The Crystal Method: Vegas

Every month or two, there's bound to be a megahyped, Next Big Thing electronic band. Whether or not the predicted success pans out will depend on two things: 1) how compelling the hype is, and 2) whether the recording conveys anything resembling personality; after all, if it's just a bunch of beats, blips and bloops, how can you expect it to grab hold of the nation's consciousness, the way The Prodigy's big-selling, attitude-driven The Fat Of The Land has The Crystal Method certainly has the hype: It's the first major American entry in the 1997 electronica sweepstakes, and it has drawn numerous (justified) comparisons to The Chemical Brothers—though the new Vegas is neither as propulsive nor as crowd-pleasingly explosive as that duo's Dig Your Own Hole CD. The problem lies in the aforementioned need for personality: Because it consists mostly of moody, sample-intensive dance instrumentals, Vegas rarely transcends its place as tripped-out background noise. The guest vocalist on "Comin' Back" and "Jaded" does little to lend the record a distinctive tone; she might as well be another atmosphere-enhancing sample. While The Crystal Method's mastery of sound manipulation is impressive enough to find an audience with electronic-music aficionados, Vegas lacks the uniqueness necessary to break out beyond that niche.