Crystal Method

Twenty years after The Crystal Method’s debut album, Vegas, blazed a trail across the American desert, imagining sparkling breakbeat architectures where the early ’90s rave scene had largely crumbled, Scott Kirkland’s pioneering electronic project continues to thrill. On opener “The Raze,” the breakbeats sound bigger than ever, the guitars are practically heavy metal, and the synths have a widescreen grandeur. Electronic textures aglow, atmospheric instrumentals like “Turbulence” and “Let’s Go Home” reflect Kirkland’s parallel career scoring Hollywood films, while vocal standouts like “Ghost in the City” condense his unusual range of influences—breaks, trip-hop, and even hard-charging alt-rock—into potent hybrids.