When the ex-duo, now solo act, Crookers dropped a new EP out of thin air following years of reclusion, I immediately texted one of my best friends. “I don’t like it!,” was his almost immediate response. This friend’s taste and instinct for what’s hip and happening is something I’ve come to regard as something of a cornerstone. I know I can always trust him to point out when something is a bit of a miss. But in the case of I Hope This EP Finds You Well, I found myself at odds with his opinion. His near guttural response and subsequent rejection of the two track, one remix package did signal toward something far greater at work here: the (perhaps inevitable) bloghouse / indie sleaze revival is indeed in full swing. The reappearance of the act responsible for one of the most prolific remixes of the late 2000’s all but confirms this, now solely in the hands of producer Francesco “Phra” Barbaglia. It makes sense that the EP finds a home on Chloé Robinson’s Pretty Weird Records, a label who in recent times has been championing the sort of electro sleaze one might associate with Crookers.
This sleaze is in full effect on I Hope This EP Finds You Well’s two offerings, which skew toward bass heavy tech house and the sort of fidget full of fat drops. Johnny Depp, whose title already gestures toward the obnoxiousness at play, features the voice of Mr. Oizo speaking some sort of dribble about “bad English,” the sort of mind numbingly inconsequential sample that will either annoy you, or charm you with its sheer ridiculousness. Barbaglia plasters it over a sparse and parred back drum sequence, the sort of distant house beat that’s become synonymous with Robinson’s label, but ups the ante with ripcords of synths and flatulent bass that recalls the trademark trashiness of the Crookers of fore. It’s a slightly new direction, scaling back the gaudiness of the borderline-EDM electroclash that made them famous in favour of a cleaner, sleeker approach that feels more attuned to present day dancefloor trends. After the grooving tech house of They Comin’, which serves mostly as a palette cleanser, Nikki Nair and DJ ADHD embrace the sheer chaos of Johnny Depp by turning it into something even more unhinged. Their remix leans into the track’s fidget influences more vehemently, applying Nair’s scattered and fragmented approach to a manic and often overwhelming cacophony of twisted synths and destroyed kicks.
Download and stream I Hope This EP Finds You Well here
There’s a certain triteness to I Hope This EP Finds You Well that is both its most brilliant and divisive quality. Barbaglia embraces cliché in a way that will likely rub electronic dance aficionados the wrong way, but he executes the cheese with a sleight of hand that toes the line between self-aware irony and just plain bad taste. And honestly, what else could you expect from a name this prolific in the bloghouse history books? There’s a reason this style is finding a resurgence, and Barbaglia seems acutely aware of this, using it to his advantage to both update the sound of Crookers but also embrace its past, and the lasting impact that had on the direction of dance music today. So as my dear friend voiced his disdain for this EP, I began to realise that perhaps this comes from the way it challenges the current direction of dance music by reminding us of its most louche and unforgiving moments. In an era where the four on the floor has been usurped by the heat of dembow, and where dance music has become more politicised than ever before, there’s something refreshing about the baselessness of tracks like Johnny Depp. Electronic music artists are taking themselves more seriously than ever before, desperate to prove that they have something to say. An EP like this is a reminder that electronic music will always flourish in the name of a good time and just sheer dumb fun. You can feel guilty about it later.
Listen to Johnny Depp from I Hope This EP Finds You Well below.
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