the Crystal Method - Divided by Night

[the mongoose]

New album is great...their sound has really matured over the past couple of years!


1. Divided By Night - a reggae tinged apetizer with vocoders and classic TCM synth work.



2. Dirty Thirty - Is it basically an instrumental "Now is the Time" rehash?...uh, yeah probably. But it actually sounds more like a sequel to it with Chemical Brothers WOOOT WOOOOOOOOO!!!!! sort of sounds blending with stuff that sounds like early Moby. Nice build ups and bridges, overall some great production. Turn it up.



3. Drown In the Now - Love it or hate it. Everyone's probably heard it by now so I won't go into much detail.
"righteousness of the light shall prevail...."



4. Kling to the Wreckage - TCM doing glam punk pop....a grower track though. The lyrics are pretty deep and ultimately catchy once you've heard it a few times. Really a lot going on in the background.



5. Smile? - Slow, yet busy track that progresses nicely. Builds like a trance track and then turns into a more TCM sounding tweak fest........then actually transforms into a spirited breaks fest that Orbital would probably be jealous of....and then back again.



6. Sine Language - LMFAO does a great job breaking any techno monatomy occurring on the album so far by turning things into a mildly entertaining hip hop affair....but not without some cool electronics to polish it up and ultimately extend it past the two main verses and the prominent chorus.



7. Double Down Under - "Go Down!" Great track to drive or run on a treadmill too. Some funky militant beat brakedowns that Janet Jackson would Rhythm Nation out to happens occasionally, whilst a neuroticly agressive synth laden vibe continues to permeate.



8. Come Back Clean - they probably wish they could have gotten Madonna, ha ha. Interesting track but not really my style of TCM....sure to be a hit with happy housey dancey lovers. Definately a showcase for TCM as competent producers for vocal tracks. "Where I land I don't care I don't give a damn (make it up)"



9. Slipstream - funky haunted sounding sci-fi track with some redeeming qualities. Not the best track on the album, but certainly not the worst........



10. Black Rainbows - ........the worst track on the album has to certainly be this piece of shit. "She danced with her hair down.....danced with her hair down"..........Who gives a fuck?!? Skip. Ugh.



11. Blunts and Robots - Bass guitar heavy classic TCM track that evolves into a squelshy, put the petal to the metal affair.....complete with trippy trance breakdown and rebuild into blissful sample laden squelsh. One of, if not the best tracks on the album.



12. Falling Down - I rarely dig female vocals in tracks but this Lilith Fair worthy final track is a great way to exit this album. "Heaven help me now."

[holden]

Just got it and have only had two listens. It's catchy, there are a few really beautiful tracks ("Black Rainbows" in particular), but also a few that trigger the "skip" urge. Peter Hook's basslines are instantly recognizeable, although they aren't exactly cutting edge.
Plenty of singles, probably two or three guest vocalists too many.
I imagine this'll grow on me, and it's better than "Legion of Boom". it doesn't grab me like "Vegas" did or excite as much of "Tweekend" did, but it's a pretty satisfying record.

[holden]

ok, had a bunch more listens, and yes, it IS very much a grower.
I find myself wishing a few of the songs were instrumental (Sine Language has some sick hooks, but the rap isn't my speed), but this is probably the most melodic and varied of TCM's records.

[den]

Originally Posted by the mongoose

New album is great...their sound has really matured over the past couple of years!

...

I don't care much for the Crystal Method, but that is a great review of an album. Much more useful than just saying, "Yo, check out 'Artist - Album Name'. It's the tits!"

[IsiliRunite]

I would have appreciated more time spent on the album doing Crystal Method characteristic song change-ups and such, as opposed to the frequent guest appearances locking up a song's groove. They seem like pop producers, instead of DJs