this
local band is getting a lot of attention.
Fame has not gone to their heads,
though. When I bumped into Charla in
line for a drink at Pub 340, she talked to
me excitedly about performing later on
that evening. But back to their
music...let’s just say it is pure pop good-
ness.

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