Crookers Comes To Boston, One Lucky Person Gets In For Free. 9.1.11
Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 11:59PM 
After a very short summer hiatus, Embrace Presents kicks off back-to-school and football season correctly by bringing a very big duo to downtown Boston. Crookers: you know the name, and even if you don’t, you know the influence they’ve had on a good deal of chart-topping music over the past several years. I’m honestly not even sure if they’ve been to Boston before, but following a youtube search that turned up zero videos, I’m willing to bet the answer is a solid NO. So if this duo is on your bucket list, get ready to scratch that shit off come Thursday.
Let’s start with their biggest song, a remix of Kid Cudi’s “Day and Night”. I first heard it when B.Rich (who lived in Boston at the time) handed me a mix CD back at the beginning of 2008 when LA Riots played at the same spot Thursday’s party is happening: The Middle East Downstairs. The song left an instant impression on me as the most memorable track on a mix CD rammed with cutting-edge house and bassline-driven gems. Fast forward to the beginning of 2009, I started hearing the same song in full rotation on Top 40 radio stations, probably the first song to achieve such status since Darude’s “Sandstorm”. 73 million views on YouTube is no joke!!!
Do the math to figure out what Crookers was doing between 2008 and 2009: impressing the pants off both the underground and mainstream, while getting asked to remix and do production work for dozens of well-known dance and pop acts. Synthesized and bassline driven music has become fairly prominent even on the FM airwaves these days, and I think this was in no small part due to the success of acts like Crookers.
CROOKERS FREE BEAT PACK by Crookers.net
What have they been doing since “Day and Night”? Well, for starters, they released a well-received full length album in early 2010 titled “Tons of Friends”. Living up to its name, guest appearances from, well, friends of theirs, were rammed into every song on the disc. Everyone from Will.i.am to Pitbull, Spank Rock, Drop The Lime, Rye Rye, and Kelis (no big deal there, seriously…) But the music itself made as much of a statement, serving as less of a DJ tool and more of an artist’s album. The music itself included everything from the house and electro sound they are known for to bilal funk, salsa, borderline pop (but with soul), no-frills hip hop, and even dancehall. It was so well received they’re still touring and hustling remixes based off of it.
Crookers present Dr Gonzo - Bust ‘em Up + Springer ( World Premier on Annie Mac BBC ) by Crookers.net
Non-album track “Bust ‘Em Up”, a duo between Crookers and Savage Skulls, have shown that during all of the touring, these guys still make time to get into the studio and crank out some beats. Returning to their dancefloor friendly format prior to the 2010 album, you’ll have the vocal stutter-edits of this one in your head for a LONG time after a listen. And be sure to check out the French Fries remix; he flipped that one HARD. (Hey by the way, did I mention that one’s FREE?!)
So thanks to Embrace, as per usual, we have a contest. Same as we always do, I’m going to give away one free pair of tickets to one lucky person who leaves their NAME and EMAIL address in the comments section below. And, despite the lame pun, you have one DAY and one NIGHT to get your comment in. Contest closes at 12am this Thursday. So you’ve got 24 hours, good luck.
On opening duty are Hot Pink Delorean, Bangarang, and the Bass Alchemists. You know who all these guys are, and if you don’t, get there early and get your learn on. They’re all making moves of their own.
Facebook Event Flyer
Purchase tickets here
Middle East Downstairs, 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge
Doors open at 8pm, show goes until 1:30.
Cambridge, Crookers, Electro, Embrace Presents, Hot Pink Delorean, House, Kid Cudi, middle east in cambridge, electro, embrace, middle east 
