Wednesday August 22, 2001 |

Tweekend

(Interscope)

Grade: D

"Because, it's like, 'weekend,' except it's called 'Tweekend!' Get it!? Get it!?"

Numerous and all-too-obvious drug references aside, Scott Kirkland and Ken Jordan, the duo that make up The Crystal Method, have become more successful than any other American electronic group. Through a clever borrowing of their British counterparts' sounds, their debut album, Vegas, landed them a spot on the Family Values tour and airplay on alternative rock stations everywhere. With their collaboration with Filter for the song, "(Can't You) Trip Like I Do," on the Spawn Soundtrack, The Crystal Method managed to win over the sort of fan that would usually hate electronic music (but love, say, Limp Bizkit).

But Filter went the way of wimpy VH-1 power ballads, and The Crystal Method spent most of the last four years making Tweekend. Even though Tweekend took that whole time to make, the songs sound like they're four years old. Even with help from Beck, Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine) and Stone Temple Pilots' Scott Weiland (if he could help any recording), the sounds and samples seem dead on first listen. Some of the tracks such as "Roll It Up" and "Over the Line" are practically stillborn.

"Name of the Game," co-produced by Morello, features scratching by DJ Swamp (aka Beck). The song just ends up sounding like a mix of Rage Against the Machine and the Crystal Method - which sounds kind of like Limp Bizkit. That also means it sounds pretty bad. None of the album's 11 tracks make you want to dance, or take methamphetamines and clean the house. That makes the album's title the unlikely high point, and you've already heard it.