If the U.K. has the Chemical Brothers then the U.S. has the Crystal Method. The L.A.-based dance/electronic duo comprised of Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland, who have been delivering their groundbreaking music since 1995.

In 1993 Jordan and Kirkland journeyed from their native Las Vegas to Los Angeles, where they became entrenched in the once-thriving rave scene there and produced tracks which reflected the city's youthful underground club culture. Steve Melrose and Justin King liked what they heard on the duo's demo taped and signed them to their City of Angeles imprint, and released their debut single, "Keep Hope Alive," in 1994. The song became an anthem for the L.A. club set, as the title is a reference to L.A.'s dwindling rave scene which was enduring pressure from police due to random incidents of violence at the time.

As the popularity of the Crystal Method grew, Jordan and Kirkland demanded to be taken seriously as a band, in an attempt to escape the fate of most techno outfits, which are most often anonymous. They eventually signed with Outpost Recordings (a subordinate of Geffen Records) in 1996 and their debut full-length, Vegas, was released in 1997. The party-ready album jumped from acid to rock to funk to hip-hop and was an instant success. Its follow-up, Tweekend, was released four years later and the Crystal Method issued a series of mix albums titled Community Service in 2002 before their third album, Legion of Boom, dropped in 2004. The duo created a soundtrack for the film London in 2005 and released an iTunes exclusive titled Drive, which was meant to serve as a work-out playlist, in 2006 (the album was later re-issued on CD in 2008 with four bonus tracks).