A Solid Call 2.0

: Time Killer: "Songwriting saved my life" - the Salon interview with Rufus Wainwright. In case Steve is reading. Which I doubt.

: "Doh!" (Cover Version): Pretty interesting scam, here. Can't get U2 to license a ringtone for cheap? Get a local band to cover the U2 song (legal), make the ringtone from the cover (legal) and you're all set to go sell it.

: Press Release

THE CRYSTAL METHOD
Legion Of Boom
V2 Records
January 13, 2004

Ever since they started making their first singles out of the Bomb Shelter, their congested home studio in Los Angeles, California, the members of The Crystal Method have held strong as forerunners of the electronic music revolution in America. Now the duo's latest album, Legion of Boom, takes dance music to places it never knew existed.

Kicked into life by a series of eclectic collaborations with the likes of former Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland, rapper Rahzel of The Roots, San Francisco poet Hanifah (aka Shä-key), and Lisa Kekaula, singer for garage rock band The Bell Rays, the album marks yet another creative rebirth for a group that has seen its music seep into peoples' consciousness via clubs, arenas, major motion pictures, video games and television commercials.

For the first single "Born Too Slow," Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland utilize the vocals of John Garcia, one-time frontman for California desert rockers Kyuss, to deliver a ravishing track that mashes up heavy metal bluster with a roaring bassline. Like all the band's previous work, it's the sound of the past and present being hurled violently into the future.

The Crystal Method's full-length major label debut, Vegas, in 1997 spawned the hits "Keep Hope Alive" and "Busy Child," followed by a flurry of remix projects for the likes of Rage Against the Machine and Garbage. 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 Staind 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.

Now signed to V2 Records, the band is ready to launch its next phase of success with Legion of Boom. The disc is out January 13, 2004.

: Under the Radar Sure, Napster is back. iTunes is out for Windows and Musicmatch is keeping pace with the big names. Yet, one of the better sites to buy music has been around for years, and I'm not talking about Emusic. Last night I paid $3.50 to Weblisten.com and got an 8 hour window to download what I needed from their site. I didn't go as nuts as I could have -- I just picked up Kosheen's Kokopelli. I got The new release from the Cardigans called Long Gone Before Daylight. I got some house music with Safri Duo's 3.0 and I got the brand new Absolution from Muse. I topped it off with an older (2001) ambient jazz album Moving by a guy named Bugge Wesseltoft. The key here is that these albums are not available in North America - they are imports that cost $25-$30 each here. The service also has most releases from the regular major labels -- in unchained normal MP3 format. I guess you could say that I scored.

: When Greg passed along the link to stream another new song by Joe Strummer and the Mecaleros, he included the disyllabic "Solid!" We can't argue with that.

: Free Music: Vice Records is providing a full album stream for The Stills. There is also a live Stills session on KEXP.

The Stills on tour with Echo & The Bunnymen

Oct 23: Boston: Paradise Rock Club
Oct 24: Asbury Park, NJ: Stone Pony
Oct 25: NYC (CMJ): Webster Hall
Oct 28: Detroit: Majestic Theatre
Oct 29: Chicago: Metro
Nov 3: LA: House of Blues
Nov 4: San Diego: 4th & B
Nov 5: Las Vegas: House of Blues
Nov 6: San Francisco: Fillmore
Nov 7: Anaheim: House of Blues

: Inside Track: Whoa... Rock 105.3 & Scott Riggs have all the news! I mean all of it. And, they have a brown and yellow logo. Brown. And Yellow. Together! My brain.... is.. melting! Scott broke the "Secret Green Day Album" story weeks ago. Weeks! I need to get to updatin' a little more frequently.

: Import Bin: A lot of people have been wondering, "Who are The Darkness?" Well this nice "BuzzCard" should clear up a lot of things.